Eat several bags of dicks Home Depot!!

"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
04/21/2016 at 22:08 • Filed to: Wood

I’ve been trying to buy wood to build a sand box for a week. I finally managed to get to Home Depot tonight after my kids went to bed, but before it rained, only to find this.

The aisle with all the treated lumber closed, with NOBODY WORKING IN IT!! Or even near there, there wasn’t an employee to be found anywhere. I wish there was a real lumberyard around here, I’m so sick of “home centers”.

DISCUSSION (52)

MM54 > shop-teacher
04/21/2016 at 22:10

If nobody was working in the aisle, or the adjacent ones, I’d have just gotten what I needed and carried it to my cart/dolly/thing on the ‘right’ side of the barrier

ttyymmnn > shop-teacher
04/21/2016 at 22:16

Unable to find an employee at Home Despot? Say it ain’t so! I despise that place. I have discovered an old-school hardware store here in Austin. It’s on the far side of town, which makes it about a 40-50 minute round trip, but it’s worth it. The guys who work there actually know about the things they are selling, and they even advised my on how to fix my dryer and on getting fuel lines for my lawn mower. They don’t sell lumber, but by god, they’ve got everything else you could imagine. The time I spend driving to a knowledgable hardware store is roughly equal to the amount of time I spend wandering around Home Despot looking for what I need or looking for an employee who has no idea what I’m talking about.

TheHondaBro > shop-teacher
04/21/2016 at 22:19

Home Depot: We Give Not One Shit About Your Problems

shop-teacher > MM54
04/21/2016 at 22:21

I should have, but I’ve grown to hate the place so much I just left in disgust.

shop-teacher > ttyymmnn
04/21/2016 at 22:23

I have a couple great hardware store close by that I buy all that stuff at. I just need a lumber supplier.

shop-teacher > TheHondaBro
04/21/2016 at 22:23

Damn skippy.

Rico > shop-teacher
04/21/2016 at 22:24

Kinja'd!!!

I would’ve took what I needed and if anyone made a stink I would’ve ignored them on my way to self check out haha.

shop-teacher > Rico
04/21/2016 at 22:25

Hard to self checkout a pile of lumber :)

Rico > shop-teacher
04/21/2016 at 22:28

That is true! lol

Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch > shop-teacher
04/21/2016 at 22:30

I avoid Home Depot like the plague, the quality of everything is just garbage. Lumberyards and hardware stores are so much nicer. Ace is the only “chain store” I like.

Phyrxes once again has a wagon! > shop-teacher
04/21/2016 at 22:31

Several years ago I asked one of my students whose dad does home remodeling who his dad uses for lumber, the slight delivery charge is so worth it for lumber that is straight and dry.

Chariotoflove > shop-teacher
04/21/2016 at 22:42

The longer I use the big home stores, the more I value my local hardware store, lumber yard, nursery, and feed store.

My bird IS the word > shop-teacher
04/21/2016 at 22:48

Welcome to retail hell. Work for an unnamed competitor (bet you won’t guess lol) and we aren’t far off from that. They just love minimum/no staffing. Its not as if it saves them money, they lose tons of sales.

Birddog > shop-teacher
04/21/2016 at 22:49

Baloney! Rip that tag off the end and scan it yourself!

Busslayer > shop-teacher
04/21/2016 at 22:51

This was probably for the better. Your kids deserve better than a warped sandbox which you will inevitablely have using Home Depot lumber. It comes pre-warped usually.

shop-teacher > Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch
04/21/2016 at 22:54

We have a couple good hardware stores that I buy everything I can from, but frustratingly there are no real lumber yards.

shop-teacher > Birddog
04/21/2016 at 22:55

Good call!

I was so pissed I didn't even want to give them my money.

Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch > shop-teacher
04/21/2016 at 22:56

Es no bueno.

shop-teacher > Phyrxes once again has a wagon!
04/21/2016 at 22:56

Oh absolutely. My dad is in residential construction as well, but the yards he uses are quite the haul away from my house.

