Found 17 loose screws in the cereal aisle and nobody else saw it

So I was at the big-box hardware store in Fresno yesterday, just grabbing a pack of zip ties, and I cut through the cereal aisle on my way to checkout. I noticed a small pile of silver screws scattered right under the shelf edge, like someone had dropped a whole row of them. I counted 17 before I got bored, and I realized they were all the same size, probably from a display rack that was slowly falling apart. I actually told a stock guy about it and he just shrugged, said "they redecorate this section every other month." I laughed and walked off, but now I keep picturing that shelf collapsing on some kid reaching for Lucky Charms. Has anyone else found random hardware in a totally weird spot and just stood there with a dumb grin?

2 comments

2 Comments

grantp141mo ago

...which is probably why they don't pay me enough to notice things like that. I once spent ten minutes staring at a loose hinge on a bathroom stall door, convinced it was some kind of hidden message, before realizing it just needed a screwdriver. My brain just turns random hardware into a mystery novel when I'm bored in a store, and I love it. Honestly, finding 17 matching screws in a weird spot is way more interesting than actually buying cereal, so you're already ahead of the game. I'd keep an eye on that stock guy though, he's clearly seen too many display racks crumble to take anything seriously.

seth_shah1mo ago

Must be a hardware store thing. Last month I found three drawer slides in the frozen food aisle at my local place, right next the pizzas. My first thought was someone dropped them on purpose as a prank, but then I remembered I once lost a whole box of hinges in a book store and never found them. So now I just assume I'm the guy who leaves random hardware behind and other people find it later. That cereal shelf is probably fine, but I'd still grab the box from the back row just in case.