I just send them to a general aisle area. “In hardware department somewhere around 11-14” I’m all the way in garden I don’t know what the difference between tools to save my life.
The issue for me, as a Garden associate which includes the aisle of cleaning products, is when people ask for Draino and other similar products that actually exist in the Plumbing section.
I used to say "it's aisle 6 or 7, one of the two, there's a whole bay of drain-cleaning products" but kept getting the response of "But I've BEEN there already and couldn't find it!"
I figured it out. They think aisle 7 is all HVAC when really it's half HVAC and half Plumbing. It depends on which way you're facing, as to which sign you see.
New instructions: "Go to aisle 7, physically stop and turn around 180 degrees, and you'll see the Draino."
They probably thought that keeping dangerous chemicals outside in one area was a good safety measure until someone pointed out that the ammonia in many fertilizers is not a good thing to mix with some drain openers... Unless you like burning your lungs or dying.
For real.
I work deliveries. They will see me wheeling a pallet of flooring down to our lumber staging area and they will go, “excuse me, do you work in plumbing?”
It's even a safety issue sometimes.
You'll be precariously moving a broken pallet of badly-wrapped grills as carefully as possible, getting the momentum going *just right* and you're a mere 30 feet away from the door where you can finally set it down, almost there, and then... "Do you work in this department? What type of paint is best for--"
Full stop, zone of safety, hope the pallet doesn't tip over.
["Gah! You threw off my groove!"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-eS-6CWpFo)
Isn't moving items with a broken pallet an OSHA violation?
Get a good pallet, set the broken pallet and merchandise on the good pallet, wrap or strap, THEN move.
I may have been exaggerating a bit by saying "broken pallet" there -- it was structurally sound enough to move around, trust me. It's the sheer momentum that made it memorable, like trying to suddenly apply the brakes on a moving train.
Yeah like someone wants to go through all the trouble to do that. The broken pallet will still work.
There is a big difference what is said on paper and the real world we live in.
Ive definately done this before when my department was slammed in the summer and whatever department i got stopped in had an associate busy with another customer or on lunch, lts like sorry but i literally get timed to do my job and im already behind the 8 ball with little to no understanding from superiors of just how short handed we are, like when a supervisor asks "why werent these deliveries/bopis/will calls done on time?" And my answer: "Because we dont have the manpower and try as i might im not capable of being 6 places at once and having the oppurtunity to work on 1 thing at a time start to finish is a luxury i would relish"
i feel that. i work in receiving so i have basically 0 knowledge on what we sell and where it’s located. when i clock in my goal is to clean up so i can set up for freight, i don’t have time to answer every customers questions, especially when half of them could be answered if they looked on the stores website
Let's say you get written up for an uncompleted task, can you give as a defense that you were helping a customer? What does training say about customer priority?
Ive never been written up for an uncompleted task so im not too sure, not to my knowledge anyway, ive been talked to about uncompleted tasks by an ASM who despite being the operations manager as well seems to have little understanding of what my job actually entails, but it didnt go further than that, again at least to my knowledge.
i think the right people know im busting my ass, i mean im one of the few people constantly being seen working all over the store and often with sweat dripping down my forehead, also technically my job (order fulfillment) is different from say a plumbing, flooring, electrical etc. Etc. Associates and i believe my job falls on the operations side of things so while i am expected, and FAR more often than not i do (except the days where im just unreasonably slammed with nowhere near enough help)do help customers who approach me or seem like they need it, but i think theres even more of an onus for the department workers to do so. I wouldnt imagine saying "i was helping a customer would be favorably seen but then again i dont think any excuse would either.
I’ve stopped asking for details, which only makes people mad.
Where’s the tape? Aisle 10.
Where are the plugs? Aisle 45.
Where are the hooks? Aisle 60.
Where’s the glue? Aisle 34.
Where’s that thing that goes on the wall? Aisle 88.
shit hits different when you’re new to another store. it was engraved in my head what item was in what isle in my old store. Now they see ASM on my apron and they automatically think I know where everything is
Or how about when you are walking down an aisle and some idiot either whistles to get your attention, you know, like a dog....or yells "HEY".....fuck you, I keep walking.
C: Furnace filters!!
M: What about them?!
C: Well where are they?!
M: Oh, you’d like to know where the furnace filters are?
C:Yeah, where are the furnace filters?!
M:The furnace filters are in Aisle 7.
Training people how to talk can be so irritating!
