Dennis Edward wrote:
"Vox Humana" wrote in message
...

Sometimes you luck-out and find someone who really knows about
hardware, but
usually you get someone who really doesn't know much and who
spends all their time on the cell phone talking to management or
customers who call in.
Now THAT really ****es me off. I don't think there is anything
more rude than to answer the phone when you are in the middle of
helping a customer.


I've got the phone number for my local HD on my cel phone
quick-dial. When I can't find someone to help me with something
(and I don't necessarily mean a question -- often it's "I need one
of *those* brought down"), I'll phone the number and say "Hi, I'm
in the flooring section, I've been here way too long. Please send
someone.". Needless to say, to make me take the time to look up the
number and program it in, it had to be a real ongoing problem.

I've identified certain people in certain departments who I
absolutely will not deal with. If they're the only one available, I
walk away.

Now mind you, to put this in perspective, I've been doing reno's on
my house for 3 years now, so I'm *very* familiar with HD.

What is a "reno"?

As is my truck. I just turn it on, say "mush", and it takes me there.


--

Travis in Shoreline Washington

"DigitalVinyl" wrote in message 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.



Sadly in my youth (30-35years ago) I worked for nearly 5 years in a
Rhododendron nursery and still don't know what is currently "attacking" my
own Rhodies.....The owner if any hint of disease showed up simply trashed
the plant and any others in close proximity.....I hesitate to trash my
entire back yard and my assorted 25year old rhodies....He'd also on occasion
would clear an area, cover with plastic and inject "chemicals" to purify the
soil or kill the undesirables...again not a viable choice here....on a
humorous note he originally just tossed the sick and maybe sick plants over
the bank or in his dump.......The whole neighborhood soon discovered this
gold mine of "free plants" and soon peppered the place with rhodies (that
neighborhood is still rather pretty to this day), since he didn't really
want a neighborhood full of potentially diseased plants he took to cutting
them off at the root ball....not a nice man at allG.

This spring at HD I saw 5gal rhodies marked down to $5.00, nice looking
plants but past the bloom.....I asked the clerk about the plants mostly
because the size and price was almost too good to be true (both types were a
white and both were ones I had burlaped by the thousand years ago)...anyway
she said "both are only $5.00 but she didn't know why the manager priced
them so low, there must be something wrong with them"....I just smiled and
picked out my plants, he was simply dumping past bloom plants....Rod

"Dana Schultz" wrote in
:

*snipped blurb about bulbs and dead plants for sale*

really want something unusual.

I worked in a Canadian HD for several years and it was difficult to
get a good watering system going when the Manager of the Dept didn't
know grass from a dandelion! It was sad and the losses were
staggering. But one the ladies on the staff worked for the RBG (Royal
Botanical Gardens) and you could ask her just about anything. If she
didn't know she would look it up. It is hit and miss finding a
knowledgeable person at any garden center. I always to get there when
they are on break or lunch. My two cents worth.

I had the same issue with my HD here, my DH believe it or not was from
bookeeping. He decided he wanted to move to another department, so he was
moved to gardening of course. The sprinkler system we have for the plant
is the result of me and another employee getting tired of throwing away
$1000+ of plants and just installing some stuff from the hose and sprinkler
isle. The plants look much better now and our customers have really
noticed and commented about it. Some of us do care (even if we do make
only $10 an hour).

DigitalVinyl wrote:
"Dennis Edward" wrote:
"Vox Humana" wrote in message

I went to HD today. Same thing. Nearly everything was wilted
BADLY, or just plain dead.

I went to HD a few weeks ago, and asked about a problem with my
tomatoes -- numerous holes in the leaves. The salescritter told
me in no uncertain terms that it was caused by watering in sunny
weather -- the drops of water cause lensing and burn the leaves.
Uh-huh. I did a little research and discovered the *real* problem
-- flea beetles.

I won't be asking them for advice again....

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.

Reads like sarcasm to me.

I wxcept people who don't know to say I don't know.

Dick

Most of the bulbs in my garden came from those very sad forced bulbs that
Home Depot brings in in the spring. I asked the manager and he gave me the
most awesome deal (25 cents a pot). I bought the whole table (120 pots of
straw). The bulbs are gorgeous!!!
I was always a sucker for the dead and dying plants and have the most
beautiful garden.
I don't work in a garden center but I would never expect an employee of such
places to know everything about everything. I am considered knowledgeable
among my friends and co-workers but still have to go to the books when I am
unfamiliar with a plant. I am not ashamed to say I need to look it up and
tell them so!
If you truly need information about a plant take a reliable book with you. I
do. That way I can verify the validity of the information if I really want
something unusual.

