Unexpectedly, the handyman tells me I need to take a ride with him to pick out another shower fixture. Apparently, the boxes of bathroom gear we picked out ourselves on Sat. at another store was not the right stuff. He tried to explain, but even with the inferior products in his hands and gesturing, I could not understand plumbing speak. But I got the gist.

Home Depot is even busier on Mondays than weekends. Except all the buyers are pros, and they know exactly what they’re doing. Well almost all. He led me to the showerhead department. Once again, it was all a blur. He made suggestions. A family member favored the ‘brushed nickel’ look, kind of a dull finish, as opposed to the more common shiny stainless steel. Although one company’s stainless steel is not quite like another’s.

However the family member left it all up to me, and was absent. As I moved over to the dull finish section and started pointing, another pro immediately spoke up.

New pro: Hey, I wouldn’t go for the brushed nickel.
Me: Why is that?
Np: Hard to clean right. You’re gonna have to wax it.
Me: You’re kidding, right?
Np: Nope. If you don’t do it right, you’ll get scratches. Then it’ll turn black.
Me: What?
Np: Yup. Wax it first, then less problems. But once it gets scratched, it’s no good. I’ve had to go in and replace lots of this stuff when it gets black. Don’t get it, if you ask me.
Me: Okay.

I got stainless steel, the shiny kind.