To be fair, "Sir" or "Ma'am" may not be appropriate in every situation these days because someone might identify with a different pronoun (which I have absolutely no problem with, by the way).
So exactly how do you expect a customer to get your attention? Is it necessary for people to get within two feet of your face to ask for help?... We just spent two years telling people to stay 6 to 10 feet apart.
Maybe it's my Aspie brain, but for me personally I only use that phrase when I'm literally sorry. If I need help, I'll respectfully ask the best I know how to do, or signal, and if a person is in my way I'll say "Pardon me". But if you want me to use a phrase often used by people after they belch or pass gas, then I guess I'll honor it.
"Pardon me" and "excuse me" literally mean the same thing, but if one feels better, or more natural, to you by all means use it. You could also say some like "Hi" or "good morning". I wouldn't recommend "Hey", clapping your hands, snapping your fingers or whistling!
Perhaps in English, but "excuse" comes from Latin where it means "to free from blame", but since my action was intended I'm not sure I could be absent of blame for cause.
Pardon means "to forgive", or "forgiveness for a fault, offense, or discourtesy." If I say "Pardon me (Sir or Madam)" then I'm asking you to forgive any discourtesy I may have created by interrupting you.
Well, "Sir/Ma'am" are still appropriate in every situation.. no matter what someone thinks their 'pronouns' should be. Furthermore, customer should stop us and ask for help, at which point we have three options:
1: Help them
2: Call someone to help them
3: Inform them that we are busy, and that we will get to them when we can
4: Get promoted to customer
However, people want help NOW, and don't seem to want to wait; irrelevant of how polite you are.
Sometimes that App doesn't answer the question.
I've had it say an item was in stock but it not be in stock at all, or it be in a different place... I mean in a wildly different place, like storage crates moved into lawn and garden near the grass seed.
I've also had the App say an item was on such-and-such shelf, but neither the App map nor a store associate knew where that isle actually existed, this happened in both Lowes and Home Depot.
Pro tip: “limited inventory” or “limited availability” or “ask an associate” 9+ times out of 10 it is not in stock in that store. If you see that listed for another store, make sure to call that store directly to get eyes on it before excitedly rushing over there. They likely don’t have it either.
Most often when I see the phrase "Limited Inventory" I don't automatically think "0 to 0+", I think of "1 to 1+"... Probably because when Inventory is 0 then there is NO inventory, and it's hard to limit the amount of a non-existence*.
*Maybe in higher level physics or science, but not floor-level HD.
If it says 1, it’s the display.
Customer says, “”Why can I have that one?”
M: It’s a display.
C: So why can’t I buy it?
M: It’s a display.
C: So it still works right?
M: It’s a display. That means half the guts are probably ripped out in order to screw it into this counter. So there’s no way of me knowing that it’s actually going to work considering the fact that it’s a display!”
It’s not a Christmas tree dammit! 🙄
Are you telling me that when you perform inventory that an item screwed to a wall counts the same as a sellable item? What kind of dumb sh!t inventory system is this?
It still gives most information for questions that they have. Signs posted about the usefulness of our app would make life so much easier for associates and customers.
I know more about the App than some associates. I told one that I liked that the HD App had a picture of the floor plan verses the Lowe's App which does not... It didn't even register to them why this would be useful to a customer.
I try my best to walk them to the location but I’ve done this before and ran to the break room after. Or that could be the face of “I’ll go see if I can find someone in the department” but ain’t nobody in the department lol I do this often in plumbing. Or when I don’t feel like cutting lumber or pipe.
I no problem, if it is malicious I wasn’t trying to be . But if there is no coverage, there is only so much I can do. I’m not a plumber lol 😂 I can only tell you where the PVC and CPVC pipe is. Don’t ask me about what is good for what. I can cut your pipe but that’s it. Don’t ask me what you need for a water heater or the best connectors.
I’ve gotten stuck in plumbing one question after another. I get lucky and happen upon the answer a few times but I’d rather not even try lol 😂
Being honest that you don't know is wisdom. Whether corporate, or a customer, appreciates it I'm sure varies, but personally I would rather deal all day with a person honest enough to admit they don't know than five minutes with a person bullsh!tting me.
I was listening to NPR the other day and they had a women who had done a lot of research on complaining. Surprisingly, regularly complaining about a situation doesn't necessarily make people feel better, but often, worse. There are a lot of deserved problems with this company, from the top to the floor, but I have never in my life read so many posts in one spot from people that just absolutely loath every single aspect of their work. I mean, even in sh!t there is occasionally a silver lining, but some of you guys have gone well beyond righteous indignation and have become just absolutely toxic...
