A little venting at Home Depot...

In article <[email protected]>, "Edwin Pawlowski" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>"Ted" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> By leave the shopping carts, I mean they don't bring them back into the
>> store. If a customer wants to use one, they have to get one from the
>> parking
>> lot. I have complained about it a few times, but nothing has changed.
>
>Sp what you are blaming the store for is the clod that won't walk 30' to a
>cart drop and just leave them around the lot instead.

The HD store in my neighborhood doesn't _have_ a cart drop. So, yes, I'd blame
the store for the carts that are scattered all over the lot.


--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

Ever consider not letting these things bother you?

In those situations, I usually call the 800 number that's on the wall
behind the cashiers. You know the one....the one saying it is the
number for customer service....

It's pretty amazing to watch the folks come out of the office like a
swarm of angry bees after you've told the person on the phone that you
have $5000 worth of merchandise you want to buy and can't find anyone
(ok...so it was a little white lie) to take your money....

Only had to do it once....ever since then the local HD has been very
good about keeping cashiers on-line and the lines short.

bill W

You hit the nail on the head. Most of these employees don't give a
%&$& about customer service -- they get paid no matter what.

John Emmons wrote:
> Of course there was the obligatory employee out side
> the exit door checking reciepts as people left.

Hell, at least she was doing *something*! At Lowe's, a loafer stands by
the front door to say "hello" and another one stands at the exit not
even saying, "goodbye!" Meanwhile, the checkout lines stretch for
miles.

You've hit the nail on the head here.

I worked at HD for a few months in between being laid off and finding
another "real" job.
Currently I work in the retail software management busineess....anyway.

HD calculates the number staff (in person hours) based on historic
sales information on an hour by hour basis. From this they build the
employee schedule. They use prior year and prior month sales
information as well as seasonal factors to come up with the number of
employees needed on the floor during at a specific hour. The store
manager is allowed a specific labor budget for the month. The problem
lies in overusing his/her budget early in the month for whatever
reason..be it a special sale day or a local blip in the demand. They
have to budget carefully to avoid what happened to you.

The blame clearly goes back to district office or Atlanta HQ, NOT the
store manager. He can only work with the budget he is given.

NJTrout

cm wrote:
> About three years ago HD started taking the top 10 selling items from every
> vendor they buy from and having those item copied in China. Check out the
> Drywall tool section. It still looks like ALL the tools are from "Wallboard
> Drywall Tool Company" (Made in USA) but 10% of the items are made in China
> and directly imported by Home Depot. Yet they keep hitting up their vendors
> for larger discounts while raising the price at the retail end!!! I was a
> vendor to Home Depot for 12 years. They made my little vendor business into
> a $10.00 an hour job. I have since opened a new business and deal with
> customers who truly appreciate my work.

Well, that's good! The last sentence, I mean.

Do vendors have to stand in line for an hour to get screwed?

Gawd... I was just recovering from the last 3,000 entry thread on the
insanity and horrors of Home Depot that went on about 45 days ago.

Now I feel myself falling into depression thinking of all the people
not smart enough to stay out of those stores knowing what they
obviously know about the stores themselves and the people that work
there....

I know, they can actually be more convenient and take less time...
laziness can generate a powerful argument to actually rationalize
convenience... and bitching about getting screwed is so much fun...

I'll be taping Dr. Phil to see how he deals with you guys. Best of
luck to you all.

Sigh... what happened to the Norm bashing that went on for years here?
It used to be a solid ass kicking and whining about HD, then Norm and
his brad nailers, then Lowe's, some fringe players tried to bash
Menard's, and even our Canuck buddies used to hammer the "whatever"
Tire company.

At least it brought some variety to the bitching.

Robert

<<The wags were wrong ... the price of freedom is actually constant
bitching,
not vigilance.>>


Hah! Laughed my ass off at that whack between the eyes. You may well
be right.

If you are, this group is a veritiable bastion of freedom. When I get
to the threads describing the misery and despair generated by the
aforementioned offenders, I will hold my hand over my heart.

But this morning, I almost snorted coffee on my keyboard... thanks a
lot Swing.

Robert

Our local HD is "quaint" in it's ineptitude. Went for another gallon of
custom green latex and all they could make that day was brown with
pigment overflowing in customer after customer. Came back 2 days later
and learned all they had to do was to reboot the paint mixing computer.
(what's worse HD or MS?)

At customer service a few weeks later and the lady in front of me has a
very dead hibiscus tree. Branches, trunk & roots; all in all about 4
foot tall. She is also carrying a bag of dirt ... a complete return no
missing parts:) Most importantly she has the receipt which shows
purchase within the 1 year guaranty period. So the problem???? The
clerk couldn't find a barcode on the tree to scan for the return. After
20 minutes I offered to carve one in the trunk to expedite the
situation. It took about a half hour with two management types to get
the woman the return. I was having so much fun watching, I didn't mind
the wait!

Jerry

Larry Jaques wrote:
> Nah, COSTCO is the place to go for dogs. $1.50 buys you both a soft
> drink and a delicious hot dog.

But the hot chick isn't there. You missed the most important part of
the story LOL.

Hey Doug,

That's a rather high price from the plumber's supply, you might check
around. When I was shopping for 3/4" pipe for clamps, I looked at the
Borg vs Plumbers Supply and encountered a similar problem with the
threading: the Borg threaded for free, but charged over $10 for 10'
sections; the Plumbers Supply charged only $7 for 21' sections. They
would thread, but really didn't want to and charged something like $5
per end.

I learned from the pro shop that (at least here in TN) they sell only
21' sections, and most all their clients have their own threaders, so
their policy makes sense.

My solution was to buy a cheap threading set (Homier sells one for $20
that has 4 sizes and works fine) and save on the pipe by buying 21'
sections at the pro shop. It was a good investment and I've used that
threading set several times since.

Something to consider for next time...?
H

Larry Jaques <novalidaddress@di\/ersify.com> writes:

>My very first job (age 15, 3rd year in CA) was as a box boy at an
>Alpha Beta grocery store for $1.95/hr. (That was my first and last
>Union job, BTW. Non-union pay was $1.65/hr and my net pay after Union
>fees came to $1.69/hr.) That was in 1968 and cashiers were starting at
>$8.65/hr even then. Can HD's pay rate nearly 40 years later be that
>much lower? I thought that being able to use a cash register and/or
>having any 10-key experience almost doubled the minimum wage pay for
>those jobs.

Union pay for grocery cashiers is about $15 an hour here in
Minneapolis/St. Paul. Other cashiers seem to get about $8 an hour at
least to start.

If union cashier pay had kept up with wage growth over the years, they
would be making something like $30 an hour or more.

Brian Elfert

Bob Schmall <[email protected]> writes:

>Don't get me started on the last time I made a special order with them.

I special ordered some rugs from Home Depot on June 30th and got them
yesterday on July 14th.

/They even called me a week ago to warn me about the order being late. I
don't consider two weeks to be late at all.

>And HD wants to own the Chinese market...

How many big box stores don't want to import stuff at the lowest cost?

Brian Elfert

Markem <markem(sixoneeight)@hotmail.com> writes:

>At my local HD, the cashiers are all scan yourself except 1 at the
>service desk. Definitely cuts down on payroll, pisses me off though
>and a few other people I know so it might just be a wash.

The only HD around me that has self service usually has one or two regular
lanes open in addition.

I like self service because they are generally faster unless I am buying a
bunch of bulky stuff. Do anyone think they would open self service lanes
if it drove shoppers away in droves?

Brian Elfert

In article
<[email protected]>, John
Emmons <[email protected]> wrote:

> yeah I have but then I'd have nothing to write these little stories about.
> The only thing that "bothered" me was the complete lack of any understanding
> of customer service. If I ran my business like that, I'd be out of business
> as I should be.

Apparently not. You'd have people like you willing to stand in line, no
matter how long it took... Take your business elsewhere, and just stop
in for hot dogs.

;-D

--
~ Stay Calm... Be Brave... Wait for the Signs ~
------------------------------------------------------
One site: <http://www.balderstone.ca>
The other site, with ww links<http://www.woodenwabbits.com>

In article <fTFBe.2822$_%[email protected]>,
<[email protected]> wrote:

> My wife works for a large grocery chain here in SoCal. The store
> manager's bonus at the end of the year is dependent on the profits of
> the store (i.e. the total sales versus the total payroll). If you get a
> store manager who cares more about his bonus than the satisfaction of
> the customer, you will find the store consistently understaffed.
> Especially when he is not there to take the flak from disgruntled
> customers.

A friend used to be with the Wegman's supermarket in NY state.
Employees were (are) shareholders.

I had a couple of tours, and it's a hellluvan operation. Most
impressive.

--
~ Stay Calm... Be Brave... Wait for the Signs ~
------------------------------------------------------
One site: <http://www.balderstone.ca>
The other site, with ww links<http://www.woodenwabbits.com>

In article <[email protected]>, Larry Jaques
<novalidaddress@di\/ersify.com> wrote:

> Nah, COSTCO is the place to go for dogs.

He wasn't going to the hot dog stand for the hot dogs, C-less...

--
~ Stay Calm... Be Brave... Wait for the Signs ~
------------------------------------------------------
One site: <http://www.balderstone.ca>
The other site, with ww links<http://www.woodenwabbits.com>

In article <[email protected]>, Doug
Miller <[email protected]> wrote:

> >Wouldn't it have been far simpler to have simply gone to the place you
> ><knew> would solve the problem in the first place????
>
> And pay double the price?

How much is your time worth? Obvious less than the cost of a piece of
9' pipe...

--
~ Stay Calm... Be Brave... Wait for the Signs ~
------------------------------------------------------
One site: <http://www.balderstone.ca>
The other site, with ww links<http://www.woodenwabbits.com>

In article <[email protected]>, Larry Jaques
<novalidaddress@di\/ersify.com> wrote:

> I must have MISSed that part of the message earlier. My MISStake,
> if I read you right.

