I was doing paperwork with the news on yesterday and thought I heard them
talking about Walmart going head to head with Home Depot!??? Did I hear this
right? I just caught the end of the story.

cm

"cm" wrote in message
...
I was doing paperwork with the news on yesterday and thought I heard them
talking about Walmart going head to head with Home Depot!??? Did I hear
this right? I just caught the end of the story.

cm

Not sure how any company could have a strategic plan like that, considering
that the hiring process involves rolling dice and hoping you get employees
with an IQ higher than that of a serving spoon.

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"cm" wrote in message
...
I was doing paperwork with the news on yesterday and thought I heard them
talking about Walmart going head to head with Home Depot!??? Did I hear
this right? I just caught the end of the story.

cm

Not sure how any company could have a strategic plan like that, considering
that the hiring process involves rolling dice and hoping you get employees
with an IQ higher than that of a serving spoon.

When did they raise the IQ requirements?

OK now ya did it.... Here's my HD idiot story. I was up in Las Vegas
servicing a Home Depot store as a staple gun rep. I was cleaning up the
display and an HD employee walked up with a customer in-tow and said the
customer came in with a jammed staple gun. I glanced at the gun and told the
employee to give the customer a new one and that HD would get credit for the
broken one. Very simple/fair resolution right? Not good enough for the HD
employee. He wants to fix the staple gun..... He points it at his face so he
can see what is jamming the gun. I say, DO NOT FIRE THE GUN TOWARDS YOUR
FACE. What's he do? He pulls the trigger, luckily the gun is still jammed.
Then he takes a writing pen and tries to free the jammed staple and points
it towards his face. I tell him once again, DO NOT FIRE THE GUN TOWARDS YOUR
FACE....He pulls the trigger again!!! I guess they call it DUMB LUCK because
the gun was still jammed. I grabbed it out of his hands and handed the
customer a new gun.

cm


"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"cm" wrote in message
...
I was doing paperwork with the news on yesterday and thought I heard them
talking about Walmart going head to head with Home Depot!??? Did I hear
this right? I just caught the end of the story.

cm

Not sure how any company could have a strategic plan like that,
considering that the hiring process involves rolling dice and hoping you
get employees with an IQ higher than that of a serving spoon.

Was the staple gun defective? If not, I think it would serve the customer
better if you'd taught him/her how to unjam the thing. This way, there's no
need for a trip to the store in the future. Or worse, having to stop work on
a project because the store is closed.


"cm" wrote in message
...
OK now ya did it.... Here's my HD idiot story. I was up in Las Vegas
servicing a Home Depot store as a staple gun rep. I was cleaning up the
display and an HD employee walked up with a customer in-tow and said the
customer came in with a jammed staple gun. I glanced at the gun and told
the employee to give the customer a new one and that HD would get credit
for the broken one. Very simple/fair resolution right? Not good enough for
the HD employee. He wants to fix the staple gun..... He points it at his
face so he can see what is jamming the gun. I say, DO NOT FIRE THE GUN
TOWARDS YOUR FACE. What's he do? He pulls the trigger, luckily the gun is
still jammed. Then he takes a writing pen and tries to free the jammed
staple and points it towards his face. I tell him once again, DO NOT FIRE
THE GUN TOWARDS YOUR FACE....He pulls the trigger again!!! I guess they
call it DUMB LUCK because the gun was still jammed. I grabbed it out of
his hands and handed the customer a new gun.

cm


"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"cm" wrote in message
...
I was doing paperwork with the news on yesterday and thought I heard them
talking about Walmart going head to head with Home Depot!??? Did I hear
this right? I just caught the end of the story.

cm

Not sure how any company could have a strategic plan like that,
considering that the hiring process involves rolling dice and hoping you
get employees with an IQ higher than that of a serving spoon.

cm wrote:
I was doing paperwork with the news on yesterday and thought I heard them
talking about Walmart going head to head with Home Depot!??? Did I hear this
right? I just caught the end of the story.
....

I don't think so (heard right, that is... ).

At least the only thing I've heard about is sorta' the other way
'round--HD is talking of buying a bank a la WM...

Home Depot is already the Wal-Mart of home "improvement".

"Me" wrote in message
...
"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in
:

"cm" wrote in message
...
I was doing paperwork with the news on yesterday and thought I heard
them talking about Walmart going head to head with Home Depot!??? Did
I hear this right? I just caught the end of the story.

cm

Not sure how any company could have a strategic plan like that,
considering that the hiring process involves rolling dice and hoping
you get employees with an IQ higher than that of a serving spoon.




