Ace is the place for the homeschooled hardware man

Last weekend, I made a trip to our local Ace Hardware to buy a fan. I wanted to install it alongside my treadmill so that even in the most brutal Texas heat I can exercise in comfort.

My sons and husband elected to go along with me because, well, the husband and older son have this weird affinity for things with moving parts and my toddler wants to do whatever they are doing.

We were standing in the aisle of fans or, as my five-year-old likes to say, the "Palace of Fans," when a store employee approached me and asked if I needed any help.

I was a little taken aback when I looked up. The salesman was really more of a sales boy, he looked so darn young.

Now, I know as I get older lots of people are going to start looking younger. But this person looked really young, too young to be wearing the store shirt and i.d. badge that said his name was Matt.

Not wanting to be rude (but figuring this kid couldn't possibly help me decipher the gazillion fans on display to find the one that had the most blowing power), I explained my situation and waited for the "oh, let me go ask So-and-So because he'll know more about it."

Instead, Matt smiled and said, "The fan you'll want is this one right here made by Stanley. It has a blah-blah-blah-blah and a frimfram for the gee-gaw" -- at least that's what I heard him say as he blew me out of the water with his technical know-how. My husband, on the other hand, was able to keep up and they engaged in a lively discussion about the pros and cons of the Stanley fan versus another one I'd picked out. Matt admitted he'd researched the subject and had bought one of the Stanley-made fans for his father for Father's Day.

"Do you research a lot of the things Ace sells?" I asked. He nodded. "Yeah, I like to know what everything does so when people ask me questions I can answer them," he said. I commented that he must really like his job to take the time to do that, and he said he did.

Looking at Matt more closely, I said to him, "So are you still in school?" (My way of finding out just how old he was.)

"Yes ma'am, I'll be a junior next year," he replied. "A junior in college?" I asked, thinking that would account for his incredible knowledge of makes and models of fans and pretty much everything else in the store.

"Oh no, in high school," he replied.

The plot thickened. How in the world, WHY in the world, would someone so young be so keen about researching products.

"What do you want to do after you graduate?" I asked.

Without skipping a beat he replied, "I want to start my own small business."

Ah.

Anyone who's read as many homeschooling magazines as I have -- and I think I've read them all -- has also ingested plenty of stories about young people free to explore their own entrepreneurial tendencies, often in a family-owned business. It's not uncommon among homeschooled teens to begin work early and often and, in fact, they can often be seen working right alongside their parents at book fairs and homeschool conventions selling, stocking, talking to customers.

The small-business remark, his manner, his ability to hold an articulate, informed conversation, his eye-contact, his politeness, the fact that he is so young and yet so capable, that he was working in a hardware store instead of screwing around wasting his summer like so many boys his age, that he was comfortable in a discussion with adults whereas most teen boys would rather cut off a body part than look you in the eye -- all those things combined prompted me to ask The Question.

"Matt, are you by any chance homeschooled?"

With a sheepish grin he said, "Yes. How'd you know?"

Sweet.