Hi there! I just wanted to let everyone know that your previous author has left the hardware store industry.
Don't despair! He's passed this blog along to me so that I can continue to educate everyone regarding the follies of trying to fix it yourself.

Case in point: today we had the season's first example of trying to buy a male-male extension cord.

Every year, without fail

"Do you have an extension cord with two pointy ends on it?"

NO!

Every year some doofus lays out some elaborate Christmas light display and every year they discover, when it's all over, that they ran all the strings backwards and they're holding onto the female end and standing at the receptacle. Every year they come come in to the store asking for an extension cord with two male ends, and every year I need to explain that no, "they" don't make such a thing. Yes, we have the parts for you to make one yourself. No, it's a bad idea because a) it's against building code to use an unapproved device for such a purpose and b) if you have any kind of accident and need to file an insurance claim your insurance company can just turn around deny your claim for that very reason.

Nine times out of ten then give up, but that tenth guy is just too lazy to re-run his entire display or too cheap to buy a hundred foot cord to reach the end of his lights.