I worked in a Canadian HD for several years and it was difficult to get a
good watering system going when the Manager of the Dept didn't know grass
from a dandelion! It was sad and the losses were staggering. But one the
ladies on the staff worked for the RBG (Royal Botanical Gardens) and you
could ask her just about anything. If she didn't know she would look it up.
It is hit and miss finding a knowledgeable person at any garden center. I
always to get there when they are on break or lunch.
My two cents worth.

--
Dana
www3.sympatico.ca/lostmermaid
"Dennis Edward" wrote in message
news:g9sue.1778926$Xk.18832@pd7tw3no...
"Angrie.Woman" wrote in message
. ..
Vox Humana wrote:


pick Lowe's when I can find what I am looking for there. The plants at
the
local nursery are about 4x's as expensive, and the plants at HD, W-M and
the grocery tent look sad compared to the Lowe's selection. It looks

Gonna go just slightly off-topic here -- or actually go back on-topic,
since
it's a gardening-related comment :0) -- This year, when I was trying to
buy
cell inserts for my growing trays, I discovered that none of the big box
outlets (HD, Rona, and the like) are selling straight cell inserts for
around $1. Instead they are selling inserts that have been cut into 6
pieces
(not very cleanly), wrapped with a light cardboard bit of packaging, and
are
being sold for $2.50. Who thought of that little gem, I wonder?
Fortunately
Art Knapps didn't buy into this gimmick.

"Dennis Edward" wrote in message
news:_hhue.1778409$6l.941375@pd7tw2no...
"Vox Humana" wrote in message
...


I went to HD today. Same thing. Nearly everything was wilted BADLY, or
just plain dead.


I went to HD a few weeks ago, and asked about a problem with my
tomatoes -- numerous holes in the leaves. The salescritter told me in no
uncertain terms that it was caused by watering in sunny weather -- the
drops of water cause lensing and burn the leaves. Uh-huh. I did a little
research and discovered the *real* problem -- flea beetles.

I won't be asking them for advice again....



Here's a thought: How many of the complainers here are aware of the
existence of at least one or three small garden centers staffed by people
who care, where the 6-packs of plants are still in nice shape, even though
it's late June and those plants should be a bit stressed even under the best
of circumstances? If you're aware of such places, why do you care if the
6-packs cost a dollar more, as long as the plants are vigorous? Why even
waste the gasoline (at $2.25+ per gallon) to go to stores where there's
about a 25% chance of finding nice, vibrant plants?

At some point, you'll realize that the only place to get solid garden advice
is from the locally owned people. But, if you don't patronize them, they
won't be there when you need them. Remember hardware stores?

"DigitalVinyl" wrote in message
...


Mega-store sales people are not in the business of plumbing, more like
simply supplying parts.

You're correct, of course. But, most HD/Lowe's people should also NOT be
wandering the aisles, asking "Can I help you with something?", because most
of they time, they cannot. They should expect us to respond "I doubt it".

You can't compare this to supermarkets, where people are NOT walking around
posing as experts. Yeah...you may find a person stocking the shelves, who
knows where to find everything in the store, but that's not product
knowledge.

"PatK" wrote in message
...
Since we're comparing apples to oranges.... What I'd like to know is
this. If HD employees get paid so much more, then why can't they
organize their merchandise so you can find something? I'd shop at a
Lowes anytime over a HD because of this reason. Home Depot is also very
dark. What's with that lighting? Their aisles seem like they're going
into the pit of hell.


Isn't that the truth! HD is totally disorganized. Items are all mixed-up
in the bins. They are often out of items. The isles are stacked with skids
of merchandise waiting to be put on shelves along with abandoned carts and
those damned rolling stairs that are ALWAYS right in front of what you need.
You only need throw in a handful of people yakking on cell phones: "Hi, I'm
at HD. Where are you? blah, blah, blah ..." and the store becomes
impossible to navigate. Lowe's is always much better organized and cleaner.

"Dennis Edward" wrote in message
news:g9sue.74848$El.34797@pd7tw1no...
"Vox Humana" wrote in message
...

Sometimes you luck-out and find someone who really knows about hardware,
but
usually you get someone who really doesn't know much and who spends all
their time on the cell phone talking to management or customers who call
in.
Now THAT really ****es me off. I don't think there is anything more
rude
than to answer the phone when you are in the middle of helping a
customer.


I've got the phone number for my local HD on my cel phone quick-dial. When
I
can't find someone to help me with something (and I don't necessarily mean
a
question -- often it's "I need one of *those* brought down"), I'll phone
the
number and say "Hi, I'm in the flooring section, I've been here way too
long. Please send someone.". Needless to say, to make me take the time to
look up the number and program it in, it had to be a real ongoing problem.