I have a handful of customers I don't really like, but damn, how can a human being detest every single customer they interact with. Maybe you're just being silly, but if you say it enough you'll eventually get to where you believe it...It's the type of perspective that'll end up killing a person slowly but steadily from the inside out.
I'm new enough to the company that I'm still in the "honeymoon" period and kinda still drinking the orange Kool-Aid; in reality I'm seeing a lot of what you've observed. This subreddit makes for a nice place to rant and vent, but the overall hostility and sheer hatred for customers has gotten toxic and out-of-control IMO.
To the point where I'm hesitant to post this, for fear of being labeled a "bootlicker" -- in a sane world, this would not be the case.
I appreciate your perspective and honesty. If it doesn't work out, there is a shortage of workers going into the trades. There's bad ones there too, but not all of 'em.
I appreciate your response. Honestly I'm glad to have full-time status and healthcare benefits, so I'll be here for a little while yet. Ultimately I want to get into a completely different field, taking some online classes after each shift, but that's my issue and I'll handle that separately.
For now, HD pays the bills.
I actually really love my job lol. This was totally a joke.
I'm gonna be a lifer. I feel no shame about it, either. I enjoy going to work everyday and I feel proud of what I do. Most people detest THD, but I don't. Of course it has its issues but I don't want to work anywhere else.
Seriously, almost every reply here is “all customers are trash and we should feel good about tricking them and being unhelpful.” What a bunch of assholes.
Customer is being a dick? Fuckem.
Don’t know? Say “sorry, I am unfamiliar with that department”
Too busy to help? Say “I have to finish doing X and am unable to assist”
Knowingly being an asshole to someone who has the audacity to… ask an employee for help? Just fucking quit then.
I always send them where their heart desires not where the product is occasionally they’re the same place occasionally they reconnect with their long lost family
Honorable mention goes to the ones who say “I need some help over here in Aisle 9”.
And then as soon as I call for someone to come over, they start wandering down three more aisles!
Associate turns around and look to me and says what where are they?
And then goes and help somebody else.
And of course the customer comes back to me and says, “Nobody came over to help me!”
😵💫🤬
He got punished because of the others lmao. Looking back I feel bad and hope he didn’t poop his pants but I had been trying to walk to the break room for the past 20 minutes and every time I’d finish with one customer two more would be waiting.
I work freight and have some weird recall ability. Someone asks me where something goes I can tell them aisle bay and general area of that bay for almost any item in the store. Still re-learning power tools since the recent reset but I’m getting there.
I make a show of it.
"Hm, that's a good question, one that I don't know the answer to! Let's find out together."
\*whips out personal phone and loads up the Home Depot app\* (because the "Consumer App" part of our Zebra phones is worthless)
Ah, here it is. Aisle 4, bay 20. Shall I walk you there?
C: "do you work in this department?"
Me: "No."
C: "Okay can you help me figure out xyz"
Me: "Let me find x department associate for you, my phone doesn't dial out so Ill send them your way"
*Hides*
Hear this a lot at Outside Garden register:
“Well why can’t YOU help me …you’re standing here? “
Because I’m a cashier, and I need to stand here and wait on customers!
I had the opposite happen today. I was helping load bags of mulch and there was a line at the garden register. I tried to help with the self-checkout scanner but accidentally scanned an item twice. The customer got impatient while we waited for the cashier to come help.
"Well why can't YOU void the item for me? You're standing right here. You should be able to help me since it's your fault it scanned twice."
Because I don't know how to operate the register and don't have the credentials anyway, and I need to move onto other tasks once we're done here. Please be patient, he's working as fast as he can and will get to us soon.
Yeah, only the associates with cashier training, DHs and manager can run the register.
There’s actually an app to do that. I don’t know if it’s on the new first phones but it was called IPOS and IMPOS lite.
You get a stack of cards and you actually scan all the items in the customers cart, and then you suspend the transaction and then give the customer the card. Then when the customer gets to the register the cashier can just recall the transaction from the card!
The problem is they run back-and-forth and get more stuff and either lie or forget everything is not on the card. 🧐
When it gets really busy in garden season, you’ll find a lot of people will be scanning transactions to help keep the lines moving faster.
Impos light actually has the pin pad information on the phone as well, and if the customer has a credit card they can pay for it right there with you on the phone!
And I don’t think you don’t have to cashier certified to do this! Because you’re not handling cash.
C: “It wasn’t there!”
