Ever since I first moved to New York, I always noticed the restaurant supply stores that line Bowery on the Lower East Side. I figured they’d be good places to shop one day when I had my own place (well, not a roommate, but a husband or a more permanent home), and I could peruse their aisles to see what I might like. On my mental list were things like massive stock pots, huge stainless steel pans, and maybe even cheap serving platters.

I left work early to go since they’re supposedly only open from 9-6pm Monday through Friday. And I showed up at 5:05pm yesterday, and I got turned away. “Closed!’ two different men shouted at me. And I said, what, I thought you guys close at 6pm? And they both rolled their eyes at me as though I was some deaf child and said they changed their hours over a year ago, how could I not know that?

Well, sorry. I don’t check your hours every single day because I don’t pass your store every day. And no, I didn’t know because I completely went by your Yelp posting. And no, I don’t really like your attitude when I was trying to give your stupid business my money.

This is why regular consumers like me go to stores like Bed Bath and Beyond or Williams Sonoma. We end up paying more for what we buy that way. But we don’t get treated like shit like at the industrial supply shops.

I’m not even sure I want to go back. How much money would I really be saving, anyway?