The company is a mere shell of what it once was and the reason is that unless there is a lot of management around and they are doing some customer service kiss ass blitz the service ain't worth a shit. If they are not being forced to kiss ass any other time they look at customers as the enemy put there to annoy them and meant to be avoided at all cost. They are masters at trying to look as if they are busy and do nothing really but shuffle around the corner trying to avoid eye contact and stay out from a customers sight or at least out of range to be approached for a question. This of course does not work with the more assertive asshole customer who thinks the world revolves around them. So they do end up catering to that customers needs and 15 minute list of questions while everyone else waits so that then they can say "Hold on I will be with you ,,, in a minute (translates 30 minutes) or after my break, or I'm already heading out the door but my replacement should be here in a minute (translates to 30 minutes) They remind me of Gollum that pathetic little creature from the Hobbit you tend too look at with part sympathy because they are so awfully pathetic and equal disgust at their lack of character slithering around attempting to avoid the slightest work as it will no doubt make them sooooo sooooo very miserable. So here I am at Home Depot I took Friday off to get some work done touching up the fence and putting an extra coat of stain where needed. Basic regular Spring ritual. So at ~ 6:60 I leave the house for the 10 minute drive to Home Depot. I know exactly what I want. Two gallons of Bear outdoor wood protection acrylic tint base 3077 in chocolate brown. So I look around the isle looking for my target base tint while Gollum avoids eye contact with anyone but latched on to this old lady grilling him on the nature of Potts and planter painting techniques and the characteristics of paints resiliency in the fact of water and porous properties of fired clay and soil acidity effects of acrylic blah blah blah. While threatening the little creature in case any advice given her may be in accurate and cause her grand painting scheme to fail. I have to open a new box on the third shelf in the back of the shelf to get my two gallons of tint base much to Gollums relief this did not require his assistance. Mean while he apparently had a few chores to complete. ..... Well one as far as I can tell which was to shake a five gallon can of paint for some other customer not in the general vicinity. Mean while I sit my two cans of base on the counter in his plain sight and am feel sorry for the miserable little troll trapped by his employer in the paint department. So I do not bother him as he shuffles around in his little 10 by 10 cell behind the counter. I patiently wait for him to catch up with his duties slithering here and scampering there, pecking around on the keyboard, writing something on a sticker all the while avoiding eye contact. THEN the little faggot scampers around the corner mumbling something into his two way radio. So I'm thinking to myself "Well the little weasel was ready for his break or lunch and did not have the balls to acknowledge the customer." So I'm thinking protocol must be to trade off to the next employee. About five plus minutes later I see Gollum two isles down on his way from the employee lounge slithering out the door. So I call the store on my cell and there is a menu that starts with 1 for a department. After that a second menu that starts with Kitchen and bath and goes through plumbing, lumber, and such eventually getting to the end but without an option for the paint department. So I start over and this time just choose kitchen and bath. I ask for assistance with paint. This apparently short circuited this girls brain. It literally blew her mind. She apparently though she was hallucinating and asked me to repeat myself. She then attempted to transfer my to Lumber. Eventually I get to the lumber guy. By now a previously virtually empty paint department has about five customers waiting at the desk two of which are wondering where Gollum went off to. The lumber guy asked twice what I need and I described it to him in to great of a detail for his brain to comprehend. He took a pencil and paper out (I could here this) and I was ready to speak really slow so he could write it down. But he simply asked for my phone number to have a paint guy call me back as he could not transfer me to him as paint is not on the menu. No one called back but another 10 minutes later a Tall skinny guy likely some sort of manager trying to fit in with the rest of the grimlins and trolls dressed in shorts, and apron looking like a Nascar fan who woke up Monday morning on the infield with sunglasses and all shows up. I explain what I need. Now I guess it is about a little after 7pm close to half past. And I have wasted considerable time and an relieved that finally someone possibly competent enough will add the needed chocolate brown ting to my two gallons of tint base and put them in the shaker so that fifteen minutes later I can be checking out. His answer: We are out of that and then turns to ask the next victim what he needs. I stopped him and asked if that was his final answer. Apparently it was "All he could do" OK the thing is once I start to loose my cool a quick genuine apology and real concern