Birddog > shop-teacher
04/21/2016 at 22:57

I actually love the absolute disdain the HD employees have for customers. When I was doing the family room carpet in my first house I went there because they offered free padding with purchase. The kid that barely helped me get the Carpet measured, cut and on a cart screwed up and only marked down 120sqft. I happily drove home with 440sqft of “Free” carpet and pad. (Though my knees will never recover from the install..)

It is too bad there isn’t a Crafty Beaver or 84 Lumber in the burbs anymore though. It’s nice to go to the counter, tell them what you want and have them bring it to you.

Phyrxes once again has a wagon! > shop-teacher
04/21/2016 at 22:57

You teach middle school right, who does the local high school use for woodshop?

shop-teacher > Chariotoflove
04/21/2016 at 22:59

I frequent all of those, and they are oh so much better. The small amount of money more they charge is absolutely worth it. Maddeningly there is no real lumber yard around here.

My bird IS the word > Birddog
04/21/2016 at 23:00

I work at a similar place. Think about it like this, we get the dumbest fucking customers. I basically go to work and zone out all day. Believe it or not that makes me one of the BETTER employees

shop-teacher > Busslayer
04/21/2016 at 23:00

I’m pretty good about digging though their stacks and finding the best of what they have, but sometimes there is no straight lumber to be found.

shop-teacher > Phyrxes once again has a wagon!
04/21/2016 at 23:02

Yeah, and I have a couple great hardwood suppliers, but they don’t deal in dimensional lumber.

Birddog > My bird IS the word
04/21/2016 at 23:04

Well, it can’t be Menards. I hear they track what their employees say via Brain implants. That leaves a store that sounds like Blowes?

shop-teacher > Birddog
04/21/2016 at 23:04

Ah good old 84 Lumber, that takes me back. Craftwood Lumber is still going in Highland Park (that was my first job other than working for my Dad’s construction company), but that’s too far from my house.

shop-teacher > Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch
04/21/2016 at 23:05

Si, es muy malo.

Phyrxes once again has a wagon! > shop-teacher
04/21/2016 at 23:06

Odd, our construction technology teacher at the time dropped the Home depot that was 5 minutes from school for the vendor I was using. They mostly do trim and such but also carry dimensional lumber, seems odd that there isn’t someone around you like that.

Birddog > My bird IS the word
04/21/2016 at 23:06

Oddly 99% of the time I’m in a Home Center I don’t want any help anyway. I enjoy finding what I need and then just wandering around looking lustfully at tools I don’t need but really, really want.

shop-teacher > Phyrxes once again has a wagon!
04/21/2016 at 23:08

If they exist, they have eluded me. There’s an excellent yard near where I grew up, that’s were I got my first job that wasn’t working for my dad’s construction company, but I can’t justify driving an hour each way to buy nine boards.

Birddog > shop-teacher
04/21/2016 at 23:12

Crafty Beaver still has 4 locations in the City. I worked at their lone suburban store in LaGrange which was an old 84 Lumber location. Developers came in and offered too much money though and they sold out.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > shop-teacher
04/21/2016 at 23:25

I end up having to buy stuff at Home Depot occasionally for work. Every single trip there sucks. I’ve called and paid a day in advance for doors and windows, and then the next morning arranged to borrow a one-ton, put together the frame for moving the windows, driven down there (60 miles), take ten minutes to find an employee who knows where my order is, get handed the printout, and told to pick them myself. At this point they’ve had the money for 20 hours and couldn’t be assed to pull the crap off the shelves? What if some limited stock item was on my order and some random got the last one THAT I ALREADY PAID FOR? Like seriously, get your shit together!

shop-teacher > Birddog
04/21/2016 at 23:26

Too bad. LaGrange would be plenty close. Stupid “progress”

shop-teacher > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
04/21/2016 at 23:28

They’d have to give a shit in order to get it together, and clearly they have no shits to spare.

