The Five-Store Garage Door Saga of Eric from Las Vegas
Eric thought he was handy. After all, he’d assembled IKEA furniture without crying and changed his own air filter. So when his Las Vegas garage door started making a sound like a dying lawnmower at 7am, he decided to fix it himself. “ Garage doors can’t be that complicated,” he told his wife. Three hardware stores and five hours later, he officially retired from the title of “handy.” It started with a snapped spring. The garage door wouldn’t budge, and Eric figured it was just a $20 part from Home Depot. Easy. He drove to the first store, described the part using words like “the metal twisty thing” and “the springy boing part,” and walked out with something that looked close enough. Back home, he realized it was for a screen door, noit for his garage door . Store two had the right size spring, but the wrong tension. Store three was out of stock. Store four had it, but only in a 10-pack and the guy behind the counter said, “You really shouldn’t mess with that if you don’t ...