Adventures in Paintland

[Setsunaela]

I work in the Paint department in a big box store.. and these are a couple of my adventures! These stories will involve me, some SCs, and a few awesome coworkers.. S, a young but ridiculously knowledgeable guy, N, the only other female in Paint, and R, the paint manager, with this rare managerial deformation known as a "backbone".. but mostly those will be later. ANYWAY on to the stories! (only two for now, as I've not been working that long.. yet)

But you ALWAYS do this for me!
SC: (plopping a 5gallon bucket of a clear deck sealant on the floor in front of me) You! You make this (color) for me okay?! (he turns to wander off)
Me: Sir? Excuse me sir? I cannot tint this product. If you'd like, I can show you our tinted deck stain options.
SC: NO! You always make for me every year! For five years I buy ten, fifteen gallon of this in (color)! You make for me!
Me: Sir, this product is not able to be tinted here, and we have not ever tinted it. Is it possible you normally get another product, or get something similar from another store?
SC: NO! No no no! (he begins gesturing wildly and yelling at his companion in his native language, and then turns back to me, about to continue yelling at me)
S: Setsu, can you help this couple at the desk for me? (he gestures at a waiting couple at the paint desk) I'll handle this.
[i]At this point, I go over to the paint desk and assist the people waiting. I turn around to see S loading a 5gallon of one of our tintable deck products into the tint machine.
Me: Hey S, is that for that guy?
S: Yeah.
Me: How did you....
S: I just convinced him that this was a better product than what he wanted, and it's cheaper too, so he took it.
Me: why didn't I think of that?!
S: this is why I'm awesome and you're....... slightly less awesome


But it's so... not this color!(Probably more of a Brain Burp..)
I approach a woman waiting at the paint desk with a sample container
Me: Hi there, welcome to (store), What can I do for you?
SC: Hi. I got this sample of (color) from you guys the other day, and I took it home and put it on the wall, and it's COMPLETELY different! It's so... yellow!
Me(already knowing what the problem is): Okay ma'am, I'm sorry you're disappointed with the color, but then again that is exactly what our samples are for! Thank goodness you didn't just get a whole gallon, right? I give her my brightest smile, and she nods
SC: Yea, but..I really LIKE this color! Why would your paint colors CHANGE so much?
Me: Okay ma'am, let's see your sample here. I see you have (color) which is paint chip (code), so let's grab that off of the wall here.I retrieve the paint color chip from the wall Okay so we have this nifty little light box here, with different lighting in it. As you can see, here on side A, we've got fluorescent lights, just like all of our lights here at (store). You already know what the paint chip looks like under here. I put the paint chip under the light in this section And on side B here, there is an incandescent light, like you probably have in your fixtures at home. I slide the chip over to this side
SC: -gasps, yelling- THAT'S EXACTLY HOW IT LOOKS ON MY WALL! IT'S SO... NOT (COLOR)!!!
Me: As you can see, lighting makes a really big difference in the way our colors look. I really recommend you play around with the paint chips and the light box, until you find a color that you like under side B here, so you'll like it when you get home. You might even find one that looks like your (color) sample does under these fluorescent lights. Good luck
SC: Thanks so much! Why didn't anyone tell me about this when I got my sample?
Me: -shrugs- I'm not really sure, ma'am. I'm very sorry about that.
SC: Oh well! I know now! Thanks again, I'll play!

[laborcat]

But it's so... not this color!
SC: -gasps, yelling- THAT'S EXACTLY HOW IT LOOKS ON MY WALL! IT'S SO... NOT (COLOR)!!!
Me: As you can see, lighting makes a really big difference in the way our colors look. I really recommend you play around with the paint chips and the light box, until you find a color that you like under side B here, so you'll like it when you get home. You might even find one that looks like your (color) sample does under these fluorescent lights. Good luck
SC: Thanks so much! Why didn't anyone tell me about this when I got my sample?
Me: -shrugs- I'm not really sure, ma'am. I'm very sorry about that.
SC: Oh well! I know now! Thanks again, I'll play!

I had a lot of this problem as well. We didn't have a good light box (usually the bulbs weren't very good and our paint dept was in the back of the store and the lighting wasn't all that great back there). Plus, when people bought outdoor paint, there was the difference of fluorescent vs sunlight. You seem to be very knowledgeable about your products!

[pitmonkey]

Just wait until some one gets paint at different times and starts yelling about them not being exactly the same.

[Tora]

That second one is actually kind of funny. I'm amused when people have little moments like that, largely because I have them on a frequent basis. XD

[RecoveringKinkoid]

That's why I love being able to buy a little can of sample paint for about four bucks. You can take it home, slather it on the wall, let it dry, and then live with a few days and see what the different light in the home throughout the day does to it.

[barainga]

In all fairness... a lot people dont know that different types of lighting can affect how a color will look. As for the first one... I ran into that back when I worked at Wal-Mart. People would want us to tint something that either couldnt be tinted or they wanted us to use Tint for Brand A for Brand B.

[chainedbarista]

SC: Thanks so much! Why didn't anyone tell me about this when I got my sample?

can't answer the question that was never asked...but yes, lighting is all with paints.

the stain one is just wtf and lol.

[Mytical]

Recently had something similar happen, but I was the customer. Found a lovely color of paint (was on one of those color cards that you can take home and figure out which color you want), and went to get it mixed. Was told it only came in the "Ultra expensive type paint" variety. Instead of throwing a fit, however, I found a color very close to it (and after checking how the lighting would affect it) and got it instead. It's not the paint attendants fault, so no need to take it out on them .

[Tama]

But you're using common SENSE, Mytical, something SCs know naught of.

[Setsunaela]

If I have time, I usually warn people that are browsing our "ultrafancy only" paint chip sections that they are indeed looking at the premium paint colors, with primer built in only, blah blah. Some will be like "oh i know" some "oh okay thats cool though" and both of those will keep looking, and some are "oh my, thanks!" and wander to the other side..

We have samples, too, for three bucks you get enough paint to cover 16 square feet. Some people buy the samples because they're painting furniture or a bench or something...
But when I offer the lady buying four gallons of this paint based on a paint chip she glanced at on the wall to take a sample home first... nooooooo "oh I'm sure it will be fine, right?" and the next day, who is at my desk angry that she doesn't like how it looks on her bedroom wall?

[RecoveringKinkoid]

You HAVE to look at paint in your own light, with all your home's colors and nuances reflected on it. A chip held up to the wall for a few minutes is NOT the same thing as a big swatch a couple square feet wide, with the sun moving through the day and shining through your windows.

This is true of all colors. It's doubly true for yellow.

[Web_Pict]

That's why I love being able to buy a little can of sample paint for about four bucks. You can take it home, slather it on the wall, let it dry, and then live with a few days and see what the different light in the home throughout the day does to it.

I would love that too. *Thinking about wall with squares in random sizes and colors*
Yes, I really would love that.

[Seshat]

Now that we own our own place, one of my plans is to paint a nice big mural....

[Andara Bledin]

Now that we own our own place, one of my plans is to paint a nice big mural....

We bought 4 pots of sample paint the other day. I'm going to do my kitchen up in this sort of dark fuchsia and the front bedroom is going to be plum.

If we get really ambitious, we'll redo the front bedroom into a jungle grass/trees motif with glow-in-the-dark eyes hiding in the foliage and truly fluorescent colors for the plants and flowers.

^-.-^

[Spork4pedro]

ugh. That reminds me of when we were trying to find a color for our living room/kitchen area. We went through so many samples that eventually I just gave up, pointed to a chip that looked close enough in the store and grabbed the gallons. It actually turned out well!