You're better than Home Depot

I hate Home Depot. Some of you may have a certain food that you know will disagree with you, but it looks good so you try it and pay the price later. Others may have that certain person you call when you're single and lonely, and you know you shouldn't and you hate yourself later.

Then there's Home Depot. I still go there every so often when I forget how awful it truly is. You need something for your home, and you naively think that the huge warehouse store will have it. They won't. And if they do, you won't be able to find it--and the employees can't help.

Yesterday around noon, I had to be in that part of town anyway while waiting for my daughter's music lesson to finish, so i went in, looking for three things: light bulbs, an air vent filter and a siding installation tool. (There's some home improvement guy on the radio around here who basically is on the air to pimp products every Sunday morning, and he said such a tool could be found at HD a while back.)

They had the bulbs--not the right kind exactly, but an overpriced knockoff. The filter, which is the same size as used by every air exchange ventilation system in our subdivision, is somehow too rare for them to carry. The siding tool they don't have a clue about, even though they sell siding and siding installation.

Of course, finding this out isn't easy. You have to go from one stupid, uninformed employee who's hiding out in the wrong dept. to another. (Yeah, why should I be surprised when time after time I ask the guy standing in the hardware section a question and he responds with "oh, but I don't know much about this because I work in paint" or some other lame excuse.) Fact is, I think it's in the training manual that since you're some minimum wage lackey who has no real home improvement knowledge or skills since you live in your van, the best way to appease customers is to lie and say you work in some other random department than the one they find you standing in.

I honestly was shuffled from one employee to another until I'd spoken to FIVE of them yesterday to get the answer that other than the light bulbs they didn't carry what I need. I had to wait forever to hear it, and while waiting I see the employees do the same thing to other customers who want simple things--one guy just wanted a basic threaded bolt, and after about 10 minutes the employees tells him he should try home hardware or slegg lumber. Gee, the same guy suggested to me I go elsewhere right after that.

Maybe they should just carry a bunch of cards for other businesses, which, although they occupy less than half the square footage can actually sell you what you're looking for. Here's a thought--post those employees in the parking lot and save the customers the trouble of going in at all--just send us to the right store. "Hi there--unless you're looking for a gas barbecue, some two by fours, or an expensive kitchen cabinet installation, we can't help you--don't even bother."

And now, to make it even better, they've just opened a second store near the university.

I can't wait until the giant Rona/Revy store opens up in a few months. Sure, it's near my home and will be the final straw in worsening the traffic hell that all the new retail has created for us, but anything that can take people away from Home Depot is worth it.