"Dennis Edward" wrote:

"DigitalVinyl" wrote in message
.. .
"Dennis Edward" wrote:


You expect a lot for a little over minimum wage and low prices, don't
you?

I suppose that sales person is supposed to study every plant they sell
and every bug, disease and bad human practice inflicted on each one so
they are prepared to play plant doctor for the public.


A lot? Saying "I don't know" if they don't know is "a lot"?
Most people would see that as a major negative and feel the same
discouragement about a company. Just read two sentences down and
you'll see this is not an exceptable answer for you.

Saying "I'll get someone who knows about these things" is "a lot" ?
Assumes HD employs someone who knows whatever piece of information you
are asking.

When I go into the
plumbing section and ask a question about plumbing or plumbing supplies, I
expect to get some kind of reasonable answer because 1) Home Depot in
particular advertises that their "knowledgable sales staff" can "answer your
questions",
Wow, you really bought into that commercial advertisement, didn't you.

Mega-store sales people are not in the business of plumbing, more like
simply supplying parts. Honestly if you wanted old-style customer
service you'd have to go to that old hardware store that closed when
HD opened and everyone stopped shopping there. I don't expect anyone
at HD to be a plumber, carpenter, roofer, landscaper, machinist,
architect, electrician, stonemason, tile worker, cabinetry expert,
botanist, or anything else they sell supplies for. I'm lucky if I can
find a human being working there, and that goes for most stores that
aren't high-priced and catering to upper class. I expect them to low
prices and bulk and the sales people to be few and have little
knowledge. Its rare to find someone who does have knowledge, and I
attribute that to their personal employment history, personal
interests and none of it to their temporary employment with Home
Depot.

Oddly we don't expect a supermarket checkout to know which foods are
good for your particular situation, or how to assemble a meal. But we
expect a company that sells hardware parts to guide and instruct us on
how to use what they sell us. We expect them to educate us some. It's
weird, I would normally try to find information myself because in my
lifetime I seldom find people in businesses that are truly
knowledgeable. And when you do they want to be on the clock. Most
people freely pass along bad information. Just read newsgroups and you
see it happening.

and 2) because as a general rule I expect a company and the
representatives thereof to know a thing or two about the business that they
are in.
They know how to ring things up. :-) Sometimes

That means that electrical supply companies should know about
electrical supplies, furniture companies should know about furniture, etc
etc etc. No different for departments in something like HD.
Except it is totally impractical business model that you will never
see. To staff every department during all hours with a knowledgeable
person about that department is never going to happen. That's the
difference between an electrical supply company and a mega store. As
the complexity of the base businesses increases the quality of the
support has to drop. They CAN'T know enough about all the areas they
cover. Not without raising their prices. An electrical supply company
focuses on one segment and dedicates multiple employees just to it. A
HD is never gonna come close to that knowledge level.

Having said all that, there's just no way that this represented "high
expectations", any more than expecting the lumber staff to know the
difference between pine and cedar.
They do, they can point to the sign that says pine and the sign that
says cedar. I'm sure if they had dedicated people whose career was HD
or woodworking they would know about wood but be rather ignorant about
plumbing--but chances are that still wouldn't satisfy customers who
were looking for advice on how to do a home-plumbing job. The wood
expert would have to point you to the only guy who knew somethign.
He'd be the guy who has a line of four other people waiting for him to
answer their questions.

And your reductio ad absurbitum of
turning my comment into a supposed expectation that they have a PHD in
biology doesn't do your argument or your credibility any good.

Well I've been gardening for three years, done lots of reading,
experimented with about 100 different varieties and still need to come
here and ask stupid questions from time to time.

DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email)
Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY, 1 mile off L.I.Sound
3rd year gardener
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/royalf...=/2055&.src=ph