You BOOB, you. Try to keep aBREAST of the threads here.

--
"The thing about saying the wrong words is that A, I don't notice it, and B,
sometimes orange water gibbon bucket and plastic." -- Mr. Burrows

"Brian Elfert" wrote in message

> I like self service because they are generally faster unless I am buying a
> bunch of bulky stuff. Do anyone think they would open self service lanes
> if it drove shoppers away in droves?

I do prefer to use the self service machines at HD myself ... that said, and
depending upon whether I've had my morning coffee, it is irritating to have
that mechanical sucker loudly take you to task for having an "unauthorized
item in bagging area".

There are times when you just don't feel like being dictated to by a
mechanical object ...

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 7/12/05

Next time skip the hardware and just get the hot dogs.

--
To e-mail, replace "bucketofspam" with "dleegordon"

"Ted" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> The one near me parks their delivery tractor trailer in front of the store
> most of time making it hard for people to drive around the parking lot.
They
> also leave their shopping carts all over the parking lot taking up parking
> spaces.

Life's tough. I've got an easy fix for you though. Park in a handicapped
parking space. There, problem fixed. Glad I could help. :)

On Fri, 15 Jul 2005 16:30:04 GMT, Doug Miller <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Called local plumbing supply house. I'm sure their machinery is working.
>It is, but they want **double** the price at HD & Lowe's.
>
>Try another Lowe's store. Called first to make sure the machine works.
>They assure me it does. Got there, and there's *one* guy in plumbing...
>and he doesn't know how to run the machine. FORTY-FIVE MINUTES to get one
>stinking piece of pipe cut & threaded.

So, how much did it cost at Lowe's? Add that to whatever your 45
minutes plus the amount of time you spent finding out the other places
couldn't do it at all was worth to you, and it's a good bet that the
local plumbing supply house comes out as a bargain... I know that the
cents add up at the big boxes, but it's a matter of time and supply as
well, and you don't always come out ahead, no matter how low the
prices are.

Gary wrote:
>
> "John Emmons" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > yeah I have but then I'd have nothing to write these little stories about.
> > The only thing that "bothered" me was the complete lack of any
> > understanding
> > of customer service. If I ran my business like that, I'd be out of
> > business
> > as I should be.
> >
> > It's all part of the loss of simple consideration for others that plagues
> > this world we live in.
>
> An the arrogance these big box stores and their management have that
> customers don't matter. However, I did hear the CEO of Wally World say on
> TV the other day, that for every customer they lose, they potentially lose
> $200,000 in future sales.

Well, he stood in line the whole time, didn't he? Shows it <doesn't>
matter, often. :(

gw wrote:
>
> "Lee Michaels" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >
> > I have done this more than once. I usually point this fact out in a loud
> > voice as I pass the cashier too. I let them know that the service was
> > intolorable.
> >
>
> Do you think a $6.50 /hr. cashier gives a rat's ass about service??

Yes, while venting at the cashier is an understandable reaction, it's a
turn on the "shooting the messenger" syndrome. The place to complain is
to management. Almost always the actual worker bees are doing the best
they can in a usually nearly intolerable situation...

George wrote:
>
> The fact that people were standing in line 12 deep indicates this is one
> very busy and money making store.
> It's like the old joke "This place will go out of business because the check
> out lines are so busy I had to wait an hour"!

Sounds a lot like something I heard Yogi say once upon a time... :)

Larry Jaques wrote:
...

> Anyone have data on cashier pay rate trends?

No data, but I'd suspect it has been pretty flat, at best...

Brian Elfert wrote:
>
> Markem <markem(sixoneeight)@hotmail.com> writes:
>
> >At my local HD, the cashiers are all scan yourself except 1 at the
> >service desk. Definitely cuts down on payroll, pisses me off though
> >and a few other people I know so it might just be a wash.
>
> The only HD around me that has self service usually has one or two regular
> lanes open in addition.
>
> I like self service because they are generally faster unless I am buying a
> bunch of bulky stuff. Do anyone think they would open self service lanes
> if it drove shoppers away in droves?

Don't know about "droves", but they sure drive me away,
personally...(yes, I'm a Luddite). :)

Kevin wrote:
>
> Had a similar experience at the Lowes in Bloomington. Got a piece of 3/4"
> black pipe and needed both ends threaded. Had some worker get on his phone
> and call for help. No response after 5 minutes. Had him call again. No
> response. Tried one more time and the manager came over and did the
> threading and cutting. Apparently 2 people out sick and the other guy on
> lunch break.
>
> "Doug Miller" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
...
> > Went to HD the other day for two pieces of half-inch black pipe. ...
...snip long tale of woe culminating in ...
> > and he doesn't know how to run the machine. FORTY-FIVE MINUTES to get one
> > stinking piece of pipe cut & threaded.
> >
> > GRRRRR

Wouldn't it have been far simpler to have simply gone to the place you
<knew> would solve the problem in the first place????

I fail to understand the mentality of going to places where one expects
poor service and then complaining about receiving what one expects...

Doug Miller wrote:
>
> In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] wrote:
> >Kevin wrote:
> >>
> >> Had a similar experience at the Lowes in Bloomington. Got a piece of 3/4"
> >> black pipe and needed both ends threaded. Had some worker get on his phone
> >> and call for help. No response after 5 minutes. Had him call again. No
> >> response. Tried one more time and the manager came over and did the
> >> threading and cutting. Apparently 2 people out sick and the other guy on
> >> lunch break.
> >>
> >> "Doug Miller" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> >> news:[email protected]...
> >....
> >> > Went to HD the other day for two pieces of half-inch black pipe. ...
> >....snip long tale of woe culminating in ...
> >> > and he doesn't know how to run the machine. FORTY-FIVE MINUTES to get one
> >> > stinking piece of pipe cut & threaded.
> >> >
> >> > GRRRRR
> >
> >Wouldn't it have been far simpler to have simply gone to the place you
> ><knew> would solve the problem in the first place????
>
> And pay double the price?

Was the few bucks saved sufficient compensation for the time and
aggravation?

> >I fail to understand the mentality of going to places where one expects
> >poor service and then complaining about receiving what one expects...
>
> Well, I wasn't expecting service quite *that* poor...

I expect <none>...(that way I'm not disappointed.. :) )

But I never approach a Borg for anything that isn't going to just come
off the shelf, and try to have to never to do that. Of course, that
it's 60 mi to the only one even remotely close helps... :)

Doug Miller wrote:
>
...
...[re: Borg vis a vis perhaps higher-priced distributor]...

> I have at least four within five or six miles, so my situation is a bit
> different. And most of them are closer to home than the local plumbing supply,
> too.

W/ the Borg far away, it's an easy decision of course, but I personally
still have a fundamental distaste for the Wally-World syndrome that
destroys small town businesses. I'm one of the (apparently few) ones who
will go out of my way to patronize our locals despite perhaps a slightly
higher initial cost. In return, I get folks who know who I am, will do
anything possible (and some that is nearly not so) to meet needs and
don't send corporate profits to Delaware or someplace else far away.

Jason Quick wrote:
>
...
> ... as the [Orange Borg] HVAC were controlled by a computer in Atlanta, ...
> Apparently Wal-Mart does the same thing.

This isn't at all uncommon...a small office building (10-floors of only
about 5000 sq-ft/floor) in small city in TN where I worked was sold to a
real-estate management firm -- they did the same thing from FL even for
one additional relatively small building. It was really bad because
they cut it off entirely on weekends and as a consulting engineer w/
offices there, hours were anything but regular. They finally fixed it
so that one could call in their control computer two hours ahead and get
the system on for a specific location...

Dave Hall wrote:
> ...and when those damn big car makers started to consolidate back in
> the '20s we lost the mom and pop car makers. Before that they drove
> the carriage makers out and, dammit, you just can't get good
> buggy-whip service anymore. I believe that if you need a cookpot you
> should still have to go down to the village smithy and have him pound
> one out for you. Now those damn chinks make 'em by the millions and
> not one good hammer blow was used in the process. What is this world
> coming to.

So what's your point? That the market forces are putting small
businessmen out of business, or that the quality of goods deteriorates
when power is consolidated? Or could it be that you prefer selling our
companies to other countries, perhaps you like to see the service
industry grow as the industrial power decreases in this country. As for
the village smithy, mine makes some of my preferred tools. May not be
able to go to the store to pick them up, but he makes them to fit, and
the quality is way above what I can buy elsewhere. Since you brought up
"those damn chinks" you might want to think about supporting a country
that has declared you to be their enemy, and has planned a long term
goal of taking you out.
/rant off
Wow, I feel SOOOOO much better now

dave in Fairfax
--
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use: daveldr at att dot net
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Ted wrote:
...
> They don't even have a cart drop.

I don't believe a HD would build a parking lot w/o at least one...

When this happens to me, unless I REALLY NEED the stuff, I will abandon my
cart or basket where I stand and walk out.


