atypical

over the past couple of weeks i have been shopping for a new bbq. last fall mine got 'weather-bombed'. if you are not familiar with a weather bomb, it is the overly ominous term invented by meteorologists used to describe an intense fast-moving storm & strike fear into weather network viewers. the last one to blow through, took my bbq with it. 

now, it's not like i had a flimsy little grill either. it was sort of a behemoth.

but alas, it was no match for the infamous weather bomb. it blew over - quite violently in fact. the fall broke the internal heating elements & all of the cast iron grills...sigh, tear, sniffle... so i had to buy a new one.

which brings me back to the topic of this post - atypical. i may not look like an avid griller or someone who knows anything at all about bbq's. in fact, i think i came as a bit of a shock to the employees at rona, home depot & kent.

i know about btu's, cast iron, rotisseries & the ridiculousness of side burners. i even made a chart with a side-by-side comparison of power, cooking surface area & auxiliary capabilities to evaluate each model's cost effectiveness.

but, i also walked into all of the big manly stores in sundresses, flip flops & pearls.

it was sort of hilarious. i would be perusing the bbq selection, when inevitably a young man would saunter over & say 'can i give you a hand there, miss?' 

i in turn would say, 'yes, i'm looking for the broil king regal 420. do you have it? & if not, can you order it in? & what sort of turn around time are we looking at here?'

the looks on their faces were priceless, followed by the stuttering & immediate search for their managers. my favourite exchange took place at rona. the salesboy told me he took care of the bbq section & that he knew the 'common sense' stuff about them. about 3 minutes later i had informed him that 'things just weren't going to work out for us' and was on my way out the door.

in the end, i found a nice & intelligent manager at kent. he never talked down to me & was sort of impressed by my research. i in turn, was impressed with his knowledge of each bbq, warranty coverage & assembly. what a novel concept - employees in big box stores who actually know what they're talking about. i bought a bbq from him, but it sure was fun to see the looks of surprise crossing the faces of the minions about town. let this be a lesson to you boys, don't judge a book by its cover & geez louise, take a bit more pride in your jobs.