Life at Home Depot is nasty, brutish and short
FoxInDetox details several overheard conversations from just one visit to Home Depot to explain why:
Sometimes it takes every ounce of strength you have and a whole lot of praying to keep from walking up to a Home Depot employee and punching them in the face.




Get it yourself
I've found that you can substitute any retail or civic entity in the place of (say) "Home Depot" and get the exact same service around here. I don't know if its widespread, and well known in other cities, but the customer service round here stinks for sure. Hey, I worked at BK when I was younger. I hated it and I hated the customers (really just a shameful way of saying how much I hated myself for having to work at BK, wearing the rusty, checkered, polyester outfits), but I was always good with the customer service. "It builds character," I told myself. Around here, you've got to damn near threaten employees with violence before they'll stop slacking, texting, or talking on the phone long enough to just ring you out.
What good is it getting a manager or a supervisor? They've gotta work with these sloths. If they could've done anything about it, wouldn't they have done it by now? Trust me, they're more beaten down they you are. Grin and bear it, or give it back to them just as good with bigger balls and move along.
Complain, complain, complain
Geez Fonya....lots of complaining of what you heard but no bad experience of your own to complain about at Home Depot. Did you ever try to contact a supervisor? Don't know if it's widespread? Makes me think you should do a little more research before you complain in general about all of us HD employees giving YOU bad service.
What's your point Fornya???
I guess your working at BK didn't build your character up too much cuz here you are telling us to give it back to them....that should really solve the problem. Besides Fornya, I've never seen a HD cashier on the phone or texting while they are on duty.....are you sure you were even in a HD when all this took place???
Pay back
Now I dont feel bad for knocking the can of epoxy based white patio paint of the shelf and all over the floor.
YOU DON'T FEEL BAD??? And
YOU DON'T FEEL BAD??? And you wonder why the employees at HD might be a bit miffed dealing with customers???? Bet you would complain ruthlessly if Home Depot delivery service spilled a gallon of paint in your driveway!
home depot employees must deal with many very rude customers
I am an employee of Home Depot and must write that while many of the customers we deal with are honest and know what they are looking for, their are some customers that are outright rude. While i don't claim to know it all, I certainly know that there is no chainsaw blade that fits a hedgetrimmer as one customer insisted on one day. He even bought in the hedgetrimmer that he insisted had a chainsaw blade on it. Another time I had a customer come to me getting mad because I couldn't understand what in the world he was looking for.....the man spoke only spanish and for some reason I am being rude because I don't understand spanish. (last i looked, this is the good ole USA.) I could go on and on, but that is not my intent to knock customers...my intent is to let it be known that it is sometimes both ways....rude customers and rude employees.
I'm a Home Depot Canada employee
It makes me feel really awful to think that people would like to punch me in the face because I am a Home Depot employee. Most of the employees in my store are doing two people's jobs because we just don't have enough staff to handle the business. If you have a complaint it should be taken to management and not levied upon the employees. We are all people just trying to pay our bills and have a bit left over for a savings account.
Home Depot is a self-serve store? We have sign boards above bays of product to help you select the correct items for your project.
Home Depot says "You can do it,we can help". And we do, by making a vast array of product available to the public AND at contractor prices (so you can do it).
Home Depot provides a wide variety of How-To publications for sale in our How-To Centers. Customers come to me for details on how to plumb or wire a house. This is unrealistic to ask when coming through my departments on a shopping trip. While I am happy to help with instructions on wiring a switch or what size of underground cable you need, purchasing a How-To book that can be referred to as required, would provide succinct answers.
Customers cannot expect shopping for home renovations products will be the same experience as grocery shopping. Be prepared to spend more time. By virtue of the fact we operate as a warehouse,not a boutique,we have safety restrictions and policies that require we move very carefully.
hate being a customer try being an employee !!!!! Prick!!!
i've worked for the home depot in chehalis,wa for 2 years now.... and let me tell you, you think it's bad being a customer? you want to punch me in the face?
customer service has become something for customers to prey upon.... it's one thin if a cust ask's for something... then they start demanding things .... then they expect you to hold thier hand through the entire store hand picking what they need.... c'mon people I ain't your mommy!
I love working for "my" customers i save them money where ever i can ( my way of "stickin it to the man! )
imagine yourself in my shoes.... 40hrs per week (never more) if you work over your shift you "MUST" cut it(go home early) by sunday or you could be written up! the HD staff's just enough but..... when another dept takes lunch other dept must "cover" wich also means abandoning "your" dept so if you go into a HD and thier seems to be no one in say... flooring dept it's because thier"covering" electrical or paint dept... though us as employee's complain because we don't like cust telling us how bad we suck or how home depot is "going to hell in a hand bag" manegment does nothing... but you can't blame your local home depot for staffing the store like this.... it is all orders comming from "Corporate Office"... they allow each store a set amount of hours per store,per dept,per week, yada yada yada ........
recently all employee's were asked to participate in a "employer of choice survey" (yes HD "thinks" people choose to work there because it's the best choice LOL ) this survey just came back with the notion that HD employee's may be getting a lil digruntled, lack of pay, lack of bodies on the floor to help customers, too much paper work and procedures , they say this survey was to help the company "do whats best"
so far i've only seen changes that are good for HD bottomline... and thats what it comes down to, less man hours more profits and millionaires with more millions
the one thing that erked me is when i saw the creator of HD giving a speach about the company he build and he said the one thing that bothered him is when he goes to a HD and asks where something is and the associate points and says "yeah straight down isle 6 to your left" he says home depot is a no pointing zone and when a cust askes for something we are to "walk the cust. to the product" yeah right asshole, you try being a real HD associate 40hrs a week under staffed and walking every cust to the product. i think you've lived rich too long and need a dose of reality, or staff your stores well enough that this would actually be feasable.
anyways yeah don't hate the employee's and don't get mad and want to punch them we're just trying to earn a honest buck.... take it to corporate office any HD service desk can give you the ph# and you can make a "formal complaint"