"John Emmons" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I had to go to one of the local Home Depots the other day, well I didn't
> actually have to but it was on the way home and I needed the stuff and I
> knew that they'd have it and besides the girl who sells hotdogs outside is
> kinda cute but I digress...
>
> For those in the Los Angeles area this is the store on San Fernando road
in
> the city of Glendale, one of the worst stores to visit in my experience,
> small, crowded, understocked and understaffed even more than usual.
>
> Anyway, for whatever reason the place was packed, this was at about 3pm on
a
> weekday, don't these people have jobs....?
>
> I pick up the 2 things I need and head to the cashier...and that's where
the
> fun started. This store has 14 checkout lanes including 4 of the
> "self-serve" ones plus a commercial account desk and an extra register in
> the "tool corral", now guess how many of these registers were actually
being
> staffed?
>
>
> 2...and at least one of the self-service machines was broken with no sign
on
> it indicating as such. Of course there was the obligatory employee out
side
> the exit door checking reciepts as people left. Does anyone other than me
> refuse to stop for that crap? "If you think I stole something, you better
> have some proof and you better go ahead and arrest me cause I ain't
stopping
> so you can "check my receipt" lady." But I digress.
>
> The lines were at least 12 people deep, so long that guys using the lumber
> carts had to leave extra space between them so people could get thru the
> store...the tool corral line was in 2 different places and heading for a
> showdown as people who thought that they were in line found out that they
> weren't.
>
> People were walking up and seeing the space left by the lumber cart guys
> they assumed that that meant the line ended there and so they'd try to
take
> up residence, which made for some interesting confrontations.
>
> While all this was going on, there were 2 cashiers standing a bit down
from
> the registers trying to entice unwary shoppers to sign up for an inhouse
> credit card, when the second one hit me up for an account I said I'd like
> one but was afraid I'd never be able to find a cashier to accept it, he
> sorta mumbled some thing and wandered off to try and sell an appliance.
>
> After waiting for about 10 minutes in line with virtually no movement I
got
> on my cel phone, got the manager of the store on the line and asked him
why
> in the hell wasn't he out front helping to clear some of these customers
out
> of the store...he babbled a bit about about using the self-serve
registers,
> that was when I told him that at least one of those wasn't working
either...
>
> Well long story slightly shorter, I eventually made it to the cash
register
> only to find my favorite appliance salesman had actually been told to do
> something and he was now working the register, he tried his best to make
me
> his buddy but all I said was that he should have been helping people a
half
> hour earlier, paid my bill and left.
>
> The hot dog was very tasty and the can of soda was cold and I didn't have
to
> wait for the pretty girl to ring me up.
>
> John Emmons
>
> "when hatred calls with his package, refuse delivery..."
>
>

There is an apartment complex several blocks from us bought by HUD (I
heard) and grocery supermarket on the opposite side a few blocks away
and we see people walking groceries home in carts daily, many with
SMALL quantity of groceries! I call the cart number frequently to
report location of carts as a middle school is nearby and kids just
LOVE to play with carts.

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 23:31:02 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>"Ted" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> By leave the shopping carts, I mean they don't bring them back into the
>> store. If a customer wants to use one, they have to get one from the
>> parking
>> lot. I have complained about it a few times, but nothing has changed.
>
>Sp what you are blaming the store for is the clod that won't walk 30' to a
>cart drop and just leave them around the lot instead. It is not just HD,
>but every supermarket in the country that has that problem. Over a year's
>time it cost quite a bit to have the kids go out and round them up. It is
>built into the pricing.
>>

"cm" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Yet they keep hitting up their vendors for larger discounts while
> raising the price at the retail end!!! I was a vendor to Home Depot
> for 12 years. They made my little vendor business into a $10.00 an
> hour job. I have since opened a new business and deal with customers
> who truly appreciate my work.

Ah, the Wal-Mart business model!
--
"New Wave" Dave In Houston

On Thu, 14 Jul 2005 23:02:47 -0700, the opaque Mark & Juanita
<[email protected]> clearly wrote:

>i.e, the time of their cashiers costs $7 and up per hour plus any benefits,

That low?

My very first job (age 15, 3rd year in CA) was as a box boy at an
Alpha Beta grocery store for $1.95/hr. (That was my first and last
Union job, BTW. Non-union pay was $1.65/hr and my net pay after Union
fees came to $1.69/hr.) That was in 1968 and cashiers were starting at
$8.65/hr even then. Can HD's pay rate nearly 40 years later be that
much lower? I thought that being able to use a cash register and/or
having any 10-key experience almost doubled the minimum wage pay for
those jobs.

Anyone have data on cashier pay rate trends?

- - -
Brain cells come and brain cells go, but fat cells live forever.
---
http://diversify.com Website Application Programming for YOU!

I've been following this thread and struggling to keep my big mouth shut.

More than 'a few years ago' I grew up in Atlantic City, NJ. {That's the
'city' itself, which is one of FOUR municipalities on the island that people
think of as 'Atlantic City'}. I was easily able to WALK to school . . . from
Kindergarten through High School graduation.

Within the short walk to Grammar School there was a 'local' hardware store
that seemed to have everything for every season. From storm windows in the
winter to a wide variety of 'sinkers', line, and other fishing tackle in the
summer. Almost always the same faces 'behind the counter' . . . you actually
grew up with them. Literally across the street was a 'glass company'. Kind
of like an iceberg . . . a small 'storefront' but a huge workroom &
warehouse behind. The other way from the Grammar school, about an equal
distance from home, was the High School. A bit beyond that - across a grass
& tree lined park - was a PAINT Store. From powered additives to the gallon
cans to anything the 'real PRO's' needed. A bit beyond this was a store only
about twice the width of the front door. Maybe 50 feet long, at the rear was
a 'counter opening' in the wall for the proprietor - Irv of 'Irv's Tackle
Box'. If it was about fishing - especially Salt Water - he had it.

Fast forward a lot of years, and about 60 miles away to suburban Philly.
There's an old line about the 'definition of a boat . . . a hole in the
water in which you pour money'. When you buy a house, you find the
'landlubbers' equivalent . . . the title of the Tom Hanks movie . . . 'The
Money Pit'. The 'handy' type develops an intimate knowledge of the local
'sources of supply'. About this same time the 'Big Box Stores' phenomenon
started.



<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Gawd... I was just recovering from the last 3,000 entry thread on the
> insanity and horrors of Home Depot that went on about 45 days ago.
>
> Now I feel myself falling into depression thinking of all the people
> not smart enough to stay out of those stores knowing what they
> obviously know about the stores themselves and the people that work
> there....
SNIP

On Fri, 15 Jul 2005 08:21:45 -0500, Duane Bozarth
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Larry Jaques wrote:
>...
>
>> Anyone have data on cashier pay rate trends?
>
>No data, but I'd suspect it has been pretty flat, at best...

At my local HD, the cashiers are all scan yourself except 1 at the
service desk. Definitely cuts down on payroll, pisses me off though
and a few other people I know so it might just be a wash.

Mark

yeah I have but then I'd have nothing to write these little stories about.
The only thing that "bothered" me was the complete lack of any understanding
of customer service. If I ran my business like that, I'd be out of business
as I should be.

It's all part of the loss of simple consideration for others that plagues
this world we live in.

John

"FriscoSoxFan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Ever consider not letting these things bother you?
>

John Emmons wrote:

> Anyway, for whatever reason the place was packed, this was at about 3pm on a
> weekday, don't these people have jobs....?
>
> I pick up the 2 things I need and head to the cashier...and that's where the
> fun started. This store has 14 checkout lanes including 4 of the
> "self-serve" ones plus a commercial account desk and an extra register in
> the "tool corral", now guess how many of these registers were actually being
> staffed?


<snip>

I have a friend who is a cashier at a H/D in SoCal.

The conditions you describe do exist because those are the procedures to
be used as given by the headquarters operation in Atlanta.

Why do they do it?

It is less costly to warehouse customers than it is to pay cashiers.

My friend says working at H/D these days is a very stressful situation
at best, but an individual employee is unable to do anything about it.

BTW, warehousing customers appears to be practiced these days by almost
every supermarket and big box retail operation in existence.

Lew

About three years ago HD started taking the top 10 selling items from every
vendor they buy from and having those item copied in China. Check out the
Drywall tool section. It still looks like ALL the tools are from "Wallboard
Drywall Tool Company" (Made in USA) but 10% of the items are made in China
and directly imported by Home Depot. Yet they keep hitting up their vendors
for larger discounts while raising the price at the retail end!!! I was a
vendor to Home Depot for 12 years. They made my little vendor business into
a $10.00 an hour job. I have since opened a new business and deal with
customers who truly appreciate my work.



cm


"John Emmons" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I had to go to one of the local Home Depots the other day, well I didn't
> actually have to but it was on the way home and I needed the stuff and I
> knew that they'd have it and besides the girl who sells hotdogs outside is
> kinda cute but I digress...
>
> For those in the Los Angeles area this is the store on San Fernando road
> in
> the city of Glendale, one of the worst stores to visit in my experience,
> small, crowded, understocked and understaffed even more than usual.
>
> Anyway, for whatever reason the place was packed, this was at about 3pm on
> a
> weekday, don't these people have jobs....?
>
> I pick up the 2 things I need and head to the cashier...and that's where
> the
> fun started. This store has 14 checkout lanes including 4 of the
> "self-serve" ones plus a commercial account desk and an extra register in
> the "tool corral", now guess how many of these registers were actually
> being
> staffed?
>
>
> 2...and at least one of the self-service machines was broken with no sign
> on
> it indicating as such. Of course there was the obligatory employee out
> side
> the exit door checking reciepts as people left. Does anyone other than me
> refuse to stop for that crap? "If you think I stole something, you better
> have some proof and you better go ahead and arrest me cause I ain't
> stopping
> so you can "check my receipt" lady." But I digress.
>
> The lines were at least 12 people deep, so long that guys using the lumber
> carts had to leave extra space between them so people could get thru the
> store...the tool corral line was in 2 different places and heading for a
> showdown as people who thought that they were in line found out that they
> weren't.
>
> People were walking up and seeing the space left by the lumber cart guys
> they assumed that that meant the line ended there and so they'd try to
> take
> up residence, which made for some interesting confrontations.
>
> While all this was going on, there were 2 cashiers standing a bit down
> from
> the registers trying to entice unwary shoppers to sign up for an inhouse
> credit card, when the second one hit me up for an account I said I'd like
> one but was afraid I'd never be able to find a cashier to accept it, he
> sorta mumbled some thing and wandered off to try and sell an appliance.
>
> After waiting for about 10 minutes in line with virtually no movement I
> got
> on my cel phone, got the manager of the store on the line and asked him
> why
> in the hell wasn't he out front helping to clear some of these customers
> out
> of the store...he babbled a bit about about using the self-serve
> registers,
> that was when I told him that at least one of those wasn't working
> either...
>
> Well long story slightly shorter, I eventually made it to the cash
> register
> only to find my favorite appliance salesman had actually been told to do
> something and he was now working the register, he tried his best to make
> me
> his buddy but all I said was that he should have been helping people a
> half
> hour earlier, paid my bill and left.
>
> The hot dog was very tasty and the can of soda was cold and I didn't have
> to
> wait for the pretty girl to ring me up.
>
> John Emmons
>
> "when hatred calls with his package, refuse delivery..."
>
>

John Emmons wrote:

[snip]
> The hot dog was very tasty and the can of soda was cold and I didn't have to
> wait for the pretty girl to ring me up.
>
Ah, the pretty girl. Now if I could just remember why they were so
interesting...
j4

"Edwin Pawlowski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Ted" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > . They
> > also leave their shopping carts all over the parking lot taking up
parking
> > spaces.
>
>
> I've never seen store employees spreading the carts around. I guess they
> want to make it easier for you to find one.
>

By leave the shopping carts, I mean they don't bring them back into the
store. If a customer wants to use one, they have to get one from the parking
lot. I have complained about it a few times, but nothing has changed.

