By JAMES D. WATTS JR. Scene Writer on Mar 8, 2012, at 3:36 PM Updated on 3/08 at 3:36 PM
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I am -- as my darling wife will attest -- mechanically declined. I understand the whole "lefty loosey, righty tighty" concept, and actually have put it into practice at times with stellar results.
Yet most handyman tasks are -- what is the phrase? -- not quite within my skill set.
So imagine my horror at the announcement that the Home Depot plans to discontinue selling books.
Granted, the selection one would find at the neighborhood orange monstrosity was never what you could even charitably call eclectic. But if you were in the market for tips on how to construct your own Adirondack chair or rewire a lamp or change a washer without getting soaked, then one could finding something on the subject right next to the power tools and caulking refills.
Home Depot's decision was (according to a letter it sent to publishers) "was not an easy one to make," and was reached after "over a year of intense analytical information both internally and with our book suppliers."
But the upshot was "to discontinue the book subclass in order to better optimize the space in the front end of the store."
Book subclass?
Now, the light dawns. Those who come to the Home Depot seeking instruction in home repair and improvement via the written word are a subclass, and one that isn't in keeping with the image the Home Depot wants to present -- that of savvy, can-do types who know exactly what to do with a one-inch bore black oxide coated mild steel clamp collar, and who can straight-facedly ask a perfect stranger if he or she knows where one might get one's hands on a sampling of Rigid Tools.
You go to the Home Depot, you're supposed to know what to do with all the stuff with which you're confronted -- shovels and hoes, refrigerators and toilets, lumber and pipe, hammers and tongs, fertilizers and pesticides.
If you have to read about this stuff.....you're on your own.
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