Got Their Wires Crossed

(I am wiring up some phone lines at home. Being the handy person I am, I have all the right tools for the job, but I need extra wire. Now that everyone is on cell phones, it’s easy to forget that there used to be three types of wire used for phones: four twisted wires inside a flesh-tone tube, four light wires in a gray, and a combination of the two that was like a spring. The right tool I have is a crimper that attaches clips to the end of the flat type. My wife is going out, so I decide to have her pick some up.)

Me: “I need fifty feet of phone cable. I need this kind. Here is a sample so you know exactly what to get.”

(I hand her six inches of cable and figure that this could not be screwed up. An hour later, she returns with the wrong kind of wire.)

Me: “This is the wrong wire.”

Wife: “The guy said you needed this kind.”

Me: *inwardly face-palming* “You do realize that there was a reason I sent a sample with you?”

(I wasn’t upset with my wife, but I really needed to smack the employee for the debacle. I knew my wife well enough that I knew a sample was needed to make sure I got the right thing. But what idiot employee, shown exactly what is needed, blindly decides you need something else?)