A Sticky Problem In My Life
I use rubber cement on a daily basis. I use enough that I run through three gallons each year and you just can't find gallon cans in a retail store anymore. When you say you cut and paste, most people assume you mean you do it on a computer. CTRL-C, CTRL-V. I tell them, "No, I cut a piece of paper and then I paste it onto another piece of paper, using rubber cement." They look at me strangely and show me the aisle where the 1.5 ounce jars are. "No," I say, "I need gallon containers, three of them." They give me a look and a "Sorry, sir, but I don't know of anyone who carries them and I don't think they are available anywhere."
Sigh.
I called around and found that Dick Blick's commercial supply house carried it, in six-gallon boxes, a two-year supply. Fine; that's no problem. Two years later, I called them again and asked for six gallons of rubber cement. "Sorry, sir; we no longer carry it. Our last order was two years ago." ?? "Oh," I replied, starting to laugh. "That was me. I was your last customer."
After I searched the Internet, I found a place and they directed me to their supplier, a nice fellow in Ohio. "Sure," he said, "I sell a lot of the stuff. I even carry spirit duplicator fluid." I was surprised about that and said, "The stuff we used in grammar school that made purple print and smelled so great?" It was his turn to laugh. "The same. You would be surprised how many school districts in the sticks don't have the money for the latest devices and still use the old Ditto machines. I'm sure their students smell the fluid just as you and I did."
I don't know if this place is a nice warehouse with a cement floor and metal shelves, or an old warehouse with wooden floors, wooden shelves and a quiet way about it. I'd like to think the latter. A place where history resides, where the Ditto machine is as welcome as the latest Xerox printer, where you might find a cat sleeping in a corner to keep the occasional mouse on its toes.
I just can't see selling Ditto fluid in a modern building; you need creaky floorboards. We need a place where, when you say, "I can't find anyone who carries this product anymore," the owner says, "How much would you like?"
Sigh.
I called around and found that Dick Blick's commercial supply house carried it, in six-gallon boxes, a two-year supply. Fine; that's no problem. Two years later, I called them again and asked for six gallons of rubber cement. "Sorry, sir; we no longer carry it. Our last order was two years ago." ?? "Oh," I replied, starting to laugh. "That was me. I was your last customer."
After I searched the Internet, I found a place and they directed me to their supplier, a nice fellow in Ohio. "Sure," he said, "I sell a lot of the stuff. I even carry spirit duplicator fluid." I was surprised about that and said, "The stuff we used in grammar school that made purple print and smelled so great?" It was his turn to laugh. "The same. You would be surprised how many school districts in the sticks don't have the money for the latest devices and still use the old Ditto machines. I'm sure their students smell the fluid just as you and I did."
I don't know if this place is a nice warehouse with a cement floor and metal shelves, or an old warehouse with wooden floors, wooden shelves and a quiet way about it. I'd like to think the latter. A place where history resides, where the Ditto machine is as welcome as the latest Xerox printer, where you might find a cat sleeping in a corner to keep the occasional mouse on its toes.
I just can't see selling Ditto fluid in a modern building; you need creaky floorboards. We need a place where, when you say, "I can't find anyone who carries this product anymore," the owner says, "How much would you like?"
posted by Tom Carten at 3:44 PM
4 Comments:
Oh, the smell of ditto copies! I can get high again just thinking about it. Made taking quizzes a tad easier.
There's some great old general stores in northern New England that make you feel like you stepped back in time when you cross the threshold. It's such fun to rummage in them.
Hymie's ... I remember it well. Neighbor, Buddy Hewitt, needed a washboard for some show he was in. Scouted all over Stratford's big stores for one, without success. Finally went to see old Hymie; asked if he might have one and Hymie said, "What size?"
if Hymie didn't have it, you didn't need it.
That's pretty much the slogan over the door to Fadden's General Store in Woodstock, N.H.
Just as josh says: wooden (and very uneven)floors creating aisles you can barely turn around in.
I know of a hardware store like that. Ciesla's in Buttonwood, just south of W-B, off the Sans Souci parkway.
It has wooden floor boards which are worn smooth and creak in places; tin ceiling too. We're restoring a Victorian era home, and needed a certain type light switch for the foyer, sure enough, Mr. Cielsa had it, granted it was in the basement, but it was still in its original box.
The store still stands, though under the new management (after Mr. Ciesla went to the Great Tool Shed in the sky in the late 90s), the ancient hardware isn't to be found.
Post a Comment
<< Home