The Hardware Store

OK...so last night I decided to rearrange furniture and make it a bit more 'homey'. I didnt even attempt to move the 5,000 pounds china cabinet although I really dont want it where it is. So, we work around it. Moving the rest of the things was easier but next to impossible to get traction on marble floors and my feet looked like something out of a Roadrunner cartoon! I finally have everything in place and with what I have to work with, I am quite pleased. The last piece to take care of was the cable cord for the TV.

Apparently they purchased the worlds shortest cord and therefore decided that the TV goes right there as well! My new arrangement didnt accommodate this and with 45 minutes before closing time (730pm), I went down to the local hardware store, Ratti.

I dutifully went upstairs of the store where they have the televisions, etc. with my cord and its strange battery pack permanent attachment (never saw anything like it in my life and if you are plugging it into the cable outlet in the wall, why do you need a battery for it?) and told the clerk I needed a longer cable. She told me to go downstairs and ask for Rino (pronounced Reeno).

Ok...back downstairs and I find a guy and ask if his name is Rino. He looks at me and says I need to go to the grocery store next door if I want Vino!!!! Do I really look that stupid? I mean, I am American and dont have a great grasp of speaking the Italian language, but why on God's green earth would I be standing in the middle of hardware store with a TV cable in my hand and asking for wine?! We both looked at each other incredulously for a moment and I asked again for a man name Rino.

Apparently the problem is that I am genetically incapable of rolling my R's and therefore, Rino doesnt sound like RRRRRRRRRRino but instead like Vino. At any rate, he points to another guy who is Rino and lucky for me, doesnt speak a lick of English! Ho hum. Time to pantomime again.

Anyway, they are finally able to provide me with an extension to the existing cable (which I made him prove to me that it worked because I now know you cant return anything after you leave the store!) and I went on my merry way to finishing my task and to having a glass of Vino in honor of Rino!