THE RIGHT APPLICATION

I went into a certain large home improvement chain store to purchase some ridge vent for a roof that I was fixing. When I was finally able to find a young fellow to help me I told him what I was looking for. He wanted to know what I wanted it for. I thought it was rather obvious, but I told him I wanted to put a ridge vent on my roof. This did not seem to satisfy him and he wanted to know more specifically what my application was. When I looked at him quizzically he explained that there are two different applications of ridge vent and started to explain the two different applications using jargon with which I was not familiar. I told him that I did not understand what it was that he was saying, but that if he could just show me the ridge vent I could pick out the one that I wanted. He was not satisfied, and he indicated that he needed to know the specific application in order to show me the right thing.

When I finally impressed upon him that I simply did not understand what he was asking, he grudgingly took me over to a shelf and showed me some ridge vent. I looked at it and informed him that it was indeed what I was looking for. However, in order to increase my knowledge so that I would understand for future purposes, I asked him if he would also show me the other type of ridge vent. He said, "Oh no, we only carry one kind of ridge vent, it is just that there are two different applications."