That, along with not being able to fine people to help me, most of the
registers not being used with long lines at the few that are open is why I
go to Ace hardware instead if I can get what I need there.

"John Emmons" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> 2... Does anyone other than me
> refuse to stop for that crap? "If you think I stole something, you better
> have some proof and you better go ahead and arrest me cause I ain't
> stopping
> so you can "check my receipt" lady." But I digress.

Yes, a lot of honest people feel that way. Problem is, there are too many
dis-honest ones that makes it a necessity in some areas. Considering the
cost of having a guard at the door, they would not do it unless thee was a
payback. I know the one at our BJ's store has a half dozen gold starts from
catching a few big ones. I see it getting even worse in the future.

>
> After waiting for about 10 minutes in line with virtually no movement I
> got
> on my cel phone, got the manager of the store on the line and asked him
> why
> in the hell wasn't he out front helping to clear some of these customers
> out
> of the store...he babbled a bit about about using the self-serve
> registers,
> that was when I told him that at least one of those wasn't working
> either...

Good ploy. I refuse to use the self checkout until they offer me a 5%
discount.

> The hot dog was very tasty and the can of soda was cold and I didn't have
> to
> wait for the pretty girl to ring me up.

The trip was not a total waste.


>
> "when hatred calls with his package, refuse delivery..."
>

Worth thinking about next time you are standing in line getting pissed off.
Retail is getting worse with service all the time.

The fact that people were standing in line 12 deep indicates this is one
very busy and money making store.
It's like the old joke "This place will go out of business because the check
out lines are so busy I had to wait an hour"!

"John Emmons" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> yeah I have but then I'd have nothing to write these little stories about.
> The only thing that "bothered" me was the complete lack of any
> understanding
> of customer service. If I ran my business like that, I'd be out of
> business
> as I should be.
>
> It's all part of the loss of simple consideration for others that plagues
> this world we live in.
>
> John
>
> "FriscoSoxFan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Ever consider not letting these things bother you?
>>
>
>

"John Emmons" wrote in message
> yeah I have but then I'd have nothing to write these little stories about.
> The only thing that "bothered" me was the complete lack of any
understanding
> of customer service. If I ran my business like that, I'd be out of
business
> as I should be.
>
> It's all part of the loss of simple consideration for others that plagues
> this world we live in.

Well said!

Home Depot is in business for the convenience of its employees/stockholders,
not its customers. It's that damn simple ... around here it starts before
you ever walk in the door, with the lumber carts stored at the opposite end
of the gigantic parking lot from the front doors, and goes down hill from
there.

When HD opens a shiny new store everything is rosy, then, over time, like a
calked miter joint in a poorly made outhouse, the smell creeps out.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 7/12/05

"Jerry" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> You hit the nail on the head. Most of these employees don't give a
> %&$& about customer service -- they get paid no matter what.
>

I think you're missing the point...

The cashiers and roving idiots *can't* do anything about it - at least the
understaffing of the registers and various departments. If the store only
has 2 cashiers on shift, that's it. I doubt there are 10 more cashiers
squirreled away in the break room laughing at the long lines. Corporate has
decided that for peak efficiency, store X only needs 2.3 cashiers on
weekdays between X:00 and Y:00. Done deal. Efficiency is measured in labor
expense, not keeping the sheep waiting in line. They put in the "Self
Checkout" hoping that at least some of the unwashed will use them. I do
(does that make me unwashed?) because I know that I am more likely to
accurately wave the item over the scanner than the average dullard who can't
tell a vice-grip from a toilet flange.

On the other hand, the zombies in orange roving the aisles seem to be
half-and-half. They either drive me nuts by asking if I need help every 4.2
seconds, or they scatter like roaches in bright light if I find that I *do*
have a question.

The one near me parks their delivery tractor trailer in front of the store
most of time making it hard for people to drive around the parking lot. They
also leave their shopping carts all over the parking lot taking up parking
spaces.


"D. J. MCBRIDE" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Swingman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Home Depot is in business for the convenience of its
> > employees/stockholders,
> > not its customers. It's that damn simple ... around here it starts
> > before
> > you ever walk in the door, with the lumber carts stored at the
> > opposite end
> > of the gigantic parking lot from the front doors, and goes down hill
> > from
> > there.
> >
> > When HD opens a shiny new store everything is rosy, then, over time,
> > like a
> > calked miter joint in a poorly made outhouse, the smell creeps out.
>
> Agreed! I'm a remodeler and spend more time in these sh-tholes than
> I like to admit, certainly more than I want to.
>
> And, let me add a couple of more to the list. :
> 1. It seems that no two of HDs are laid out the same. I often
> find myself wandering around, wasting time looking for areas that are
> supposed to be somewhere else.
> 2. For the last couple of months, the store on Hwy. 290 has taken
> up a couple of complete rows of parking by warehousing their crates of
> surplus tile out in the parking lot. It's hard enough parking n F250
> Crew Cab with an eight foot bed; now I'm pushed even further away from
> the building.
> --
> "New Wave" Dave In Houston
>
>

"Lew Hodgett" <[email protected]> wrote :

> I have a friend who is a cashier at a H/D in SoCal.
>
> The conditions you describe do exist because those are the procedures to
> be used as given by the headquarters operation in Atlanta.

The level of control these central HQs have over individual stores is a bit
tough to wrap one's head around. This past spring, I commented to a HD
cashier that it was uncomfortable in the store (hot & humid - it was pouring
outside), and she told me that sometimes the store got that way, as the HVAC
were controlled by a computer in Atlanta, and they sometimes missed the boat
on local weather.

Apparently Wal-Mart does the same thing.

Jason

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] wrote:
>Doug Miller wrote:
>>
>....
>....[re: Borg vis a vis perhaps higher-priced distributor]...
>
>> I have at least four within five or six miles, so my situation is a bit
>> different. And most of them are closer to home than the local plumbing
> supply,
>> too.
>
>W/ the Borg far away, it's an easy decision of course, but I personally
>still have a fundamental distaste for the Wally-World syndrome that
>destroys small town businesses. I'm one of the (apparently few) ones who
>will go out of my way to patronize our locals despite perhaps a slightly
>higher initial cost. In return, I get folks who know who I am, will do
>anything possible (and some that is nearly not so) to meet needs and
>don't send corporate profits to Delaware or someplace else far away.

If it were "slightly higher" I'd patronize the local shop in most cases. But
in this case, HD's price on the pipe is $8.95, they cut and thread for free,
and they're three miles from home, whereas the local place wants $15.50 for
the pipe plus another $3 to cut and thread - and they're six and a half miles
away.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

> "Gary" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>>IMHO, I disagree. Big bully stores like Wal-Mart and the Borgs put Mom
>>and
>>Pop out of business. Before Wal-Mart, rural people worked in small
>>factories
>>and shopped at locally owned stores. Now their factories have moved
>>offshore
>>because of Wal-Mart's bully tactics and Mom and Pop lacks a local supplier
>>and
>>the stupid customer is enamored by "Low Prices, Always".

>> Wal-Mart has killed the "Little Man" and is now killing the country.

Boy, do you have it right. When Wal Mart came to our town, they hired an
armed security force and redirected traffic from the small stores to the Wal
Mart parking lot. They sent flyers to each house demanding we shop at Wal
Mart and abandon the existing merchants.

Wal Mart (and most of the other big box stores) is giving people what they
want. Low prices on mediocre merchandise. The suppliers to these stores
make the final decision to move factories off shore. They fear losing
market share so they capitulate.

I'd also like to see the stores close on Sunday so their employees could
spend a day home with family, but 1955 is not going to return.

"Swingman" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Home Depot is in business for the convenience of its
> employees/stockholders,
> not its customers. It's that damn simple ... around here it starts
> before
> you ever walk in the door, with the lumber carts stored at the
> opposite end
> of the gigantic parking lot from the front doors, and goes down hill
> from
> there.
>
> When HD opens a shiny new store everything is rosy, then, over time,
> like a
> calked miter joint in a poorly made outhouse, the smell creeps out.

Agreed! I'm a remodeler and spend more time in these sh-tholes than
I like to admit, certainly more than I want to.

