Paint Punked?

Have you seen that TV show Punked with Ashton Kutcher? In the show, people have outrageous things happen while they stand there, horrified at what is unfolding before their eye. Saturday I stood there waiting for Ashton Kutcher and his camera man to come around the corner and tell me I had been punked.

Roger and I went to purchase some paint. After stating our selections to what seemed like a friendly worker, the worker went off to fill our order. Roger noticed the worker grabbing the wrong paint. I politely stated to the worker that I was hoping for the other (cheaper) kind of paint in the same colors I had shown him. Out of nowhere, the man threw the paint cans on to the counter, swore, then proceeded to have a fit. Roger calmly told the guy to chill out, it wasn’t a big deal. (The paint had not even been mixed yet.)

In the midst of this worker’s tantrum came claims that what I asked for could not me done. I sheepishly answered that it could be, a worker at the same store had done it last week. Angrily he stormed off to grab the other paint, murmuring and cursing all the while. Roger had enough and went off to speak to the manager. The crazed employees female co-worker eventually stepped in and kindly offered to take over. The crazed worker continually refused any help from her and insisting he was ok, finished filling the order. (I wasn’t ok with him finishing the order!) The female coworker politely turned to me and said she thought her coworker’s blood sugar was low or something, but apologized. Roger returned and mentioned the manager would take care of it. As I looked up, the manager rushed off in the opposite direction. I started looking for Ashton. When he didn’t appear I looked to Roger who encouraged me to seek out the manager…again, becasue the guy was making rude comments about our paint order.

I spoke to the very nice lady behind the service desk, explaining that I did not want this man finishing my order. I also informed her that I too would like to talk to the manager. She called the manager up and then quickly came over to help us. The erratic co-worker still would not leave. (At this point I wondered why he wanted to still be helping us, he was obviously troubled by something.) The nice service lady then called the manager for the 3rd time. As the nice lady was talking to the manager the crazed employee continued to berate us. Roger and I decided enough was enough. Roger approached the nice lady to tell her we were just going to leave. However, as Roger began to speak to the nice lady, she kindly asked us to give her one minute. She informed the manager how far out of hand the situation had become and questioned if something could be done to ease our suffering. While I started moving paint supplies in an attempt to find the hidden cameras, our heroine turned to us and said that our entire order would be free.

As we turned to leave the store the nice lady meekly asked, “Please come again?” One bathroom, one master bedroom, and one family room (formally known as the garage room) will all be painted with free paint using a free roller and some free brushes. We were not punked, and I did not get to meet Ashton Kutcher. This time I will have to settle for free paint. Thanks to the friendly superstore employee, next time paint is needed…I might just come again.

From Cave to Living Room

We sure had our work cut out for us. Our living room has emerged from the Dark Cave it was (and is was a dark smelly one at that) to a very livable room. With a little bit more color and some furnishing, our living room will be quite something different from the first time we saw it. I think the pictures show it well.

(however still welcoming paint color options and living room furniture arrangements)