Finding the Right Tool

So today I'm out on a job, trying to install a bathroom exhaust fan between some exposed joists.  Naturally, my right angle drilling adapter is nowhere to be found, so I took the dreaded drive to Home Depot to get another one.  The Home Depot trip is always a pain in the ass.... 20 minute drive each way and then strolling through the big box store to find a needle in a haystack.  And if you have to ask a question to the staff, you are really taking a chance.  While some are super helpful, a significant number of employees are often completely and utterly incompetent.  Such is life in a large corporate setting.

So I headed to the tool department in the Salem store and looked for the tool.  I must have had a confused look on my face or something, so an employee came up and asked if he could help me.   This rarely happens here.  Usually you have to flag someone in an orange apron, and then they often seem perturbed that they have to answer your question.  So I was a little taken back by this gesture of help.

After immediately showing me the tool that I was after, he went along his way in the aisle, and I was intrigued by his accent.  I asked what country he was from and he said Sudan.

He said he has been in the US for 20 years.   Then I asked him if he gets to go back, and he said that he did two years ago, but that things were very bad in the Sudan.   "The oil industry is highly controlled, and is filled with money laundering.  Corruption is everywhere and killings happen frequently," he said.  

I think he was surprised at my questions, but was eager to respond.  I asked him what he likes about the US, and he said  "You are safe here.  You can work and your kids can get an education."

I thanked him for his help and headed for the register because I was in a hurry to get back to the the jobsite.  But during the twenty minute ride, I didn't listen to the radio as usual because I couldn't get him out of my mind.

Maybe if we could see our country through the eyes of this Home Depot employee... we would not be in such a divided political state in our country.  Our complaints seem so contrived and petty compared to the problems that beset so many in other parts for the world.   We seem to makeup problems and manufacture offences in our Woke Karen Culture.  

More people should run into this guy.