And, let me add a couple of more to the list. :
1. It seems that no two of HDs are laid out the same. I often
find myself wandering around, wasting time looking for areas that are
supposed to be somewhere else.
2. For the last couple of months, the store on Hwy. 290 has taken
up a couple of complete rows of parking by warehousing their crates of
surplus tile out in the parking lot. It's hard enough parking n F250
Crew Cab with an eight foot bed; now I'm pushed even further away from
the building.
--
"New Wave" Dave In Houston

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] wrote:
>Doug Miller wrote:
>>
>> In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] wrote:
>> >Kevin wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Had a similar experience at the Lowes in Bloomington. Got a piece of 3/4"
>> >> black pipe and needed both ends threaded. Had some worker get on his
> phone
>> >> and call for help. No response after 5 minutes. Had him call again. No
>> >> response. Tried one more time and the manager came over and did the
>> >> threading and cutting. Apparently 2 people out sick and the other guy on
>> >> lunch break.
>> >>
>> >> "Doug Miller" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> >> news:[email protected]...
>> >....
>> >> > Went to HD the other day for two pieces of half-inch black pipe. ...
>> >....snip long tale of woe culminating in ...
>> >> > and he doesn't know how to run the machine. FORTY-FIVE MINUTES to get
> one
>> >> > stinking piece of pipe cut & threaded.
>> >> >
>> >> > GRRRRR
>> >
>> >Wouldn't it have been far simpler to have simply gone to the place you
>> ><knew> would solve the problem in the first place????
>>
>> And pay double the price?
>
>Was the few bucks saved sufficient compensation for the time and
>aggravation?

In retrospect... no, probably not.
>
>> >I fail to understand the mentality of going to places where one expects
>> >poor service and then complaining about receiving what one expects...
>>
>> Well, I wasn't expecting service quite *that* poor...
>
>I expect <none>...(that way I'm not disappointed.. :) )
>
>But I never approach a Borg for anything that isn't going to just come
>off the shelf, and try to have to never to do that. Of course, that
>it's 60 mi to the only one even remotely close helps... :)

I have at least four within five or six miles, so my situation is a bit
different. And most of them are closer to home than the local plumbing supply,
too.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

"EXT" <etonks@sunstormADD-DOT-COM> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> When this happens to me, unless I REALLY NEED the stuff, I will abandon my
> cart or basket where I stand and walk out.
>
>
I have done this more than once. I usually point this fact out in a loud
voice as I pass the cashier too. I let them know that the service was
intolorable.

"Ted" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> By leave the shopping carts, I mean they don't bring them back into the
> store. If a customer wants to use one, they have to get one from the
> parking
> lot. I have complained about it a few times, but nothing has changed.

Sp what you are blaming the store for is the clod that won't walk 30' to a
cart drop and just leave them around the lot instead. It is not just HD,
but every supermarket in the country that has that problem. Over a year's
time it cost quite a bit to have the kids go out and round them up. It is
built into the pricing.
>

> That, along with not being able to fine people to help me, most of the
> registers not being used with long lines at the few that are open is why I
> go to Ace hardware instead if I can get what I need there.

Nothing beats voting with your money. I do the same when I can.

Duane Bozarth <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> Sounds a lot like something I heard Yogi say once upon a time... :)
>

Look Boo-Boo! Pic-a-nic baskets!

Oh, wait ... that other Yogi.

Got it.

Regards,
JT

"EXT" <etonks@sunstormADD-DOT-COM> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> When this happens to me, unless I REALLY NEED the stuff, I will
abandon my
> cart or basket where I stand and walk out.

Reminds me of a story my Dad loved to tell - he bought a can of custom
color paint and then got pissed off about standing in line, so he walked
out in disgust.

After he chilled out, he went back the next day, and saw his paint in
the "error" section. He bought it for a fraction of what he would have
paid the previous day. He had no guilt, given the crap he used to go
through.

Ever consider not letting these things bother you?



"FriscoSoxFan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Ever consider not letting these things bother you?
>

In article <150720051741040199%dave@N_O_T_T_H_I_S.balderstone.ca>, dave@N_O_T_T_H_I_S.balderstone.ca wrote:
>In article <[email protected]>, Doug
>Miller <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> >Wouldn't it have been far simpler to have simply gone to the place you
>> ><knew> would solve the problem in the first place????
>>
>> And pay double the price?
>
>How much is your time worth? Obvious less than the cost of a piece of
>9' pipe...

Yeah, well... the last several times that I went to the Borg to get pipe cut
and threaded, there was no problem at all: competent employee, machine worked
fine, low price, close to home. That's why I went back this time.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

<[email protected]> wrote in message

> Gawd... I was just recovering from the last 3,000 entry thread on the
> insanity and horrors of Home Depot that went on about 45 days ago.
<snip Norm reference>
> At least it brought some variety to the bitching.

The wags were wrong ... the price of freedom is actually constant bitching,
not vigilance.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 7/12/05

"Edwin Pawlowski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Ted" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > By leave the shopping carts, I mean they don't bring them back into the
> > store. If a customer wants to use one, they have to get one from the
> > parking
> > lot. I have complained about it a few times, but nothing has changed.
>
> Sp what you are blaming the store for is the clod that won't walk 30' to a
> cart drop and just leave them around the lot instead. It is not just HD,
> but every supermarket in the country that has that problem. Over a year's
> time it cost quite a bit to have the kids go out and round them up. It is
> built into the pricing.
> >

They don't even have a cart drop.
>
> > That, along with not being able to fine people to help me, most of the
> > registers not being used with long lines at the few that are open is why
I
> > go to Ace hardware instead if I can get what I need there.
>
> Nothing beats voting with your money. I do the same when I can.
>
>

John Emmons wrote:

>I had to go to one of the local Home Depots the other day, well I didn't
>actually have to but it was on the way home and I needed the stuff and I
>knew that they'd have it and besides the girl who sells hotdogs outside is
>kinda cute but I digress...
>
>For those in the Los Angeles area this is the store on San Fernando road in
>the city of Glendale, one of the worst stores to visit in my experience,
>small, crowded, understocked and understaffed even more than usual.
>
><snip>
>
>
>
>
You just described about 95% of all Home Depots in the L.A. area!

"John Emmons" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> yeah I have but then I'd have nothing to write these little stories about.
> The only thing that "bothered" me was the complete lack of any
> understanding
> of customer service. If I ran my business like that, I'd be out of
> business
> as I should be.
>
> It's all part of the loss of simple consideration for others that plagues
> this world we live in.

An the arrogance these big box stores and their management have that
customers don't matter. However, I did hear the CEO of Wally World say on
TV the other day, that for every customer they lose, they potentially lose
$200,000 in future sales.

Had a similar experience at the Lowes in Bloomington. Got a piece of 3/4"
black pipe and needed both ends threaded. Had some worker get on his phone
and call for help. No response after 5 minutes. Had him call again. No
response. Tried one more time and the manager came over and did the
threading and cutting. Apparently 2 people out sick and the other guy on
lunch break.


"Doug Miller" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> No hotdog vendors, or pretty girls, outside the Indianapolis HD or Lowes
> stores. Just a bunch of dolts *inside*...
>
> Went to HD the other day for two pieces of half-inch black pipe. Need one
> cut to 9'plus and threaded. There is exactly *one* ten-foot section of
> half-inch black pipe in the store. Clerk tells me they don't reorder
> until they're low on (or out of) several sizes at once.
>
> So I headed to Lowe's instead, where they had many pieces. Grabbed two,
> asked to have one cut and threaded... and learned that the pipe machine
> is out of order and has been for _two_weeks_. Bought one, went back to HD
> to get their one remaining pipe cut and threaded...
>
> ... where I discovered that *their* pipe machine is down too. It hadn't
> occurred to the clerk to tell me that the first time I was there, talking
> about getting pipe cut and threaded.
>
> Called local plumbing supply house. I'm sure their machinery is working.
> It is, but they want **double** the price at HD & Lowe's.
>
> Try another Lowe's store. Called first to make sure the machine works.
> They assure me it does. Got there, and there's *one* guy in plumbing...
> and he doesn't know how to run the machine. FORTY-FIVE MINUTES to get one
> stinking piece of pipe cut & threaded.
>
> GRRRRR

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"Dana Miller" <[email protected]> wrote in message =
news:[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>,
> "Gary" <[email protected]> wrote:
>=20
>>"John Emmons" <[email protected]> wrote in message=20
>>news:[email protected]...
>>> yeah I have but then I'd have nothing to write these little stories =
about.
>>> The only thing that "bothered" me was the complete lack of any=20
>>> understanding
>>> of customer service. If I ran my business like that, I'd be out of=20
>>> business
>>> as I should be.
>>>
>>> It's all part of the loss of simple consideration for others that =
plagues
>>> this world we live in.
>>
>>An the arrogance these big box stores and their management have that=20
>>customers don't matter. However, I did hear the CEO of Wally World =
say on=20
>>TV the other day, that for every customer they lose, they potentially =
lose=20
>>$200,000 in future sales.=20
>=20
> Once Wally World has run all the competition out of business, its just =

> about impossible for them to truly lose a customer. Nowhere else to =
go.
>=20
> Here's my theory. Retailers have come to the conclusion that their=20
> biggest enemy is NOT their competition. The largest threat to their=20
> profitability is their suppliers, and their customers. NO competitor=20
> can ever hurt you bottom line like the folks above and below you in =
the=20
> supply chain. If your supplier wants more margin, or if you customer=20
> demands more value, you're going to get hammered. Once the big box=20
> retailers figured out that they would maximize their profit by =
bullying=20
> their suppliers and customers they have turned big profits. Walmart =
and=20
> HD have figured out that once they've beaten their customers into=20
> accepting inferior goods with no service they can clean up. =20
>=20
> The message I read between the lines at every big box store is "quit=20
> expecting service!". They can't deliver service, they won't deliver=20
> service. Everything about their operation is built around denial of=20
> service. They put brain damaged people on the sales floor for a =
reason. =20
> They want you to quit trying. Walmart may sell that their greeters =
are=20
> friendly, but they're not smart, or useful. =20
>=20
> The guy at the door checking receipts: Last line of defense against =
the=20
> customer, the enemy.
>=20
> --=20
> Dana Miller

IMHO, I disagree. Big bully stores like Wal-Mart and the Borgs put Mom =
and Pop out of business. Before Wal-Mart, rural people worked in small =
factories and shopped at locally owned stores. Now their factories have =
moved offshore because of Wal-Mart's bully tactics and Mom and Pop lacks =
a local supplier and the stupid customer is enamored by "Low Prices, =
Always". =20

Wal-Mart has killed the "Little Man" and is now killing the country. =
Certain third-world countries are becoming industrialized (thanks to =
Wal-Mart, the largest importer of Chinese goods). Could this be the =
reason oil is $60 a barrel and headed to $100? Wait until every =
chinaman trades in his bicycle for an SUV. "You ain't seen nuthin' =
yet."

