The guy at the hardware store in Portland told me my old faucet was a 'parts unicorn'

My kitchen faucet handle snapped clean off last Tuesday, and the whole cartridge was shot. I took it to the local Ace, and the guy just shook his head after looking up the model. He said they stopped making the replacement parts in 2012, and the only place he could think to check was some obscure plumbing forum. Has anyone else had to basically rebuild a fixture from scratch because the parts just vanished?

3 comments

3 Comments

felix_henderson541mo ago

Ugh, that's the worst feeling.

cameronschmidt1mo ago

Read an article about how that specific feeling actually has a name. It's called anticipatory regret, the stress you feel before making a choice because you're already worried about picking wrong. The article said our brains treat potential loss as more important than potential gain. Makes the whole "ugh" moment make a lot more sense. It's basically your mind trying too hard to protect you from a mistake you haven't even made yet.

the_holly17d ago

Panicked my way through picking a cereal at the grocery store yesterday because of this exact thing. Stood there for a solid five minutes weighing the regret of choosing the sugary one versus the healthy one that tastes like cardboard. Pretty sure my brain was trying to protect me from a mistake that literally takes 30 seconds to make and eat.