Which store? They both employee idiots.

Both.

On Wed, 16 Aug 2006 14:11:20 GMT, "cm"
wrote:

OK now ya did it.... Here's my HD idiot story. I was up in Las Vegas
servicing a Home Depot store as a staple gun rep. I was cleaning up the
display and an HD employee walked up with a customer in-tow and said the
customer came in with a jammed staple gun. I glanced at the gun and told the
employee to give the customer a new one and that HD would get credit for the
broken one. Very simple/fair resolution right? Not good enough for the HD
employee. He wants to fix the staple gun..... He points it at his face so he
can see what is jamming the gun. I say, DO NOT FIRE THE GUN TOWARDS YOUR
FACE. What's he do? He pulls the trigger, luckily the gun is still jammed.
Then he takes a writing pen and tries to free the jammed staple and points
it towards his face. I tell him once again, DO NOT FIRE THE GUN TOWARDS YOUR
FACE....He pulls the trigger again!!! I guess they call it DUMB LUCK because
the gun was still jammed. I grabbed it out of his hands and handed the
customer a new gun.

cm

Since it was Las Vegas, maybe he was intentionally playing Russian
Roulette?

cm wrote:
OK now ya did it.... Here's my HD idiot story. I was up in Las Vegas
servicing a Home Depot store as a staple gun rep. I was cleaning up the
display and an HD employee walked up with a customer in-tow and said the
customer came in with a jammed staple gun. I glanced at the gun and told the
employee to give the customer a new one and that HD would get credit for the
broken one. Very simple/fair resolution right? Not good enough for the HD
employee. He wants to fix the staple gun..... He points it at his face so he
can see what is jamming the gun. I say, DO NOT FIRE THE GUN TOWARDS YOUR
FACE. What's he do? He pulls the trigger, luckily the gun is still jammed.
Then he takes a writing pen and tries to free the jammed staple and points
it towards his face. I tell him once again, DO NOT FIRE THE GUN TOWARDS YOUR
FACE....He pulls the trigger again!!! I guess they call it DUMB LUCK because
the gun was still jammed. I grabbed it out of his hands and handed the
customer a new gun.

Came within an inch of needing a seeing eye dog when I wandered to close
to an employee teaching another employee how to properly carry rebar.
He had about a dozen draped over his shoulder and shifted them straight
backwards (without looking behind him). Only a very quick move saved me.

I just looked and the trainer and shook my head. She just shrugged.

cm wrote:
I was doing paperwork with the news on yesterday and thought I heard them
talking about Walmart going head to head with Home Depot!??? Did I hear this
right? I just caught the end of the story.

cm

Business section todays LA Times:

1. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, on Tuesday posted
its first quarterly earnings decline in a decade, a result of costs
associated with the company's decision to exit the German market.

2. Home Depot Posts Strong Profit, Sales. It tempers its forecast for
the rest of 2006 and will boost spending to maintain market share.

Next time holler OUCH as loud as you can, and whack the end of the
rebar.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

"F. H." wrote in message
news:aRIEg.12776$Z1.115@trnddc03...

Came within an inch of needing a seeing eye dog when I wandered to
close
to an employee teaching another employee how to properly carry rebar.
He had about a dozen draped over his shoulder and shifted them
straight
backwards (without looking behind him). Only a very quick move saved
me.

I just looked and the trainer and shook my head. She just shrugged.

"cm" wrote in message
...
OK now ya did it.... Here's my HD idiot story.
[snip]

And here's another one -- I was in HD to buy a nail set, among other things.
I told a young, new hire in the tools department that I wanted to buy a nail
set. He said, "They don't come in sets, sir, you have to buy them by the
pound."

The next time I was in HD he wasn't there anymore.

Not all HD employees are idiots. Anyone can come up with a story about
some random dope at any retail shop.
A lot of the HD employees here in Massachusetts are unemployed
high-tech workers.
A job at HD for these guys can help them get through a tough time and
they can even get a little health insurance with it.
The fault with uninformed employees at HD lies with the company itself.
They need to provide better training for their people.

Vin - Menotomy Vintage Bicycles
http://OldRoads.com


JimR wrote:
"cm" wrote in message
...
OK now ya did it.... Here's my HD idiot story.
[snip]

And here's another one -- I was in HD to buy a nail set, among other things.
I told a young, new hire in the tools department that I wanted to buy a nail
set. He said, "They don't come in sets, sir, you have to buy them by the
pound."