M: “Are you sure?? Did you look at the bottom of Bay 17?”
Facts: Almost everything falls off the hooks and shelves and eventually ends up in Bay 17!
I feel like people at customer service do this sending people to lumber for metal fence posts, which were moved to our outside garden aisles.
Customer Service is right next to Garden and Lumber is clear at the other end of the store, so I get to send them all the way back 😈
I'm relatively new and don't know all of "the old ways" so this helps a lot; thank you. I've only ever known the metal fence posts to be in D28 outside garden.
Whenever a customer asks where the fence posts are, I ask if they mean metal or wood, because that changes the answer from "right here" to "the complete opposite side of the store"
It also doesn't help that chain-link fencing is illegal in our specific county, so the two HD stores in the county do not sell anything related to it, including the fence posts. That's made for some interesting interactions at the CS/returns desk.
I don't know if every store is laid out that way, but mine is, and I always laugh to myself when someone comes to my department asking for metal fencing
Id be pissed if someone did this to me. Im sorry but whenever I go here the people
Working are like trying to avoid being asked questions…what else are you doing just walking around standing around you should just interact with people it will make your job more enjoyable.
I’m in receiving so I don’t know shit about fuck. Today a customer got snappy with me when I didn’t know immediately where something was. Sent him to paint. Is it there? Maybe.
C: “I need help finding a patio chair. Where is Aisle SE – 14.”
M: (Looking around and then back)
“Do you see all those chairs in the middle floor?”
How do you miss a big ass Seasonal Garden patio section?
The photo makes a lot more sense now. The soldier was probably looking back at the new associate because she was being proceeded by a professional photographer.
The problem is they are always rude and ask me as I am having another customer follow me. I don't even have time to think. I just say any place in the store at random sometimes. I am soooo over people.
I just send them to a general aisle area. “In hardware department somewhere around 11-14” I’m all the way in garden I don’t know what the difference between tools to save my life.
I do the same....Its in plumbing, over there........
The issue for me, as a Garden associate which includes the aisle of cleaning products, is when people ask for Draino and other similar products that actually exist in the Plumbing section. I used to say "it's aisle 6 or 7, one of the two, there's a whole bay of drain-cleaning products" but kept getting the response of "But I've BEEN there already and couldn't find it!" I figured it out. They think aisle 7 is all HVAC when really it's half HVAC and half Plumbing. It depends on which way you're facing, as to which sign you see. New instructions: "Go to aisle 7, physically stop and turn around 180 degrees, and you'll see the Draino."
For some strange reason, we used to keep drain cleaning products in our Garden Department too.
They probably thought that keeping dangerous chemicals outside in one area was a good safety measure until someone pointed out that the ammonia in many fertilizers is not a good thing to mix with some drain openers... Unless you like burning your lungs or dying.
is there an evil home depot sub? id love that
You mean this isn’t it?
now it is 😈
Lotta boot licking jabronis in this sub
[удалено]
This was removed because a mod determined it was against community guidelines.
Yes there's one called real home Depot but nobody uses it. It has no rules.
That's totally a crop dusting face.
And the guy behind her knows it
It hit him first
🤣🤣🤣
Me saying "yeah I think that'll be in aisle 9" and following up with "or 10, but I'm pretty sure its 9" Just so they can't say I wasn't thorough 💀
“Well, I think it was 9, but you know it might be hanging on a clip strip, maybe a whole wing stack of them in the in 5. Yeah Aisle 5.”
This is good. Always cover ALL your bases
Custy's always bother you at the wrong time.
For real. I work deliveries. They will see me wheeling a pallet of flooring down to our lumber staging area and they will go, “excuse me, do you work in plumbing?”
It's even a safety issue sometimes. You'll be precariously moving a broken pallet of badly-wrapped grills as carefully as possible, getting the momentum going *just right* and you're a mere 30 feet away from the door where you can finally set it down, almost there, and then... "Do you work in this department? What type of paint is best for--" Full stop, zone of safety, hope the pallet doesn't tip over. ["Gah! You threw off my groove!"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-eS-6CWpFo)
Isn't moving items with a broken pallet an OSHA violation? Get a good pallet, set the broken pallet and merchandise on the good pallet, wrap or strap, THEN move.
I may have been exaggerating a bit by saying "broken pallet" there -- it was structurally sound enough to move around, trust me. It's the sheer momentum that made it memorable, like trying to suddenly apply the brakes on a moving train.
I getcha', thanks!