Gary

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<BODY>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#000000 size=3D2></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#000000 size=3D2>"Dana Miller" =
&lt;</FONT><A=20
href=3D"mailto:[email protected]"><FONT face=3DArial =
color=3D#000000=20
size=3D2>[email protected]</FONT></A><FONT =
face=3DArial=20
color=3D#000000 size=3D2>&gt; wrote in message </FONT><A=20
href=3D"news:[email protected].=
net"><FONT=20
face=3DArial color=3D#000000=20
size=3D2>news:[email protected]=
.net</FONT></A><FONT=20
face=3DArial color=3D#000000 size=3D2>...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#000000 size=3D2>&gt; In article =
&lt;</FONT><A=20
href=3D"mailto:[email protected]"><FONT face=3DArial =

color=3D#000000 =
size=3D2>[email protected]</FONT></A><FONT=20
face=3DArial color=3D#000000 size=3D2>&gt;,<BR>&gt;&nbsp;"Gary" =
&lt;</FONT><A=20
href=3D"mailto:[email protected]"><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#000000=20
size=3D2>[email protected]</FONT></A><FONT face=3DArial =
color=3D#000000 size=3D2>&gt;=20
wrote:<BR>&gt; <BR>&gt;&gt;"John Emmons" &lt;</FONT><A=20
href=3D"mailto:[email protected]"><FONT face=3DArial =
color=3D#000000=20
size=3D2>[email protected]</FONT></A><FONT face=3DArial =
color=3D#000000=20
size=3D2>&gt; wrote in message=20
<BR>&gt;&gt;news:[email protected].=
net...<BR>&gt;&gt;&gt;=20
yeah I have but then I'd have nothing to write these little stories=20
about.<BR>&gt;&gt;&gt; The only thing that "bothered" me was the =
complete lack=20
of any <BR>&gt;&gt;&gt; understanding<BR>&gt;&gt;&gt; of customer =
service. If I=20
ran my business like that, I'd be out of <BR>&gt;&gt;&gt;=20
business<BR>&gt;&gt;&gt; as I should be.<BR>&gt;&gt;&gt;<BR>&gt;&gt;&gt; =
It's=20
all part of the loss of simple consideration for others that=20
plagues<BR>&gt;&gt;&gt; this world we live in.<BR>&gt;&gt;<BR>&gt;&gt;An =
the=20
arrogance these big box stores and their management have that=20
<BR>&gt;&gt;customers don't matter.&nbsp; However, I did hear the CEO of =
Wally=20
World say on <BR>&gt;&gt;TV the other day, that for every customer they =
lose,=20
they potentially lose <BR>&gt;&gt;$200,000 in future sales. <BR>&gt; =
<BR>&gt;=20
Once Wally World has run all the competition out of business, its just =
<BR>&gt;=20
about impossible for them to truly lose a customer.&nbsp; Nowhere else =
to=20
go.<BR>&gt; <BR>&gt; Here's my theory.&nbsp; Retailers have come to the=20
conclusion that their <BR>&gt; biggest enemy is NOT their =
competition.&nbsp; The=20
largest threat to their <BR>&gt; profitability is their suppliers, and =
their=20
customers.&nbsp; NO competitor <BR>&gt; can ever hurt you bottom line =
like the=20
folks above and below you in the <BR>&gt; supply chain.&nbsp; If your =
supplier=20
wants more margin, or if you customer <BR>&gt; demands more value, =
you're going=20
to get hammered.&nbsp; Once the big box <BR>&gt; retailers figured out =
that they=20
would maximize their profit by bullying <BR>&gt; their suppliers and =
customers=20
they have turned big profits.&nbsp; Walmart and <BR>&gt; HD have figured =
out=20
that once they've beaten their customers into <BR>&gt; accepting =
inferior goods=20
with no service they can clean up.&nbsp; <BR>&gt; <BR>&gt; The message I =
read=20
between the lines at every big box store is "quit <BR>&gt; expecting=20
service!".&nbsp; They can't deliver service, they won't deliver <BR>&gt; =

service.&nbsp; Everything about their operation is built around denial =
of=20
<BR>&gt; service.&nbsp; They put brain damaged people on the sales floor =
for a=20
reason.&nbsp; <BR>&gt; They want you to quit trying.&nbsp; Walmart may =
sell that=20
their greeters are <BR>&gt; friendly, but they're not smart, or =
useful.&nbsp;=20
<BR>&gt; <BR>&gt; The guy at the door checking receipts:&nbsp; Last line =
of=20
defense against the <BR>&gt; customer, the enemy.<BR>&gt; <BR>&gt; -- =
<BR>&gt;=20
Dana Miller</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#000000 size=3D2></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#000000 size=3D2>IMHO, I disagree.&nbsp; =
Big bully=20
stores like Wal-Mart and the Borgs put Mom and Pop out of =
business.&nbsp;&nbsp;=20
Before Wal-Mart, rural people worked in small factories and shopped at =
locally=20
owned stores.&nbsp; Now their factories have moved offshore because of=20
Wal-Mart's bully tactics and Mom and Pop lacks a local supplier and the =
stupid=20
customer is enamored by "Low Prices, Always".&nbsp; </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#000000 size=3D2></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#000000 size=3D2>&nbsp;Wal-Mart has =
killed the "Little=20
Man" and is now&nbsp; killing the country.&nbsp; Certain third-world =
countries=20
are becoming industrialized (thanks to Wal-Mart, the largest importer of =
Chinese=20
goods).&nbsp; Could this be the reason oil is $60 a barrel and headed to =

$100?&nbsp; Wait until every chinaman trades in his bicycle for an =
SUV.&nbsp;=20
"You ain't seen nuthin' yet."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#000000 size=3D2></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#000000 size=3D2>Gary</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial color=3D#000000 =
size=3D2></FONT>&nbsp;</DIV></BODY></HTML>

------=_NextPart_000_0039_01C58D01.8B631F60--

In article <[email protected]>,
"Gary" <[email protected]> wrote:


>IMHO, I disagree. Big bully stores like Wal-Mart and the Borgs put Mom and
>Pop out of business. Before Wal-Mart, rural people worked in small factories
>and shopped at locally owned stores. Now their factories have moved offshore
>because of Wal-Mart's bully tactics and Mom and Pop lacks a local supplier and
>the stupid customer is enamored by "Low Prices, Always".

Now that Mom and Pop are out of business, the next target in their
sights has to be either the customer or the supplier.

>
> Wal-Mart has killed the "Little Man" and is now killing the country.
> Certain third-world countries are becoming industrialized (thanks to
> Wal-Mart, the largest importer of Chinese goods). Could this be the reason
> oil is $60 a barrel and headed to $100? Wait until every chinaman trades in
> his bicycle for an SUV. "You ain't seen nuthin' yet."
>
>Gary

If the average chinaman wants to buy an SUV, the wages in china are
going to have to increase by a factor of 10-20. Because that sort of
wage is only possible if the workers organize, and union organization is
a capitol offense in China don't hold your breath waiting for that to
happen. We send about all the money we can to china that our nation has
as excess. There's just not enough money flowing that way for them to
afford those things. Their internal market might support that level of
economy but China is already suffering from wage pressures which are
sending work to the remainder of asia.

--
Dana Miller

In article <[email protected]>,
"Gary" <[email protected]> wrote:

>"John Emmons" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> yeah I have but then I'd have nothing to write these little stories about.
>> The only thing that "bothered" me was the complete lack of any
>> understanding
>> of customer service. If I ran my business like that, I'd be out of
>> business
>> as I should be.
>>
>> It's all part of the loss of simple consideration for others that plagues
>> this world we live in.
>
>An the arrogance these big box stores and their management have that
>customers don't matter. However, I did hear the CEO of Wally World say on
>TV the other day, that for every customer they lose, they potentially lose
>$200,000 in future sales.

Once Wally World has run all the competition out of business, its just
about impossible for them to truly lose a customer. Nowhere else to go.

Here's my theory. Retailers have come to the conclusion that their
biggest enemy is NOT their competition. The largest threat to their
profitability is their suppliers, and their customers. NO competitor
can ever hurt you bottom line like the folks above and below you in the
supply chain. If your supplier wants more margin, or if you customer
demands more value, you're going to get hammered. Once the big box
retailers figured out that they would maximize their profit by bullying
their suppliers and customers they have turned big profits. Walmart and
HD have figured out that once they've beaten their customers into
accepting inferior goods with no service they can clean up.

The message I read between the lines at every big box store is "quit
expecting service!". They can't deliver service, they won't deliver
service. Everything about their operation is built around denial of
service. They put brain damaged people on the sales floor for a reason.
They want you to quit trying. Walmart may sell that their greeters are
friendly, but they're not smart, or useful.

The guy at the door checking receipts: Last line of defense against the
customer, the enemy.

