Toilet Paper Roll Holders, Home Depot & Missed Chances In Life

Sometimes a life lesson begins before you leave the station. That’s what happened as I readied myself for Europe last year. It all began, harmlessly, at my local Home Depot one day before I left for London.

For those readers outside of North America, Home Depot is a place us Canadians and Americans visit for overpriced do-it-yourself home repair items. We all know its overpriced, we all complain about the mark ups, but we still pay because oh boy is it convenient! And we love convenient, almost as much as we love shiny new things like the quiet-closing KOHLER toilet seat covers from the Santa Rosa collection! A bathroom must-have people! Wait...where did I just go? Ok I'm back again. On with the story.

Brian at Home Depot knew exactly where I could find the item I was in search of - a metallic plastic toilet roll dispenser for my parents. This part did not surprise me, Home Depot employees are pros in their respective fields, and can almost always find you your item, or offer you a home repair solution. What did catch me off guard was that Brian, possibly early 50's, kept starring down at the piece of paper my dad had given me to assist in our toilet roll holder search.

"This is really remarkable," Brian said, as he looked down, his back slightly crooked like he'd had an accident, his unshaven appearance not matching his bright and neatly pressed orange Home Depot apron.

"Is your dad a draftsman?" Brian added. "No" I replied, "But he is a jack of all trades. He's a carpenter, or was, but he could have been a draftsman, or a butcher, a car mechanic, architect, engineer or an astronaut probably."