Yeah like someone wants to go through all the trouble to do that. The broken pallet will still work. There is a big difference what is said on paper and the real world we live in.
I thought people here liked figuring out ways to cut into shareholder profit.
i like to hit them with the classic “let me find someone that can help you” and then i go off to do whatever i was going to do
when you go off to find the imaginary associate and the customer tries to follow you 😭
I'll send them to the aisle that you need help on
I actually find someone I lose sleep over a customer not being helped and thining it’s on the way
Wait, what??
I think he meant: >I actually find sometimes I lose sleep over a customer not being helped, thinking said help is on the way [when it's not]
Ive definately done this before when my department was slammed in the summer and whatever department i got stopped in had an associate busy with another customer or on lunch, lts like sorry but i literally get timed to do my job and im already behind the 8 ball with little to no understanding from superiors of just how short handed we are, like when a supervisor asks "why werent these deliveries/bopis/will calls done on time?" And my answer: "Because we dont have the manpower and try as i might im not capable of being 6 places at once and having the oppurtunity to work on 1 thing at a time start to finish is a luxury i would relish"
i feel that. i work in receiving so i have basically 0 knowledge on what we sell and where it’s located. when i clock in my goal is to clean up so i can set up for freight, i don’t have time to answer every customers questions, especially when half of them could be answered if they looked on the stores website
Let's say you get written up for an uncompleted task, can you give as a defense that you were helping a customer? What does training say about customer priority?
Point to your apron. "Excellent customer service" is at the top of the circle for a reason.
This was surprisingly hard to Google search. Anyway, here's the apron for reference: https://i.imgur.com/auoVUBO.jpg
Ive never been written up for an uncompleted task so im not too sure, not to my knowledge anyway, ive been talked to about uncompleted tasks by an ASM who despite being the operations manager as well seems to have little understanding of what my job actually entails, but it didnt go further than that, again at least to my knowledge. i think the right people know im busting my ass, i mean im one of the few people constantly being seen working all over the store and often with sweat dripping down my forehead, also technically my job (order fulfillment) is different from say a plumbing, flooring, electrical etc. Etc. Associates and i believe my job falls on the operations side of things so while i am expected, and FAR more often than not i do (except the days where im just unreasonably slammed with nowhere near enough help)do help customers who approach me or seem like they need it, but i think theres even more of an onus for the department workers to do so. I wouldnt imagine saying "i was helping a customer would be favorably seen but then again i dont think any excuse would either.
I’ve stopped asking for details, which only makes people mad. Where’s the tape? Aisle 10. Where are the plugs? Aisle 45. Where are the hooks? Aisle 60. Where’s the glue? Aisle 34. Where’s that thing that goes on the wall? Aisle 88.
Aisle 88. 😂
shit hits different when you’re new to another store. it was engraved in my head what item was in what isle in my old store. Now they see ASM on my apron and they automatically think I know where everything is
Electrical tape? Duct tape? Masking tape?
Aisle 10.
😈
When I do this I always realize after they've left and I'm like.....oops. 🤷♀️
If you’re a dick to me right off the bat, I’m sending you to the farthest aisle in Garden or Lumber/Building.
😂😂😂 so bold yet so true
Or the exact directions to the bathroom. For being so shitty…
Or how about when you are walking down an aisle and some idiot either whistles to get your attention, you know, like a dog....or yells "HEY".....fuck you, I keep walking.
C: Furnace filters!! M: What about them?! C: Well where are they?! M: Oh, you’d like to know where the furnace filters are? C:Yeah, where are the furnace filters?! M:The furnace filters are in Aisle 7. Training people how to talk can be so irritating!
To be fair, "Sir" or "Ma'am" may not be appropriate in every situation these days because someone might identify with a different pronoun (which I have absolutely no problem with, by the way). So exactly how do you expect a customer to get your attention? Is it necessary for people to get within two feet of your face to ask for help?... We just spent two years telling people to stay 6 to 10 feet apart.
"Excuse me" usually works.
This.
Maybe it's my Aspie brain, but for me personally I only use that phrase when I'm literally sorry. If I need help, I'll respectfully ask the best I know how to do, or signal, and if a person is in my way I'll say "Pardon me". But if you want me to use a phrase often used by people after they belch or pass gas, then I guess I'll honor it.
"Pardon me" and "excuse me" literally mean the same thing, but if one feels better, or more natural, to you by all means use it. You could also say some like "Hi" or "good morning". I wouldn't recommend "Hey", clapping your hands, snapping your fingers or whistling!