The next time I was in HD he wasn't there anymore.

"OldRoads" wrote in message
The fault with uninformed employees at HD lies with the company itself.
They need to provide better training for their people.

Like most stories, the truth is in the middle. Sure, there are good and bad.
Some are just not trainable though. Varies from store to store.

JimR wrote:
"cm" wrote in message
...
OK now ya did it.... Here's my HD idiot story.
[snip]

And here's another one -- I was in HD to buy a nail set, among other things.
I told a young, new hire in the tools department that I wanted to buy a nail
set. He said, "They don't come in sets, sir, you have to buy them by the
pound."

The next time I was in HD he wasn't there anymore.

Most employees don't work every waking hour the store is open. Your
story, however, isn't fair. You admit he was a new hire. New hires
have to learn somehow, and if he doesn't yet know the terminology of
the 100 thousand products they sell, it doesn't necessarily make him an
idiot. Come back in a couple months, and if he's been told what a
nail set is 5 times and he still doesn't get it, THEN he's an idiot.

"Larry Bud" wrote in message
ps.com...

JimR wrote:
"cm" wrote in message
...
OK now ya did it.... Here's my HD idiot story.
[snip]

And here's another one -- I was in HD to buy a nail set, among other
things.
I told a young, new hire in the tools department that I wanted to buy a
nail
set. He said, "They don't come in sets, sir, you have to buy them by the
pound."

The next time I was in HD he wasn't there anymore.

Most employees don't work every waking hour the store is open. Your
story, however, isn't fair. You admit he was a new hire. New hires
have to learn somehow, and if he doesn't yet know the terminology of
the 100 thousand products they sell, it doesn't necessarily make him an
idiot. Come back in a couple months, and if he's been told what a
nail set is 5 times and he still doesn't get it, THEN he's an idiot.


Sorta kinda maybe. When I managed a small, locally owned stereo store, new
hires were under orders to spend their first week doing absolutely nothing
but learning to operate equipment, browsing the stockroom, reading owners
manuals, asking questions and listening to systems. There was no way we let
these people near customers. When I go to the supermarket looking for
canning jars, and a child takes me to the canned vegetable aisle (where
there are no canning jars), I wonder why more retailers don't insist on a
learning period.

The employees at the Home Depot closest to me are pretty good. OTOH
the Lowe's close to them is full of idiots, including the managers.
Last year in July, when I needed a window A/C, it took three Lowe's
employees to find any, and another time when I couldn't find the copper
fittings in the plumbing dept. (they weren't next to the PVC and iron
ones), a person who had been working in that dept. since the store
opened asked another employee, "Do we have something called 'copper
fittings?'" More recently, they lost an appliance sale because they
were completely clueless.

cm wrote:
I was doing paperwork with the news on yesterday and thought I heard
them talking about Walmart going head to head with Home Depot!??? Did
I hear this right? I just caught the end of the story.

I wouldn't think so. The start-up and logistic costs would be astronomical.

On the other hand, Wal-Mart IS going into the E85 business (the 85% Ethanol
fuel). They would have very little competition - and of course very little
market for a while). And this is not a miss-heard statement nor a rumor.

See:
http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/08/news...tune/index.htm

"HeyBub" wrote in message
...
cm wrote:
I was doing paperwork with the news on yesterday and thought I heard
them talking about Walmart going head to head with Home Depot!??? Did
I hear this right? I just caught the end of the story.

I wouldn't think so. The start-up and logistic costs would be
astronomical.

On the other hand, Wal-Mart IS going into the E85 business (the 85%
Ethanol fuel). They would have very little competition - and of course
very little market for a while). And this is not a miss-heard statement
nor a rumor.

See:
http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/08/news...tune/index.htm

That's awesome!!! It's probably the only positive thing I can think of
about Wal-Mart.

"Eigenvector" wrote in message
news

"HeyBub" wrote in message
...
cm wrote:
I was doing paperwork with the news on yesterday and thought I heard
them talking about Walmart going head to head with Home Depot!??? Did
I hear this right? I just caught the end of the story.

I wouldn't think so. The start-up and logistic costs would be
astronomical.

On the other hand, Wal-Mart IS going into the E85 business (the 85%
Ethanol fuel). They would have very little competition - and of course
very little market for a while). And this is not a miss-heard statement
nor a rumor.

See:
http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/08/news...tune/index.htm

That's awesome!!! It's probably the only positive thing I can think of
about Wal-Mart.


You don't think lying to customers all day long is a good thing? :-)