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#189494 10/11/09 04:22 PM
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 5,445
Likes: 2
Cat Servant
Member
I just returned from the local home center. Those who hve been following me know that I recently uprooted from Reon, and moved near my folks in St. Louis. Well, as any good parent would do, my folks immediately set upon finding little projects for me at their home ... which led to this AM's visit to the local home center.

I was looking at pricing informations, for various ways to add a switch to some 3-way circuits. I noticed a 'special order' tag by the "14-2-2" bin, and I asked about it. This led to my getting bounced around a few folks, until I wound up at the 'customer services' desk, with their 'electrical' department manager and their 'service desk' manager. At one point, the 'electrical' manager asked me how 14-2-2 was different from 14-2. Harump!

Now, I figured this was a good time to remind them of the chains' announced goal to have licensed trades professionals in their departments, and that I was available laugh I also gently explained what the wire numbers meant ... as the 'service' manager was at that point asking me if #6-4 SOOW would work frown

My point to this is: All of us are facing tight times. All of us have cringed at the home centers and their uneducated staffs. Maybe this is the opportunity we have been waiting for, to step up to the plate and maybe make a difference.
The worst that can happen is for store management to say "no" - in which case we'll KNOW where the blame lies.

Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 9,923
Likes: 32
G
Member
The people at the Home Depot know me and will call me over when I am around if a customer asks a question they can't answer.
That is the same place where a guy said "This is a do it yourself store, if you want to find something do it yourself".
I was sitting on the floor picking through missorted boxes looking for the last MC connector I needed.
I knew better than to ask because they might try to send me home with romex connectors or something.


Greg Fretwell
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 47
sbi Offline
Member
my Local Home depot is a complete Joke. Things are never organized. No one of the staff has a clue when I ask them where to find something. Complete cluster flop. John I think would make a great electrical department manager. It would be nice for the other contractors. To be able to get quick answers for some one in the store instead of running around form one desk to the other


when in doubt jump it out
I happily work for slumlords
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 8,443
Likes: 3
Member
Yeah,
It must be pretty much the same, the world over.
About this time last year, I went to buy some paint, to coat the walls in this workshop.

The young man there insisted that I should buy a tonne of cans of spray paint and paint the walls that way.

Now, I wouldn't make a painters helper, but I have heard of such things as a tin of paint, a tray and a roller.

I went to the store on the other side of town and got what I needed there.
Oddly enough, the guy that was selling the paint in that big-box store used to own his own paint and decorating store for 30 years, but was put out of business because he couldn't compete with the paint prices of the bulk-buying bigger stores.

Makes you wonder doesn't it?. frown

Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 22
RH1 Offline
Member
At my local Home Depot they have "Trade Experts" or something to that effect. The girl in the electrical department is a trade expert and pulls down over $65,000 a year. I know this because I dated her for a while. She's also an electrical contractor. I feel sorry for her, you should hear the stories she tells, every day dozens of DIY types are asking her about their crackpot ideas.

When she tells them their idea is a hazard or a code violation, they couldn't care less, they dismiss her and buy all the wrong stuff for their half baked electrical job.

Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 8,443
Likes: 3
Member
Awww,
You feel sorry for "her".
So why didn't you take her on?
With that sort of turn-over, surely she'd be worth something to your business.

Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 2,723
Likes: 1
Broom Pusher and
Member
RH1;

Welcome to ECN!

Where in California are you located???

I am in So. Cal; close to Mickey Mouse's House...

The reason I ask is that the Person you are describing sounds familiar to me.

Scott


Scott " 35 " Thompson
Just Say NO To Green Eggs And Ham!
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 2,723
Likes: 1
Broom Pusher and
Member
Mike (Trumpy);

Your new Avatar is GREAT!!! cheers thumbs

Scott


Scott " 35 " Thompson
Just Say NO To Green Eggs And Ham!
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 5,445
Likes: 2
Cat Servant
Member
Our new member RH1 has the topic pegged; it is those "trade expert' jobs I'm referring to.

Otherwise, I sympathize with the lady's experiences. I was once in a 'home center,' and a customer was dead set on using garden hose as his 'conduit' outside, and there was no telling him different. All-plastic sealtite was not acceptable to him. His plan had a few other quirks to it as well, and to this day I have no idea just what he was trying to accomplish.

Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 368
M
Member
At the Homer by my house you rarely see the "trade experts" working on the floor in their departments. They can usually be found drinking coffee at the pro desk where the trades pick up their will call orders. And I don't think they work evenings when the DIY's would come in after work.

When I picked up some furnace filters on Saturday the person I saw on the floor in plumbing/heating had a "I work in all departments" button pinned on their apron.

I guess that means on Tuesday I could find her selling dishwashers in major appliances.


Last edited by mbhydro; 10/12/09 11:58 AM. Reason: can't spell
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