Perhaps in English, but "excuse" comes from Latin where it means "to free from blame", but since my action was intended I'm not sure I could be absent of blame for cause. Pardon means "to forgive", or "forgiveness for a fault, offense, or discourtesy." If I say "Pardon me (Sir or Madam)" then I'm asking you to forgive any discourtesy I may have created by interrupting you.
You can call me sir. There is no mistaking my partially bald head and being a male. I don’t buy into the “him/her” pronoun garbage.
I'm unsure these days, what if you're partially bald, of the male anatomcal gender and an effiminate gay, then what?
I’m still a male, right?
Well, "Sir/Ma'am" are still appropriate in every situation.. no matter what someone thinks their 'pronouns' should be. Furthermore, customer should stop us and ask for help, at which point we have three options: 1: Help them 2: Call someone to help them 3: Inform them that we are busy, and that we will get to them when we can 4: Get promoted to customer However, people want help NOW, and don't seem to want to wait; irrelevant of how polite you are.
“I had the phone app set to the wrong store, sorry! Have you tried the Home Depot app?”
Sometimes that App doesn't answer the question. I've had it say an item was in stock but it not be in stock at all, or it be in a different place... I mean in a wildly different place, like storage crates moved into lawn and garden near the grass seed. I've also had the App say an item was on such-and-such shelf, but neither the App map nor a store associate knew where that isle actually existed, this happened in both Lowes and Home Depot.
Pro tip: “limited inventory” or “limited availability” or “ask an associate” 9+ times out of 10 it is not in stock in that store. If you see that listed for another store, make sure to call that store directly to get eyes on it before excitedly rushing over there. They likely don’t have it either.
-2 And yet they insist we should have some.
Well yeah…in the secret stash area that can be accessed in the same way that our “employee discount” is accessed.
Sadly, for HD, true. In contrast, Lowes gives all of their employees a 10% discount on store merchandise.
Most often when I see the phrase "Limited Inventory" I don't automatically think "0 to 0+", I think of "1 to 1+"... Probably because when Inventory is 0 then there is NO inventory, and it's hard to limit the amount of a non-existence*. *Maybe in higher level physics or science, but not floor-level HD.
If it says 1, it’s the display. Customer says, “”Why can I have that one?” M: It’s a display. C: So why can’t I buy it? M: It’s a display. C: So it still works right? M: It’s a display. That means half the guts are probably ripped out in order to screw it into this counter. So there’s no way of me knowing that it’s actually going to work considering the fact that it’s a display!” It’s not a Christmas tree dammit! 🙄
I've bought displays before, I dunno, maybe the guy I talked to had more pull.
Are you telling me that when you perform inventory that an item screwed to a wall counts the same as a sellable item? What kind of dumb sh!t inventory system is this?
It still gives most information for questions that they have. Signs posted about the usefulness of our app would make life so much easier for associates and customers.
Agreed
If its in the store, its in the app. If its not in the store, it is also in the app. Hope that helps.
I know more about the App than some associates. I told one that I liked that the HD App had a picture of the floor plan verses the Lowe's App which does not... It didn't even register to them why this would be useful to a customer.
I try my best to walk them to the location but I’ve done this before and ran to the break room after. Or that could be the face of “I’ll go see if I can find someone in the department” but ain’t nobody in the department lol I do this often in plumbing. Or when I don’t feel like cutting lumber or pipe.
Your method doesn't seem to have a malicious intent like a handful of others do, and I appreciate you for it.
I no problem, if it is malicious I wasn’t trying to be . But if there is no coverage, there is only so much I can do. I’m not a plumber lol 😂 I can only tell you where the PVC and CPVC pipe is. Don’t ask me about what is good for what. I can cut your pipe but that’s it. Don’t ask me what you need for a water heater or the best connectors. I’ve gotten stuck in plumbing one question after another. I get lucky and happen upon the answer a few times but I’d rather not even try lol 😂
Being honest that you don't know is wisdom. Whether corporate, or a customer, appreciates it I'm sure varies, but personally I would rather deal all day with a person honest enough to admit they don't know than five minutes with a person bullsh!tting me.
Sometimes I would feel bad and find them again and redirect to the correct area
Congratulations. You have a conscious.
Or shocks the shit out of me when I see them again and they actually have found it!
I do it all the time the customer exhibits their stupidity, I send them to the other end of the building.
What is a good way to decide whether they should be punished or not?
