I never buy anything at a lumber yard or home center unless I see and touch
it first to see if it meets my needs and is the proper quality -- then I go
and pay for it and pick it up. Prevents such mixups.

With a yard hand I sorted out 15 suitable 5/4 x 4 wester red cedar deck
boards, then went to the order desk to get the paperwork, took the paperwork
to the cashier to pay for them. The order desk had written the SKU for 3/4 x
6 WR Cedar and the cashier couldn't find the correct SKU for the size I
wanted. It took 3 people and about 10 minutes to locate it in their
computer, then I finally could pay for the size I wanted and went back to
the yard to load up my 15 chosen pieces.

This was at a Canadian BORG called Rona, Home Depot's only competition in
Canada.

"Phil Crow" wrote in message
m...
I just read a post that got my blood pressure up regarding customer
service. I have a similar tale:

Last Saturday, I set out to cap my workbench as well as make a saw
guide, as I do not own a table saw. I also had to pick up a few odds
and ends (tube of adhesive, 1# of roofing nails, etc), so I decided to
go to the Borg because I knew exactly where those things were; I
figured, "What the hell...I'll pick up a sheet of 3/4 MDF while I'm
out." Yeah.

After wandering about the lumber section and not finding any MDF, I
asked the young child at the, uh, oh yeah! The Project Desk for a
sheet of 3/4 MDF. He told me that it was kept outside in the lumber
yard and I could pay for it, then drive around the back and pick it
up. Okay, no problem. By the way, how much is it? Eleven dollars a
sheet. Super.

I get to the front with my tube of Liquid Nails and my roofing nails
and tell the middle-aged housewife working the register that I need a
sheet of 3/4 MDF. "What's MDF?" So it begins.

After spending 10 minutes explaining to her (and the other lobotomites
in line) what MDF was, she pored over her cost code sheet and said she
needed to call someone. She did, and was given some explaination or
other and said to me, "All it is is particle board."

"Well, ma'am, it's not exactly particle board. You see, the wood
fiber--"

(Getting Snippy)"It's listed as particle board on my sheet here, and
all you have to do next time is ask for particle board."

Fine. So I pay the eleven dollars for the sheet of
listed-as-particle-board and drive my p/u around the back of the
store, where I have the exact same conversation with the lumber yard
guy. Finally, he tells me to pull around to door number 3 and they'll
load my materiel.

Guess what the loading hand tries to load into my pickup?

I spent another half hour trying to get my eleven dollars back. By
this time, I was seething. I was able to hold it together long enough
not to choke the manager of the store and got out of there.

So, anyone know of a source of 3/4" MDF in the Sandusky, Ohio area?

-Phil Crow