A Handywoman Gets Petty When She Returns to a Hardware Store to Prove an Employee Wrong
Published Oct. 27 2023, 11:33 a.m. ET
Maggie McGaugh is in her petty era
I don't think we as a society fully appreciate how satisfying the occasional bout of pettiness can be. A lot of people will tell someone they are above all that, but those folks are usually attempting to emotionally manipulate someone who is justifiably annoyed. I once told my therapist that righteous anger is one of my favorite emotions, and she applauded that. When done correctly, pettiness and righteous anger are versions of standing up for one's self.
That's exactly what Maggie McGaugh did when she returned to a hardware store to prove an employee wrong. It's not easy being a woman in a space primarily occupied by men, which makes Maggie's actions all the more admirable. As the character of Goldie Wilson said in Back to the Future, "Have some respect for yourself. Don't you know, if you let people walk over you now, they'll be walking over you for the rest of your life." Let's not do that.
One person's trash is Maggie's treasure
Who is Maggie McGaugh? She's someone who doesn't need unsolicited home improvement advice.
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Maggie was a new mom with a desire to find a hobby that allowed her to be creative while also making some money to help her family. In an interview with VoyageDallas, Maggie explained that her son was a great sleeper which made for a ton of free time to kill. Parents, activate envy!
It all began with a discarded breadbox Maggie snagged from the side of the road. Where some folks saw trash, Maggie saw potential. She would spend her days scouring the world for garbage that she could breathe new life into. We love a trash queen!
The next step was to put her work on social media in order to find a fanbase. The DIY scene on TikTok in particular is fairly robust, as Maggie soon discovered.
"My audience on social media really started loving following my process and story and I ended up going viral on TikTok and Instagram," she told the outlet. "I grew my following from about 3,000 followers to almost 2 million now." As of the time of this writing, Maggie has over one million followers on TikTok and more than 573,000 on Instagram.
Maggie describes herself as a furniture flipper though she has since added fashion upcycling to her résumé. "My favorite things to flip are dressers and my favorite style is mid-century modern. I’ve spent nearly two years flipping furniture and I was so successful that my husband and I were able to purchase an Airbnb," she said. Unlike some creators, Maggie is very transparent about what she makes from her sales.
This isn't petty. It's perfect.
It's safe to say that after three years of hardcore learning and rapid success, Maggie doesn't need to be talked down to by a hardware store employee. "This might be the pettiest thing I've ever done," says Maggie in a TikTok. "I really hope he's working."
The "he" in question is the aforementioned hardware store employee who had a lot of thoughts she didn't ask for last time she was shopping. Text over the video reads, "This employee acted like I was an idiot for grouting peel and stick tile. I came back to show him, once I finished." She sure did!
The caption beneath the TikTok adds an extra layer of frustration to the story. "I even explained the instructions say you can grout but NAH, I still didn't know what I was doing," she said.
Maggie's execution is brilliant. Off camera we hear a man ask how she's doing. She plays dumb. "Pretty good," Maggie replies. "Did I speak to you about the peel and stick grout the other day?" When he says yes, Maggie triumphantly tells him it worked. Surprised by this reveal, the employee asks if Maggie took pictures. My girl definitely took pictures, and proceeded to show him. We in the righteous anger biz call this a W.