--
Dana Miller

On Fri, 15 Jul 2005 03:15:23 GMT, [email protected] wrote:

>
>
>My wife works for a large grocery chain here in SoCal. The store
>manager's bonus at the end of the year is dependent on the profits of
>the store (i.e. the total sales versus the total payroll). If you get a
>store manager who cares more about his bonus than the satisfaction of
>the customer, you will find the store consistently understaffed.
>Especially when he is not there to take the flak from disgruntled
>customers.
>
>Just my 2¢

Seems to me that if the additional staffing doesn't at least generate
sales equal to added payroll, that the added staffing wasn't really
needed. I would assume that added staffing would have to at least
cover its own costs as well as the cost of the additional product sold
before you would schedule those added bodies. A profit based bonus
makes complete sense as long as it is at least intermediate trem
based, not short term and as long as the manager has some control on
other factors affecting sales volume.

Dave Hall

On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 08:03:42 -0400, "Gary" <[email protected]>
wrote:

snip
>
>IMHO, I disagree. Big bully stores like Wal-Mart and the Borgs put Mom and Pop out of business. Before Wal-Mart, rural people worked in small factories and shopped at locally owned stores. Now their factories have moved offshore because of Wal-Mart's bully tactics and Mom and Pop lacks a local supplier and the stupid customer is enamored by "Low Prices, Always".
>
> Wal-Mart has killed the "Little Man" and is now killing the country. Certain third-world countries are becoming industrialized (thanks to Wal-Mart, the largest importer of Chinese goods). Could this be the reason oil is $60 a barrel and headed to $100? Wait until every chinaman trades in his bicycle for an SUV. "You ain't seen nuthin' yet."
>
>Gary

...and when those damn big car makers started to consolidate back in
the '20s we lost the mom and pop car makers. Before that they drove
the carriage makers out and, dammit, you just can't get good
buggy-whip service anymore. I believe that if you need a cookpot you
should still have to go down to the village smithy and have him pound
one out for you. Now those damn chinks make 'em by the millions and
not one good hammer blow was used in the process. What is this world
coming to.

My wife works for a large grocery chain here in SoCal. The store
manager's bonus at the end of the year is dependent on the profits of
the store (i.e. the total sales versus the total payroll). If you get a
store manager who cares more about his bonus than the satisfaction of
the customer, you will find the store consistently understaffed.
Especially when he is not there to take the flak from disgruntled
customers.

Just my 2¢

"Lee Michaels" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> I have done this more than once. I usually point this fact out in a loud
> voice as I pass the cashier too. I let them know that the service was
> intolorable.
>

Do you think a $6.50 /hr. cashier gives a rat's ass about service??

On Fri, 15 Jul 2005 16:48:35 -0000, Brian Elfert <[email protected]>
wrote:

>I like self service because they are generally faster unless I am buying a
>bunch of bulky stuff. Do anyone think they would open self service lanes
>if it drove shoppers away in droves?

No but my experience with them has been they are not yet out out beta
testing. Failure to register the item in the bag is a common problem
in all that I have used. I do believe managers who make these
decisions only hear profitablity though. Not the inheritent problems
with new technology.

Markem

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
> I had to go to one of the local Home Depots the other day, well I didn't
> actually have to but it was on the way home and I needed the stuff and I
> knew that they'd have it and besides the girl who sells hotdogs outside is
> kinda cute but I digress...

No hotdog vendors, or pretty girls, outside the Indianapolis HD or Lowes
stores. Just a bunch of dolts *inside*...

Went to HD the other day for two pieces of half-inch black pipe. Need one
cut to 9'plus and threaded. There is exactly *one* ten-foot section of
half-inch black pipe in the store. Clerk tells me they don't reorder
until they're low on (or out of) several sizes at once.

So I headed to Lowe's instead, where they had many pieces. Grabbed two,
asked to have one cut and threaded... and learned that the pipe machine
is out of order and has been for _two_weeks_. Bought one, went back to HD
to get their one remaining pipe cut and threaded...

... where I discovered that *their* pipe machine is down too. It hadn't
occurred to the clerk to tell me that the first time I was there, talking
about getting pipe cut and threaded.

Called local plumbing supply house. I'm sure their machinery is working.
It is, but they want **double** the price at HD & Lowe's.

Try another Lowe's store. Called first to make sure the machine works.
They assure me it does. Got there, and there's *one* guy in plumbing...
and he doesn't know how to run the machine. FORTY-FIVE MINUTES to get one
stinking piece of pipe cut & threaded.

GRRRRR

"Ron Magen" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:7YOBe.1145433
> Within the short walk to Grammar School there was a 'local' hardware store
> that seemed to have everything for every season. From storm windows in the
> winter to a wide variety of 'sinkers', line, and other fishing tackle in
the
> summer. Almost always the same faces 'behind the counter' . . . you
actually
> grew up with them.

Fast forward to today. Down at gate 13 at Skydome (now called the Rogers
Centre). Look down the street. Condominiums everywhere being constructed or
finished. No stores, no trees, no grass, flowers or anything growing.
Nothing except great expanses of concrete everywhere. That's the way it is
everywhere in downtown Toronto. Makes me long for when I was a kid in
Montreal living on a 10 house street that had a huge field growing wild at
the end of the street. Biggest playground in the world as far as I was
concerned.

In article <[email protected]>, "Swingman" <[email protected]> wrote:

>When HD opens a shiny new store everything is rosy, then, over time, like a
>calked miter joint in a poorly made outhouse, the smell creeps out.

You have a way with words. Nicely put, and dead-on accurate. I've been
watching that process taking place at my local HD over the last coupla years.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

On Fri, 15 Jul 2005 17:38:47 -0600, the opaque Dave Balderstone
<dave@N_O_T_T_H_I_S.balderstone.ca> clearly wrote:

>In article <[email protected]>, Larry Jaques
><novalidaddress@di\/ersify.com> wrote:
>
>> Nah, COSTCO is the place to go for dogs.
>
>He wasn't going to the hot dog stand for the hot dogs, C-less...

I must have MISSed that part of the message earlier. My MISStake,
if I read you right.


--
ALL YOUR FEARS ARE LIES
-----------------------
http://diversify.com UNfearful Websites

On Thu, 14 Jul 2005 19:32:48 GMT, Lew Hodgett <[email protected]>
wrote:

>John Emmons wrote:
>
>> Anyway, for whatever reason the place was packed, this was at about 3pm on a
>> weekday, don't these people have jobs....?
>>
>> I pick up the 2 things I need and head to the cashier...and that's where the
>> fun started. This store has 14 checkout lanes including 4 of the
>> "self-serve" ones plus a commercial account desk and an extra register in
>> the "tool corral", now guess how many of these registers were actually being
>> staffed?
>
>
><snip>
>
>I have a friend who is a cashier at a H/D in SoCal.
>
>The conditions you describe do exist because those are the procedures to
>be used as given by the headquarters operation in Atlanta.
>
>Why do they do it?
>
>It is less costly to warehouse customers than it is to pay cashiers.
>

i.e, the time of their cashiers costs $7 and up per hour plus any benefits,
the cost of your time to them is $0. As long as you are willing to wait,
the trade is an easy one. That's one of the things I really despised about
colleges -- students' time was considered a free and expendable thing,
college staff time cost money, thus, even if you had to walk across campus
to pay 10 cents to get a receipt in order to make a copy, that was the
process. Didn't like it in college but I was a captive audience, I'm not a
captive at retail stores -- if I walk in and see that things are going to
waste my time, I turn around and go somewhere else or come back later.



>My friend says working at H/D these days is a very stressful situation
>at best, but an individual employee is unable to do anything about it.
>
>BTW, warehousing customers appears to be practiced these days by almost
>every supermarket and big box retail operation in existence.
>
>Lew



+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 23:31:02 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski" <[email protected]> wrote:

>
>"Ted" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> By leave the shopping carts, I mean they don't bring them back into the
>> store. If a customer wants to use one, they have to get one from the
>> parking
>> lot. I have complained about it a few times, but nothing has changed.
>
>Sp what you are blaming the store for is the clod that won't walk 30' to a
>cart drop and just leave them around the lot instead. It is not just HD,
>but every supermarket in the country that has that problem. Over a year's
>time it cost quite a bit to have the kids go out and round them up. It is
>built into the pricing.
>>

You know, I used to feel the same way about that and the slovenly habits
of some shoppers. Now, however, it seems that some of the big box stores
make it a 1/2 parking lot hike to the nearest cart drop. At some point,
there is a threshold at which the store is encouraging people to abandon
carts in the parking lot. Just another decrease in available service, this
was originally not a problem because people actually helped one carry stuff
to your car. Then, when the inconvenience of carrying things out was
placed on the consumer, the cart racks were well spaced and convenient.
Now, it appears that the cost of cart racks and associated parking is
making customers do more work on their own by reducing the number and
increasing the distance of the cart racks.


>
>> That, along with not being able to fine people to help me, most of the
>> registers not being used with long lines at the few that are open is why I
>> go to Ace hardware instead if I can get what I need there.
>
>Nothing beats voting with your money. I do the same when I can.
>



+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

On Thu, 14 Jul 2005 18:23:16 -0600, the opaque Dave Balderstone
<dave@N_O_T_T_H_I_S.balderstone.ca> clearly wrote:

>In article
><[email protected]>, John
>Emmons <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> yeah I have but then I'd have nothing to write these little stories about.
>> The only thing that "bothered" me was the complete lack of any understanding
>> of customer service. If I ran my business like that, I'd be out of business
>> as I should be.
>
>Apparently not. You'd have people like you willing to stand in line, no
>matter how long it took... Take your business elsewhere, and just stop
>in for hot dogs.

Nah, COSTCO is the place to go for dogs. $1.50 buys you both a soft
drink and a delicious hot dog. Choose from Hebrew National All Beef
or Kosher weenie on your dog: big, meaty thangs. I make it a point
to do my shopping in Medford about noon so I can stop by COSTCO for
gas and a dog, in that order. (Luckily it's not the other way around,
even with sauerkraut on the Pdog. ;)

- - -
Brain cells come and brain cells go, but fat cells live forever.
---
http://diversify.com Website Application Programming for YOU!

