House in Progress Diary

I am not a big fan of Home Depot for that reason among many others. Our locally owned hardware store is the place for me. Lots of older gentlemen that always know their way around tools, and always helpful to us ladies too. Plus I like giving the local store the business.
I was looking for a sash ripper and I must have asked 4 or 5 people at Home Depot. Blank stares.
The first guy I asked at the local store went right to it:)

Just had the same kind of experience at the big box store. Described how I was going to replace an existing window with a new construction without bothering the aluminum siding and trim on the outside First thing the man says to me is " Can't be done" then tries to sell me vinyl replacement windows.

I told him "can be done and this is what I need blah blah blah and window flashing tape."

He says "Never heard of it"

I respond a little irritated now "Well the directions in the Andersons Windows that this store stocks and sold me specifically call for it"

He points to the end of the store "Must be down in Building Materials ask someone down there"

I Say "Thanks and Walk Away"

Find a New Person in that department that was happy to help me but we found tyvek sealing tape and that did not seem right to me so I went back to ask in the window department again. I showed the tape to the guy who said " No it is kind of a silver tape"

I say "the directions specifically say use non reflective tape so the vinyl on the window does not buckle"

He growing irritated with me says " I have no idea what they are talking about"

"can we ask someone else" I finally ask

He calls Derek over and says with a laugh in his voice "She is looking for Non Reflective Window Flashing Tape have you ever heard of it"

Derek says Yes and reaches onto the shelf that is directly behind us and says you mean this. Now I was stupid for not seeing it there but I am not the person that spends 8 hours a day in that department.......

It all depends on the person in the store, I truthfully don't feel it is the store. But the Neighborhood Store is so much better

You don't have to be a woman to elicit blank stares from Home Depot staff. You just have to have even a remote semblance of a clue.

HAHAHAHAHAH! i freakin LOVE THAT STORY!! That's just so awesome.

I love our little neighborhood hardware store and this specialty woodworking store that i just found (seriously the most beautiful rosewood handtools you've ever seen). At both places the staff are SO friendly (pancake breakfast at the woodworker's store ths weekend) and really know their stuff. We do hit the homo depot regularly but only when we already know what we want.

Ah, reminds me of us wandering all over Lowe's looking for a heat gun. One employee sent us to the vinyl flooring department!

I always opt for the local hardware store up the road. It sometimes costs more but those people have got it together and it isn't a zoo. I only wish the old 84 lumber and Payless Cashways were still around :(

Just remember as a friend of mine says, you bought a project, not just a house. Ahhh...the joys of pink carpeting in my 1923 raised bungalow!!! (now, thoroughly and completely erradicated)

We have a Home Despot and a How Lowe Can You Go, but I rarely shop at either one. I always remember that I chose the town I live in because on my first drive down the main street, there was a True-Value hardware store with signs in the window for "Fishing Licenses" and "Axe Handles Replaced While U Wait". And while I wait, there's a meat market next door that makes its own beef jerkey out of the leftover steaks and roasts. mmmmm.

Teehee. I have to admit to enjoying springing the "girl trap" on unsuspecting tool salesguys :-) I don't know a huge amount about tools, but you can bet the house when I go in there to buy I have done my research. Just got home from buying a reciprocating saw at Sears...where I smiled while I got the "helpless girl treatment"....until I informed him that his price signs for the 19 volt cordless were wrong. He checked, I was right....new attitude. Teehee.

Even though I'm rather clueless in the finer points of home remodeling, I still come away from Home Depot feeling like I know a whole lot more than the majority of their staff!
On another track, I came across an ad in the Chicago Tribune that I thought was so sad, but it's a common occurrence anymore: Chicago House/Demo Sale Sat and Sun (that's tomorrow if anyone is interested!) 1530 W Grace. They're selling the contents of the house - as in antiques, and the basic structure of the house too - as in doors, hardware, etc. Bring your tools. When I looked at the picture of the house on the county assessor's site, my first response was how nice that little house would look restored and fixed up! It's 105 years old, with a big front porch, and is located between two buildings that look like 2 or 3 flats. What a shame. Any of you ever go to one of those demo sales? I've never had the nerve to attempt it.
Beth

having spent my adult life in retail sales and management, i have to share my two cents here. yes, of course most (though not all) of the staff at home depot is clueless. they're making minimum wage, have had minimal training, and endure working conditions that most of you couldn't or wouldn't tolerate. most people who are really smart, knowledgeable, and skilled in customer service won't choose a job that requires them to work nights, holidays and weekends for $7 an hour. the people who do work retail hours usually do so because they need a second job.