I've identified certain people in certain departments who I absolutely
will
not deal with. If they're the only one available, I walk away.

Now mind you, to put this in perspective, I've been doing reno's on my
house
for 3 years now, so I'm *very* familiar with HD. As is my truck. I just
turn
it on, say "mush", and it takes me there.

That is pure genius!

"Travis" wrote in message
news:EGtue.2286$HU.588@trnddc03...
Dennis Edward wrote:
"Vox Humana" wrote in message

What is a "reno"?


renovation

"Doug Kanter" wrote:

"DigitalVinyl" wrote in message
.. .


Mega-store sales people are not in the business of plumbing, more like
simply supplying parts.

You're correct, of course. But, most HD/Lowe's people should also NOT be
wandering the aisles, asking "Can I help you with something?", because most
of they time, they cannot. They should expect us to respond "I doubt it".

In retailing, customer service is largely surface gloss. Having
salespeople walk around and ask that presents an IMAGE of customer
service. Many people don't need help or what they need is simple like
pointing out where merchandise can be found. Those people see a
positive c.s. experience. Its when you actually need someonething of
substance that you see there is little to back it up. One of the
silliest things I see is customers arguing with salespeople about
prces, slaes, or discounts. Sales people have no authority to change
prices. I think those people just get off on being difficult or are
just too ignorant to realize asking for a manager is step one.

Secondly, asking everyone on the floor if you can help them is the
best deterrent to shortage (shoplifting). If you suspect someone is a
shoplifter you "customer service" them, you don't watch them. You
agressive seek to help them, just hanging out and asking questions
will cause the non-pros to bolt.

You can't compare this to supermarkets, where people are NOT walking around
posing as experts. Yeah...you may find a person stocking the shelves, who
knows where to find everything in the store, but that's not product
knowledge.

So in supermarkets there is no customer service? WHy aren't we
offended by that? A family of four spends $500 easily a month at a
store you'd think with that kind of repeat business c.s. and floor
presence would be greater. BTW Mine has a help desk on the floor with
1-2 people at all hours. That's in addition to the customer service
desk.

In retailing the people who stock are often the people who display,
perform markdowns, hang signage, and run cash registers. I did all of
those as a salesperson in each retail job over a 10 year period. At
Macy*s you were trained about the merchandise-they were the only
employee that did that. But again, I can tell you a Pima Cotton dress
shirt is the best you can buy, but when you bring it home and your
wife has to iron that wrinkled shirt she might disagree with the
salesperson's assessment. Usualy people just learn a few facts and
toss them out over and over again. (i.e. lensing on a leaf)


Training is not looked upon favorably in business. I've been in the
computer industry for 14 years and I've attended about 15 days of real
training. And I've progressed from 1st tier PC work through top tier,
performed worldwide LAN administration, transitioned to international
office networking, firewalls, security and now working on a customer
with over 12,000 users. It is always a struggle to get money for
training and another struggle to get the free 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

(Dick Adams) wrote:

DigitalVinyl wrote:
"Dennis Edward" wrote:
"Vox Humana" wrote in message

I went to HD today. Same thing. Nearly everything was wilted
BADLY, or just plain dead.

I went to HD a few weeks ago, and asked about a problem with my
tomatoes -- numerous holes in the leaves. The salescritter told
me in no uncertain terms that it was caused by watering in sunny
weather -- the drops of water cause lensing and burn the leaves.
Uh-huh. I did a little research and discovered the *real* problem
-- flea beetles.

I won't be asking them for advice again....

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.

Reads like sarcasm to me.

For humorous purposes yes, but not totally. You see this expectation
for others to be a somewhat difinitve source of knoweldge because they
wear a name tag that says they should. People expect doctors to just
know it all. TO be an expert diagnostician, know every drug, every
side effect, evey interaction, know your history and recall every
visit, to read every page in your file and instantly digest it and
just know it. To know how a foot problem can manifest symptoms in
other areas, even though they aren't a foot specialist. Meanwile most
doctors are purely mediocre, like a salesperson who rings you up but
isn't particularly sparkling at their job. Sure he can blindly write
prescriptions and advice for all the most comon ailments which covers
60% of his patients, but the other stuff he'll flounder about on.

the bell cuurve says something like 65% of all samples are purely
mediocre-average. 15 are good/better, 15 are worse, and the remain 5%
are split between very good and very bad. Now we all hope that
something is in place to get rid of the very bad, but we all know
somehow they sneak through.

I wxcept people who don't know to say I don't know.