It ain't just the BORGs that screw up customer service. I recently picked
up a 5X5 sheet of Baltic birch from the (local, expensive) lumber mart
because the stuff the BORG carries is warped beyond belief.

Anyhow, I was driving a small car instead of a pickup so I asked that the
sheet be ripped into three pieces in order to get it into the hatchback.
The yahoo didn't use a fence and had a co-worker to hand-hold the outfeed.
Thru carelessness, they managed to really screw up the plywood but --
fortunately --I had built enough tolerance into my measurements that I was
just barely able to straighten it out at home on my own table saw.

Grrr.
"Doug Miller" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In article <150720051741040199%dave@N_O_T_T_H_I_S.balderstone.ca>,
> dave@N_O_T_T_H_I_S.balderstone.ca wrote:
>>In article <[email protected]>, Doug
>>Miller <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> >Wouldn't it have been far simpler to have simply gone to the place you
>>> ><knew> would solve the problem in the first place????
>>>
>>> And pay double the price?
>>
>>How much is your time worth? Obvious less than the cost of a piece of
>>9' pipe...
>
> Yeah, well... the last several times that I went to the Borg to get pipe
> cut
> and threaded, there was no problem at all: competent employee, machine
> worked
> fine, low price, close to home. That's why I went back this time.
>
> --
> Regards,
> Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)
>
> It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

[email protected] wrote:
> My wife works for a large grocery chain here in SoCal. The store
> manager's bonus at the end of the year is dependent on the profits of
> the store (i.e. the total sales versus the total payroll). If you get a
> store manager who cares more about his bonus than the satisfaction of
> the customer, you will find the store consistently understaffed.
> Especially when he is not there to take the flak from disgruntled
> customers.
>
> Just my 2¢

Exactly the situation at HD. They open with well-paid pros in all the
departments who drift away, especially after the first profit review
when the manager has to cut his payroll. The replacements are paid about
half as much and don't know even that.
My local HD ran out of an item three weeks after they opened. I've
talked with department managers there who say that it's almost
impossible to get reorders from the warehouse in a reasonable time.
Don't get me started on the last time I made a special order with them.

And HD wants to own the Chinese market...

Bob

On Fri, 15 Jul 2005 11:57:00 -0500, "Swingman" <[email protected]> wrote:

>"Brian Elfert" wrote in message
>
>> I like self service because they are generally faster unless I am buying a
>> bunch of bulky stuff. Do anyone think they would open self service lanes
>> if it drove shoppers away in droves?
>
>I do prefer to use the self service machines at HD myself ... that said, and
>depending upon whether I've had my morning coffee, it is irritating to have
>that mechanical sucker loudly take you to task for having an "unauthorized
>item in bagging area".
>
>There are times when you just don't feel like being dictated to by a
>mechanical object ...

It's even more irritating when you put it in perspective; They fired a
cashier who needed a job. They pocketed that cashiers wages. They
then hired a cashier (YOU!) who would work for free, and use a machine
to chastise you and keep you in line.

Aint greed wonderful.. .. .. ..

On Fri, 15 Jul 2005 21:24:18 -0600, the opaque Dave Balderstone
<dave@N_O_T_T_H_I_S.balderstone.ca> clearly wrote:

>In article <[email protected]>, Larry Jaques
><novalidaddress@di\/ersify.com> wrote:
>
>> I must have MISSed that part of the message earlier. My MISStake,
>> if I read you right.
>
>You BOOB, you. Try to keep aBREAST of the threads here.

Twat's that? I c*nt hear you. Bare ass me again. I must have an ear
inf*ction.


--
ALL YOUR FEARS ARE LIES
-----------------------
http://diversify.com UNfearful Websites

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] wrote:
>Kevin wrote:
>>
>> Had a similar experience at the Lowes in Bloomington. Got a piece of 3/4"
>> black pipe and needed both ends threaded. Had some worker get on his phone
>> and call for help. No response after 5 minutes. Had him call again. No
>> response. Tried one more time and the manager came over and did the
>> threading and cutting. Apparently 2 people out sick and the other guy on
>> lunch break.
>>
>> "Doug Miller" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>....
>> > Went to HD the other day for two pieces of half-inch black pipe. ...
>....snip long tale of woe culminating in ...
>> > and he doesn't know how to run the machine. FORTY-FIVE MINUTES to get one
>> > stinking piece of pipe cut & threaded.
>> >
>> > GRRRRR
>
>Wouldn't it have been far simpler to have simply gone to the place you
><knew> would solve the problem in the first place????

And pay double the price?
>
>I fail to understand the mentality of going to places where one expects
>poor service and then complaining about receiving what one expects...

Well, I wasn't expecting service quite *that* poor...

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

I guess I'm in the minority.

I never really figured out what was so great about the true old style "mom
and pop" shops any way. I'm old enough to remember them. Some of the things
I remember were poor selection, 20 year old goods, high prices, often as not
a bad attitude from the owner. And god forbid you want to return something.
I remember one 'm and p' shop, where I occaisionally was forced to go into,
where the owner would follow me around the store so making sure I didn't
steal anything. Apparently he did this with every young person at the time.
They have been out of business for 20 years,. Good Riddance!

HD isn't perfect, and there are some smaller (i.e. regional) lumber/hardware
chains which I perfer to shop at, but there is a reason people go to HD to
shop.

Well no different here in NY/NJ. I simply go at 7:30am Mon-Sun. or after
7:00pm Mon-Thur.

After standing in line for what appears Hours one Sat.! One of the products
didn't have a SKU# or Barcode. So they put me to the side and paged the
department for a price check.... I went and got a hotdog and drink finished
both, walked back to the tools to look over a planer, then got the SKU# and
still nobody had showed up from that area....

Lowes is much Better in this area for sure..... Infact I will drive 15 miles
out of my way and pass 3 Home Depots to go to a Lowes. HD simply carries
tools like Rigid that I buy...

But Lowes isn't perfect I got jerked around trying to get help on finding a
router bit and was blown off by the woman handling Cabinets!

WHAT I DID FIND was that in Pricing, I went to 3 Home Depots (2 the same
day)and with exact detailed drawings. I was given 3 prices all close to
3,555.00.

Went to Home Expo $3,100.00 and a free 6 sqft piece! Go Figure!




"John Emmons" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I had to go to one of the local Home Depots the other day, well I didn't
> actually have to but it was on the way home and I needed the stuff and I
> knew that they'd have it and besides the girl who sells hotdogs outside is
> kinda cute but I digress...
>
> For those in the Los Angeles area this is the store on San Fernando road
in
> the city of Glendale, one of the worst stores to visit in my experience,
> small, crowded, understocked and understaffed even more than usual.
>
> Anyway, for whatever reason the place was packed, this was at about 3pm on
a
> weekday, don't these people have jobs....?
>
> I pick up the 2 things I need and head to the cashier...and that's where
the
> fun started. This store has 14 checkout lanes including 4 of the
> "self-serve" ones plus a commercial account desk and an extra register in
> the "tool corral", now guess how many of these registers were actually
being
> staffed?
>
>
> 2...and at least one of the self-service machines was broken with no sign
on
> it indicating as such. Of course there was the obligatory employee out
side
> the exit door checking reciepts as people left. Does anyone other than me
> refuse to stop for that crap? "If you think I stole something, you better
> have some proof and you better go ahead and arrest me cause I ain't
stopping
> so you can "check my receipt" lady." But I digress.
>
> The lines were at least 12 people deep, so long that guys using the lumber
> carts had to leave extra space between them so people could get thru the
> store...the tool corral line was in 2 different places and heading for a
> showdown as people who thought that they were in line found out that they
> weren't.
>
> People were walking up and seeing the space left by the lumber cart guys
> they assumed that that meant the line ended there and so they'd try to
take
> up residence, which made for some interesting confrontations.
>
> While all this was going on, there were 2 cashiers standing a bit down
from
> the registers trying to entice unwary shoppers to sign up for an inhouse
> credit card, when the second one hit me up for an account I said I'd like
> one but was afraid I'd never be able to find a cashier to accept it, he
> sorta mumbled some thing and wandered off to try and sell an appliance.
>
> After waiting for about 10 minutes in line with virtually no movement I
got
> on my cel phone, got the manager of the store on the line and asked him
why
> in the hell wasn't he out front helping to clear some of these customers
out
> of the store...he babbled a bit about about using the self-serve
registers,
> that was when I told him that at least one of those wasn't working
either...
>
> Well long story slightly shorter, I eventually made it to the cash
register
> only to find my favorite appliance salesman had actually been told to do
> something and he was now working the register, he tried his best to make
me
> his buddy but all I said was that he should have been helping people a
half
> hour earlier, paid my bill and left.
>
> The hot dog was very tasty and the can of soda was cold and I didn't have
to
> wait for the pretty girl to ring me up.
>
> John Emmons
>
> "when hatred calls with his package, refuse delivery..."
>
>

"Doug Miller" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>, [email protected]
> wrote:
>>Doug Miller wrote:
>>>
>>....
>>....[re: Borg vis a vis perhaps higher-priced distributor]...
>>

Drifting a little more off topic, but a funny story .

A fellow at work had an "interesting" childhood. Back in the '70s or so,
boom boxes were the rage. He walked into a discount big box store to buy
one. He looked at a couple on display, but they did not work. So, he
opened up a pack of batteries, loaded up the boom box, then as he proceeded
to the checkout he cranked it up loud.

The store manager yelled at him: "get the hell out of here with that thing!"
So, he did.

"Ted" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> . They
> also leave their shopping carts all over the parking lot taking up parking
> spaces.


I've never seen store employees spreading the carts around. I guess they
want to make it easier for you to find one.