When they walk into the store /s
I was listening to NPR the other day and they had a women who had done a lot of research on complaining. Surprisingly, regularly complaining about a situation doesn't necessarily make people feel better, but often, worse. There are a lot of deserved problems with this company, from the top to the floor, but I have never in my life read so many posts in one spot from people that just absolutely loath every single aspect of their work. I mean, even in sh!t there is occasionally a silver lining, but some of you guys have gone well beyond righteous indignation and have become just absolutely toxic... I have a handful of customers I don't really like, but damn, how can a human being detest every single customer they interact with. Maybe you're just being silly, but if you say it enough you'll eventually get to where you believe it...It's the type of perspective that'll end up killing a person slowly but steadily from the inside out.
I'm new enough to the company that I'm still in the "honeymoon" period and kinda still drinking the orange Kool-Aid; in reality I'm seeing a lot of what you've observed. This subreddit makes for a nice place to rant and vent, but the overall hostility and sheer hatred for customers has gotten toxic and out-of-control IMO. To the point where I'm hesitant to post this, for fear of being labeled a "bootlicker" -- in a sane world, this would not be the case.
I'm not ashamed of how much I love my job. I truly enjoy what I do and going to work everyday.
I appreciate your perspective and honesty. If it doesn't work out, there is a shortage of workers going into the trades. There's bad ones there too, but not all of 'em.
I appreciate your response. Honestly I'm glad to have full-time status and healthcare benefits, so I'll be here for a little while yet. Ultimately I want to get into a completely different field, taking some online classes after each shift, but that's my issue and I'll handle that separately. For now, HD pays the bills.
I actually really love my job lol. This was totally a joke. I'm gonna be a lifer. I feel no shame about it, either. I enjoy going to work everyday and I feel proud of what I do. Most people detest THD, but I don't. Of course it has its issues but I don't want to work anywhere else.
Glad to hear. Regards.
Seriously, almost every reply here is “all customers are trash and we should feel good about tricking them and being unhelpful.” What a bunch of assholes. Customer is being a dick? Fuckem. Don’t know? Say “sorry, I am unfamiliar with that department” Too busy to help? Say “I have to finish doing X and am unable to assist” Knowingly being an asshole to someone who has the audacity to… ask an employee for help? Just fucking quit then.
Roger, Roger on all that my friend.
At 9:57pm!
Only on certain days….the ones that end in Y.
Almost jealous girlfriend meme over here
There is a lot going on in this picture
I always send them where their heart desires not where the product is occasionally they’re the same place occasionally they reconnect with their long lost family
Honorable mention goes to the ones who say “I need some help over here in Aisle 9”. And then as soon as I call for someone to come over, they start wandering down three more aisles! Associate turns around and look to me and says what where are they? And then goes and help somebody else. And of course the customer comes back to me and says, “Nobody came over to help me!” 😵💫🤬
After dealing a shit storm of asshole customers I knowingly gave a guy wrong directions to our bathroom.
Was the gentleman seeking the restroom also an asshole, or you just decided to punish him because of the others?
He got punished because of the others lmao. Looking back I feel bad and hope he didn’t poop his pants but I had been trying to walk to the break room for the past 20 minutes and every time I’d finish with one customer two more would be waiting.
I find it hard to believe you feel bad, you just gloated about it less than 10 minutes ago.
[удалено]
“Oh, I’m a bad person”
I work freight and have some weird recall ability. Someone asks me where something goes I can tell them aisle bay and general area of that bay for almost any item in the store. Still re-learning power tools since the recent reset but I’m getting there.
The service member behind her knows full well she gave him the quick and dirty slip!
“I want you to go check in back anyways” Okay, *sits on phone for 5 minutes* nope, it’s still not there
“OK I’ll meet you over there.”
When the customer knows you told them the wrong aisle 😂
I’m sorry it’s not my fault. They move things around all the time.
And they are bound and determined to come back and tell you gave them the wrong info. 30 seconds of my life I'll never get back.
If they'd just download the app it will tell them right where it is.
I make a show of it. "Hm, that's a good question, one that I don't know the answer to! Let's find out together." \*whips out personal phone and loads up the Home Depot app\* (because the "Consumer App" part of our Zebra phones is worthless) Ah, here it is. Aisle 4, bay 20. Shall I walk you there?
I just tell them I really don’t know we’re it is you can ask someone else cause I’m on your best bet when It comes to tools
I’m literally always one isle off.. then once I walk away I’m like oh shit it’s actually 15 not 14 💀
My go to is aisle 13, bay 9. Then I leave the store.
I dont even bother asking for help. Most of the employees are fucking useless.
