Castorama

Castorama. I'm not homesick yet, but when I get there, I'll probably go here. If I were to wear earmuffs and walk around (without reading labels) I'd swear I was back in the U.S. Other than the language it is virtually indistinguishable from your run-of-the-mill super hardware store in the U.S.(Lowes, Menards, Home Depot). It is strangely similar right down to the seasonal isle chock full of stainless steel grills and lawn furniture. The kids and I had stopped by once before to look into buying a new swingset/play area. We found one we liked and tonight we returned to purchase. Now our vehicle is a VW golf. If you're not familar with it, well it's not an SUV, let's put it that way. So, my options were to either haul it to my house in 18 separate trips or have them deliver it. Not as easy a decision as you might think since setting up delivery requires much more conversation (in French). Luckily our new best friend from Cat, Jennifer(not just because she speaks both languages) offered to go with. So I put away the rope and tie downs and decided to go with the delivery.

If you've been keeping track of my blog, you should know that there is more than just a language barrier to deal with. Their is also a cultural one, which means that this was the beginning of the story. Things are just done differently here. Not worse or better necessarily, just different. Let me lay out our trip to buy one, albeit rather large, item. I'll break it into steps, should you ever need to visit a French mega hardware store. Keep in mind I am catching only bits of each conversation and even our translator is not fluent.

1. Check the outside display models and select the model that you want.
2. Go to the information desk to inquire where to purchase the swingset.
3. Go the "Jardin" area as directed by the info desk. Find (easier than at Lowes, I must say) and consult with a member of the Castorama Jardin team. He will tell you that yes the item is in stock and that you need to set up a delivery date before purchasing said item. Okeedokee.
4. Go to the Delivery desk. Explain your situation and recieve a tenative delivery date.
5. Go back to the helpful "Jardin" employee and assure him that you have a delivery date. He will supply you with a printout of the catalog item that you will eventually need to use to pay for the item. I say "eventually", because you must first have the price of delivery added to your ticket. Soooo.
6. Go right back to the delivery desk and have a seat with one of their helpful friendly workers (seriously). Here they will actually set up the delivery and add it to the ticket. While here you must also try to give directions and draw a map to a home that you yourself couldn't find without the help of Mr. Tom tom.
7. Take the newly revised ticket to the cashier and pay for both the item and delivery.
8. Hope like crazy you did everything right and that next Monday you don't have to explain to your kids why the swingset isn't here yet.

And as the the French say "Voila". There it is! At least I hope so.