month of MAYhem day 12

maybe you're doing the Month of MAYhem Blogging Challenge™,  but probably not.

when i was busy making my duct tape roses, i discovered that duck tape brand duct tape makes collegiate tape, and it comes in KU jayhawk.

now, see, at the time KU was soing good in the NCAA men's hoop tournament, and cr went to KU and while she's not a huge fan, she has some fondness.

so i thought it would be a hoot just to call my local hardware stores and see if they had any.

you know, as kind of a longshot.

so i called every hardware store within a 20 mile radius of my house and asked. i also called office supply stores and craft stores.

four stores were closed because they are not open on sunday afternoons, including richmond home supply, which is my regular hardware store.

both of the staples stores i called had ugly automated phone systems. i had to wait over four minutes to get through to a live person on one, but at the williston store i waited under a minute and got a pleasant person who could tell me with certainty that although they were aware such a  product existed, they did not carry it.

most of the people i talked to were very lovely.

the conversation went kind of like this:

hi, my name is (my real first name) and i'm calling to see if you have any duck tape in the kansas jayhawks collegiate pattern.


duct tape?


yes. duck tape brand makes a collegiate line that comes in KU. do you have any?

most of them were friendly and bemused and some of them knew without looking that they did not carry duck tape in any kind of prints, and some knew that the only print they carried was zebra stripe.

at the ace hardware in south burlington it took two people to tell me they only carry solids. at the ace hardware in colchester the guy said "you lookin' how many we have?"
"no, i'm lookin' if you have any at all."

they didn't.

at a.c. moore in williston, they were able to tell me right away that while they carry duck tape in a lot of colors and patterns, they do not stock the collegiate line. they recommended some stores that also sell duck tape.

at the ace hardware in essex way, the young man laughed and said "i think you'll have to wait for them to win the championship before we carry that!" and i gave him a lot of credit for quick thinking.

when i called micahael's, their answer to my very specifically phrased question was "uh, i think we only carry duct tape from duck tape", which was kind of sad because i had already specified that it was a duck tape brand product.

at the ace hardware on north ave in burlington, i was on hold twice and talked to two different guys, but they were able to tell me for sure that they only carry duck tape in solid colors, but if i wanted to special order, they could get me some by wednesday.

oh, thank you, i said, but the game is tomorrow.

and he laughed and wished me luck.