and retail employees do not spend 40 hours a week in one department. there are almost no full-time retail associates, because their benefits are too costly to the company. so that employee who doesn't know where the right sized screw or the right kind of tape is located, has probably spent 40 hours a week working his/her "real" job, and 15-20 additional hours a week working retail---on their feet, cleaning, lifting, carrying, trying to help 5 people at once because the store is almost always understaffed....

there is NO EXCUSE for poor customer service, but there is a reason for it. if the retail industry offered a quality work environment, they'd get quality people, and we'd all get quality service. but that's impossible in the current retail climate, where the consumer wants constantly lower prices and the corporate powers-that-be want constantly rising profits.

by the way, i work for a specialty retailer now that does offer competitive pay for quality employees, and i frequently hear "i can get this item for a dollar less at the local bigbox discounter---thanks for spending 30 minutes showing me how to use it, but i'm going to the big chain store to purchase it, because your prices are too high."

stepping off my soapbox now...

Mary, I definitely hear you. My post wasn't aimed at the poor folks on the floor...I've been one of them too.

It was aimed at the Big Box hardware store mgmt who seem to have this blind spot about the type of customer assistance needed by the average customer. And there is also a disconnect between what the big box stores SAY they believe when it comes to women in DIY, and how they actually treat women.

I actually try to shop small specialty shop whenever I can...even if it costs a little more. Because you can't pay enough for a personal relationship with an amazingly knowledgable person behind the counter who treats you the same whether you wear pink or blue. Frustratingly enough, it is so difficult to find small stores with enough selection or with hours that match "after 9 to 5 hours". So, I often trudge wearily to HD or Lowes. Strangely, our local Menards combines big box selection with some top notch help! So, I think it can be done. (Menards is many traffic jams away from me though...argh. City living.)

All the small local hardware stores have disappeared from my area. All we have left is Lowes and HD. They're fine as long as you know exactly what you want, but if you have questions they're woefully lacking. They're painfully understaffed and the people on the floor you do see have the art of looking busy without actually doing anything down to a fine science. When you do corner one of them, they'll lead you down isle after isle after isle.

We used to have a few Ace hardwares in local strip malls in my area, but they're now unfortunately gone.

jm, nice to hear your Menard's comment, since my brother is second-in-command of a Menards store in Chicago.

Just stumbled across this place and sorry if I am disrupting protocol or something by answering a thread last posted to in June, or if anyone will even see this.

But this kind of problem doesn't have to involve confusing items like non-reflective window flashing or slot cutters with kerfs.

I was in a Wal-Mart the other day looing for snap clips. I was hoping for a double ended one, but a single ended one would work, too. I looked all over the hardware sections in a couple different possible areas, with no luck.

So I asked the youngish guy behind the hardware/paint desk where to find snap clips, showing him one example on my purse strap and another on my key ring in case he didn't know what I was looking for.

"Over there, at the end of that counter in sporting goods".

Sounded a little weird, but I went and looked. Well, he had directed me to the key chain rack, some of which had snap clips, over where they make keys. Sigh. Went back and looked in hardware again; they just had to be there. No luck. Okay, I went back and said, "I don't need a key ring, that was just one of my examples. I'm just looking for the hardware version, you know, like you would use to clip a flag to a flagpole line, or for a dog chain?"

"Oh, we have those over in pets." Something about this gave me that sinking feeling, but I went and looked. I found the leashes and tie-outs, but other than the ones that were actually attached to leashes and tie-outs, didn't see any snap clips.

So I went back to the hardware section and looked again and *finally* found them. No double ended, and not in the size I wanted, but they did have them there in hardware.

I went up to the desk one more time and showed him and said, "If anyone else is looking for these, they are in aisle 17." He didn't thank me, or apologize or anything remotely like that. He just said, "Well, we *do* have them over in pets, too!"