I accept that people may take a best guess or actually believe they
are saying something true. People repeat urban legends swearing to god
they know somebod who knows somebody that it happened to. People lie.
Especially when they feel inferior and unprepared. Like an untrained
salesperson who is just workign this lousy job before they find a job
that's worthwhile that they might care about (I'd say that's a good
40-50% of workers, easy).


Dick

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

"DigitalVinyl" wrote in message
...
"Doug Kanter" wrote:

You can't compare this to supermarkets, where people are NOT walking
around
posing as experts. Yeah...you may find a person stocking the shelves, who
knows where to find everything in the store, but that's not product
knowledge.

So in supermarkets there is no customer service? WHy aren't we
offended by that? A family of four spends $500 easily a month at a
store you'd think with that kind of repeat business c.s. and floor
presence would be greater. BTW Mine has a help desk on the floor with
1-2 people at all hours. That's in addition to the customer service
desk.

In supermarkets, I guess it depends on how you define "customer service". If
the person stocking shelves tells you where to find something, is that
customer service? Or, do you define it as a cut above: If you go to the
cheese department (which may or may not exist in your store), and tell the
person that in your mind, you have a recipe halfway dreamt up, can they give
you some cheese flavor advice to help you complete the recipe?

Doug Kanter wrote:
In supermarkets, I guess it depends on how you define "customer service".
If the person stocking shelves tells you where to find something, is that
customer service? Or, do you define it as a cut above: If you go to the
cheese department (which may or may not exist in your store), and tell the
person that in your mind, you have a recipe halfway dreamt up, can they
give you some cheese flavor advice to help you complete the recipe?

I don't go to grocery stores that have high enough prices to pay someone
with that skill set to spend 90% of their day stocking the cheese department
display, and run a slicer while waiting for that one customer who actually
has a real question to come along. Most of my grocery shopping is done at
stores that operate efficiently, and provide a pleasant environment for me
to make my buying decisions in.

There just happens to be a couple of horticultural degree holders biding
their time at the local Home Depot. They'll be out of there for a non-retail
job just as soon as they can be. Ask them a question about plants, and
you're likely to get a better answer than you will from the gardening
hobbyists or grunt labor running around the local nursery.

The problem, as others have pointed out, is that we have a culture that
frowns on people saying they don't know. And it starts early in school. Sit
around an elementary school classroom, and you'll never see a teacher praise
a student for admitting that they don't know something, but you'll see them
go nuts with praise when a kid guesses right.

Most standardized tests also reward guessing, too. There's a whole industry
built around test preparation, and how to guess the right answer when you
don't know.

Go to a job interview, and say "I don't know". See if you get the job, or if
the guy who slung the best sounding BS gets the job.

And it's even more important for a guy to learn how to pretend he knows
things he doesn't. Turn on ESPN2 in a room full of men, and the alpha males
will start discussing the game even if they have no idea what the game is.
Comedians convince us every day that guys aren't supposed to stop and ask
directions. Real men should have an answer to everything, no matter how
absurd it is to fake it.

How many of us have had a close friend or family member fall over in shock
when we said, "I don't know" (and didn't really mean "I don't care")? "I'm
going to mark this day on the calendar!"

I don't know if this is a part of other cultures. I only know that as I was
growing up, not knowing something was the ultimate failure. I was taught
never to admit I didn't know anything, and to do my best to fake it when I
had to. And this wasn't something that was only taught at home. It was the
message every teacher and role model gave.

It's hard enough to admit you don't know something to a friend or family
member. So is it really so surprising that someone is afraid to say "I don't
know" to a stranger? Is someone making retail sales floor wages going to go
out on a limb, and risk their self-esteem for some guy walking up and
testing them? "Heck, the guy asking doesn't know, so all I have to do is
guess better than he can. I don't have to admit that I'm as clueless as he
is."

Then again, maybe I'm wrong. I don't know.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
What's on TV? See the new fall network schedules online:
http://www.holzemville.com/television/fall2005.html

On 2005-06-22 16:54:37 -0400, "Vox Humana" said:
I have received a lot of bad information at HD and Lowe's. It isn't limited
to the garden department. I would rather that someone tell me that they
don't know than to just make something up and/or sell me the wrong product.
I have no idea what they are paid and it makes no difference to me. When
they ask me if they can help and I ask a question, I expect them to give me
an informed answer or to tell me they don't know. I don't think that is
asking too much. You don't have to be highly trained or well paid to say "I
don't know."

Agreed!


--
Chris: "Dad, what's a blowhole for?"
Peter: "I'll tell you what it's NOT for and then you'll know why I can
never go back to Sea World."