Die-Trying > shop-teacher
04/21/2016 at 23:28

sometimes you gotta yell, and make a scene, especially when there is no one around...... start out simple, like “knock knock...... anybody here?? need some wood, and nobody working in here.... gonna get it myself if you dont hurry it up...... speak now or wait your turn” and act like you do it all the time...... if they give you a hassle, just tell them youre old, and dont have time to wait on THEM.

shop-teacher > Die-Trying
04/21/2016 at 23:35

Hahaha! I’m sure it would work, but I decided I didn’t want to give them any of my money.

My uncle used to light up a cigarette whenever he needed help. It was amazing how fast it worked! Maybe I should start smoking :)

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > shop-teacher
04/21/2016 at 23:37

It’s just so bizarre. I work for a federal government agency, and with everyone else pretty much doing backflips to get in on the “lucrative government contracts” Home Depot just decides “nah, we don’t care about retaining customers” and then my day goes to hell. Unfortunately we have to go there because we’re required to spread the business around, and there are only so many places.

Die-Trying > shop-teacher
04/21/2016 at 23:40

just thought of it...... that forklift has a horn........RIGHT???? be fun to lay on it like you were a 5 year old and didnt know any better.

do like my mom does...... tell them you want a discount for having to wait so long for someone to come and help you...... youre old and crippled.

Birddog > shop-teacher
04/21/2016 at 23:45

Just go to Owl! A nicely finished Poplar Sandbox would really wow the neighbors.

shop-teacher > Birddog
04/21/2016 at 23:47

Hahaha! I love Owl, but I’m not interested in spending that much money on a sandbox.

shop-teacher > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
04/21/2016 at 23:51

When I was student teaching, I worked with a Building Trades class where the students actually built a house every year. Menards was the bane of their existence, because they were required to take the lowest bid, and that was always Menards.

shop-teacher > Die-Trying
04/21/2016 at 23:52

Damn, I’m not THAT old :)

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > shop-teacher
04/22/2016 at 00:02

Yup. Anything under $5000 for us we can go wherever, just not to the same place twice in a row. Anything over that we have to go lowest bidder. Sometimes we get lucky... Usually we don't.

Die-Trying > shop-teacher
04/22/2016 at 00:04

im sure you could play it off. just walk to the register with a limp, and call the guy working “sonny”. tell him about “back in the day.......”

you dont have to BE old, just ACT old. you get much better service.

argue with a manager, request to fill out a complaint form, ask for the number to CORPORATE, right after you ask for the managers name. and tell him “you aint treating us old folks right”

wafflesnfalafel > shop-teacher
04/22/2016 at 00:28

no wood for you!

My bird IS the word > Birddog
04/22/2016 at 02:27

That sounds about right. Let’s just say their nascar driver’s name is a euphemism for dick sprinkles.

shop-teacher > wafflesnfalafel
04/22/2016 at 07:08

I should’ve made that the tag!

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > shop-teacher
04/22/2016 at 20:05

Co-worker 1; I hate Home depot, i can never find anything

Me: neither can the employees, but that doesn’t stop them from working there

also

another co-worker went with his truck to pick up vinyl fence. askedand payed for 18 sections, after waiting for 45 min fot the “certified forklift operator” to show up went home. There were 2 sections per box. Came back the next day “I’d like to return 18 sections of fence”

Chariotoflove > shop-teacher
04/23/2016 at 20:20

They seem to be getting harder to find as the years go by. I still have one, but it’s across town.

shop-teacher > Chariotoflove
04/23/2016 at 20:31

Yeah, they definitely are harder to find than ever. We’ve got two really good local Ace Hardwares, one of them is actually in walking distance. I make sure to buy from them both, I want to keep them around.

Chariotoflove > shop-teacher
04/24/2016 at 10:56

Yep, we had an Elliot's hardware store open nearby, and I try to make sure I think of stuff to buy from them when I can.