will dissipate my anger really quick and I will generally just move on and forget about anything I was upset and work to move forward. The correct answer would have been "Well sir I am so sorry but we are out of that tint. Let me see what I can do for you. He would then proceed to call the other store 20 to 25 minutes away right? Apparently not. After I lost my cool and gave him a piece of my mind as well as a few other ass-wipe Home Depot Losers on my way out the door. I get in my car and before I'm leaving the parking lot the phone at the other home depot is ringing. I choose option 1 for Kitchen and bath and ask for assistance with paint I explain to the moron on the other side of the line politely and with kid gloves so as not to upset them or cause them to panic, that there is no option for paint but I still need to make sure that the store has the base and tint I need before I make the trip. She places me on hold and I put her on speaker. ~ 25 minutes later as I'm pulling into the next Home depot store the line that has me on hold is disconnected. The rest of the story involves me asking for the store manager and being told who the store manager is and where the store manager is and me then informing the innocent bystander that in that case the store manager is not where he needs to me and that he needs to be standing some where in my general vicinity. About two minutes later I explain the whole incident and the store manager goes and gets the paint and has it shaken and takes it to the front and tells the cashier to give me a 20 percent discount. I did not care for or want the discount but he defused the situation. He explained the various places where the situation was handles incorrectly and apologized. And that is really all I needed. Moral to the story. If you go to Home Depot do not try to be a nice guy cause you feel sorry for the miserable creature slithering around the paint section. Bully him around a bit and make him shake your paint or inform him that they are out of the tint color you need before he slithers off. And demand eye contact something like "Listen you miserable little pathetic troll I need you to make eye contact with me when I'm talking to you" Then you get what you need and are on your way.
Very weird! I've actually been to the Home Depot in Plano, TX. Although I live 1500 miles from it, I've actually made deliveries there. Very odd indeed.
Part of that orange apron carries a radar device - similar to the heartbeat sensor in COD: Modern Warfare - it alerts staff to the changing skin tone and body temperature of a person whom needs assistance. Try Lowe's next time? Their technology is not as advanced.
That's weird. Home Depot's people have always seemed really helpful to me and Lowe's people are horrible. My Home Depot paint experience: I needed some paint in a certain shade for my bathroom. I wanted the baseboard and door trim to match my grout, so I brought my grout sample (bought elsewhere) and it was too small to scan so they brought out their grout book and matched my sample to a shade of grout that they had, tore the page from two books and taped them together so they would have enough to scan and made my paint. I was pleased as punch.
Hell Cheese I bet you been from Tuscon to Tucumcari and Tehachapi to Tonapah. Warped by the rain, driven by the snow, kicked by the wind, robbed by the sleet Had your head stoved in, but still on my feet. Remember though has Alice you can see her in every headlight.
That is about how it seems at the Plano Home Depot. It would be comical if it weren't for the fact that you just want to get their. Pay them money for paint and then move on. From now on if I need that brand of paint and Home Depot carries it I'll go to the store in Frisco or Carrollton. If you triangulated between those three stores I'd be about right in the middle equal distance from each. I just go to Plano out of habit its on the way to many other places I go.
The Home Depot's website is waaaaay better than Lowe's. You can find things so much more easily. lowes.com sucks and is buggy as hell. Don't get me wrong, I shop at Lowe's. I actually prefer their store layout and like blue better than orange, but they definitely have their shortcomings.
I have no brand loyalties, albeit I do enjoy the receipt-free replacement guarantee offered by companies such as Sears (Craftsman,) Lowes (Kobalt,) and Snap-On (um... find a trailer or something.) I think Husky has a similar guarantee, but have never needed it (tethered to Home Depot?) Be wary of Sears' new attempt to branch away from unlimited hand tool replacement with their new "evolv" line of tools made in China - carries the same unlimited replacement guarantee, BUT, you need to provide a receipt to get a replacement. Don't think (even for a moment) that those innovative thermal paper receipt printers were chosen for minimizing noise in a retail environment - they were put in place because it almost necessitates a safety deposit box to preserve one for extended periods. Try it out! Keep your grocery receipt in your car for a couple of days, or even in your wallet. Chances are, friction/temperature change/el Nino/whatever, have completely erased your paper receipt! Ooooops, sorry! No exchange!
I feel like you should have a receipt to exchange/refund anything, personally... and a drop of blood. Just kidding about the blood part.
