DIY stores disappoint

I don’t know if there’s a proper name for it, but I have a fear of going into DIY stores. The men who work in there seem to have a real problem with women. They talk down to me as if I know nothing. The fact is, I don’t know anything about DIY. That is why I go into these stores – to get advice and buy the goods they recommend. But the men behind the counter always treat me like I’m clueless about everything. I bet I know a lot more than them about many things – such as how to make kids’ school lunches. I would love to send my husband to deal with them, but he’s not around. What’s a woman to do?

Believe me, you don’t have to be a woman to feel that way. In fairness, not all DIY stores are like it, but the blokes in many of these places clearly don’t understand that some of us do other things apart from DIY. They need to be sat on their bottoms and told by their boss that the aim of the exercise is not to prove you’re cleverer than the customer. I suspect that some of these guys think offering a service is demeaning to their brilliant IQs. When they see a woman, or

a TV type like me walk in, it’s their chance to prove to us how little we know.

It’s much the same in car yards. I saw one in Auckland advertising itself as “man free” – all the sales staff were women. Believe me, had I lived up that way, I would have bought all my cars there. Women are more charming and easy to deal with. What we need is a DIY chain that hires men to lug around the heavy stuff out the back and women to deal with customers. Hopefully a young entrepreneur is reading this.