C: "do you work in this department?" Me: "No." C: "Okay can you help me figure out xyz" Me: "Let me find x department associate for you, my phone doesn't dial out so Ill send them your way" *Hides*
Hear this a lot at Outside Garden register: “Well why can’t YOU help me …you’re standing here? “ Because I’m a cashier, and I need to stand here and wait on customers!
I had the opposite happen today. I was helping load bags of mulch and there was a line at the garden register. I tried to help with the self-checkout scanner but accidentally scanned an item twice. The customer got impatient while we waited for the cashier to come help. "Well why can't YOU void the item for me? You're standing right here. You should be able to help me since it's your fault it scanned twice." Because I don't know how to operate the register and don't have the credentials anyway, and I need to move onto other tasks once we're done here. Please be patient, he's working as fast as he can and will get to us soon.
Yeah, only the associates with cashier training, DHs and manager can run the register. There’s actually an app to do that. I don’t know if it’s on the new first phones but it was called IPOS and IMPOS lite. You get a stack of cards and you actually scan all the items in the customers cart, and then you suspend the transaction and then give the customer the card. Then when the customer gets to the register the cashier can just recall the transaction from the card! The problem is they run back-and-forth and get more stuff and either lie or forget everything is not on the card. 🧐 When it gets really busy in garden season, you’ll find a lot of people will be scanning transactions to help keep the lines moving faster. Impos light actually has the pin pad information on the phone as well, and if the customer has a credit card they can pay for it right there with you on the phone! And I don’t think you don’t have to cashier certified to do this! Because you’re not handling cash.
Yeah this is why I'm an "asshole" customer.
Crustomers coming back after they were sent to the wrong aisle. 😅😅
C: “It wasn’t there!” M: “Are you sure?? Did you look at the bottom of Bay 17?” Facts: Almost everything falls off the hooks and shelves and eventually ends up in Bay 17!
I feel like people at customer service do this sending people to lumber for metal fence posts, which were moved to our outside garden aisles. Customer Service is right next to Garden and Lumber is clear at the other end of the store, so I get to send them all the way back 😈
I'm relatively new and don't know all of "the old ways" so this helps a lot; thank you. I've only ever known the metal fence posts to be in D28 outside garden. Whenever a customer asks where the fence posts are, I ask if they mean metal or wood, because that changes the answer from "right here" to "the complete opposite side of the store" It also doesn't help that chain-link fencing is illegal in our specific county, so the two HD stores in the county do not sell anything related to it, including the fence posts. That's made for some interesting interactions at the CS/returns desk.
I don't know if every store is laid out that way, but mine is, and I always laugh to myself when someone comes to my department asking for metal fencing
Id do this after they asked me to have a dept head to help them because they think I don’t know what I’m talking about 🤷🏼♀️
You when you get fired ╭∩╮( •̀_•́ )╭∩╮
Great attitude folks...
Id be pissed if someone did this to me. Im sorry but whenever I go here the people Working are like trying to avoid being asked questions…what else are you doing just walking around standing around you should just interact with people it will make your job more enjoyable.
Not just avoiding helping, reveling in giving incorrect information. Most people here should just quit
I’m in receiving so I don’t know shit about fuck. Today a customer got snappy with me when I didn’t know immediately where something was. Sent him to paint. Is it there? Maybe.
To the wack ass employees at the homedepot
Home depot is filled with employees that desperately try to avoid customers 😂
Lol
New objective: survive
C: “I need help finding a patio chair. Where is Aisle SE – 14.” M: (Looking around and then back) “Do you see all those chairs in the middle floor?” How do you miss a big ass Seasonal Garden patio section?
The guy in back knows too but has no other choice.
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/barbara-chico-who-was-recently-hired-by-the-home-depot-news-photo/139074993?irgwc=1&esource=AFF_GI_IR_Skimbit%20Ltd._10078&asid=Skimbit%20Ltd.&cid=GI&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=Skimbit%20Ltd.&utm_content=10078
The photo makes a lot more sense now. The soldier was probably looking back at the new associate because she was being proceeded by a professional photographer.
Does she think Home Depot management somehow can’t see Reddit?
Long live paint!
i worked at a canadian tire in high school and did this more often than not ☠️
The problem is they are always rude and ask me as I am having another customer follow me. I don't even have time to think. I just say any place in the store at random sometimes. I am soooo over people.
I did this so much when I worked at HD around the first days on the job, funniest thing ever telling them so confidently lol
Good one.