Sherman Supply Co.

In order to explain why I was so happy with Sherman Supply, you have to know about the abysmal service I got from the other stores I tried before going there. Sorry this is so long.
I needed a replacement shower hose for a bathtub faucet made by Sign of the Crab, evidently a fairly uncommon brand. A web search showed no local retailers and no way to buy parts online, so I called the company and they gave me the item number, the price, and a list of four local stores they said could order the part for me: McLendon’s, Keller, Ferguson, and Lowe’s. I spent several hours dealing with McClendon’s and Keller, as well as the sales rep for the manufacturer, and got the following responses:
«When I type the item number into Google, I get hundreds of results, so I can’t help you.»
«Why do you want this? Hardly anyone has this kind of faucet.»
«Oh, for a clawfoot tub? No one has clawfoot tubs anymore.»
«Wait, this is a 1? I thought it was an I.»
After about four hours of this, one of the stores called, saying they’d found the part, but I would have to pay 20% over the retail price, another $ 20 for shipping, and it would take 10 to 14 days to arrive. When I asked her why I was being asked to pay nearly double, she said something irrelevant about Canada. No idea what she was talking about. I said I’d think about it and call back.
Then I went to Lowe’s, which indicates my flagging will to live. After about a year of wandering the aisles, I located an actual employee and told him what I wanted, and oddly enough he knew what I was talking about. Unfortunately, his response was essentially, «there is literally no way you are ever getting that part. You can try Morgan’s but, seriously, no.»
Back home, I looked in the phone book like a Luddite. Morgan’s is in West Seattle, where I’d already uselessly spent most of the morning, and since I was going to be disappointed anyway, I decided I might as well go to Sherman Supply which is five minutes from my house. When I got there, I was surprised to find that the store looks tiny from the outside but inside is a large and really lovely showroom.
«I need a replacement part for a Sign of the Crab tub faucet.»
Upon hearing this, the Sherman guy made a hilarious face; I can only describe it as the face Lucy Ricardo would make every time Ricky yelled at her. Even so, he said, «well, let me see if I can find it.» I handed him the notepaper on which I’d written the part number and description (and he accepted with equanimity my being a control freak and slow-​talking him on 1s vs. Is) and then said, «oh, it’s a hose? You can get a hose from a different company.» It took him about 90 seconds to look in a catalog and find a nearly exact match. He even pulled up the specs for my faucet on the manufacturer’s website to make sure that the new hose would fit. He called his supplier to verify they had it, faxed the order over to him, and then went outside to wait on the sidewalk while the supplier drove over with it. The whole thing took 15 minutes.
I feel a little stupid for not realizing earlier that I could have ordered a similar hose from a different company, but mostly I feel aggravated that no one at McClendon’s, Keller, or Lowe’s, whose business it is to know these things, suggested it hours earlier.
Sherman’s did several things right that no one else I dealt with that day did. Their person was willing to try to find what is evidently the plumbing industry’s version of a unicorn, as opposed to the almost uniformly begrudging and ultimately unhelpful service I got from everyone else, all of whom were the manufacturer’s authorized dealers. Better, he quickly realized there was a much simpler solution. And even though I was spending less than $ 100 that day, he provided the same courtesy and careful service as one would expect if they were spending thousands of dollars, which I imagine is the more typical sale for Sherman’s. Looking around the showroom and later at their website, I see that, for the most part, they sell higher-​end plumbing fixtures. Even having lived through the aggravation of one remodel, the really beautiful fixtures on display and the excellent service almost makes me wish it I had another bathroom or kitchen to remodel so I could give them more business.
Finally, there were the cats. Sherman’s has two cats: Calvin, the sweet little tabby who appeared from nowhere, jumped up onto the desk, booped my nose with his nose, and then sat on my shoulder for a good five minutes purring away, thus turning a crappy day into the best day ever, and Mason, who evidently being more cat-​like declined to put in an appearance, thereby earning my affection on general principle. Honestly, I’d like to go back to the store just to hang out with the cats, though I don’t imagine they’d welcome that. In any event, if you need plumbing fixtures, I strongly recommend you go to Sherman’s and see Calvin, Mason, and the human whose name I never learned because I am the worst.