It's an allen conspiracy.

Found a great sale on parsons chairs, so the table doesn't look so depressing anymore.

What a nightmare, and it is all due to the allen key.

Every piece of furniture you buy now has this annoying tool that comes with it. I suppose it is fine for someone who typically has no tools laying around the house, but the whole process would have been much less stressful had the bolts come with a phillips or square head. But no, they all come with this annoying fucking tool and a hex head.

Helpful? No, it took me an hour to put together one chair. I sat back and thought there just had to be a better way. So, off I go to the hardware store and enter the tool corral. I figured that if they were going to name it something like that, they would have whatever I could possibly need.

I drop the bolt and the allen key on the counter, "There has got to be a better way."

The guy looks at me and, "Let me see what I got." He searches the whole corral and comes up empty. The best he could do was another allen key. Not one set of screw drivers or bits in this entire store came with a hex head. Is that even possible? If you have ever tried to use one of these things, I broke a nail and I came out of it with a blister, and that was after just one chair. I would never make it through all four.

I am frustrated and hold up the offending tool, "If I could just get this L taken off I could put the rest of it in my power drill."

A light bulb goes off in his head. He grabs a pair of vice grips and a hack saw off the wall and proceeds to cut the L off the allen key.

Voila! "You, my friend, are a rock star!" He blushes. "What do I owe you for the hacksaw?" He grins and just puts it back on the rack.

So, ten minutes to put together the other three chairs and they look great and are very comfy.


Now I have to repaint the kitchen to match them and lay the laminate flooring. It's a vicious cycle.