Just wanna say Lowe’s is the worst!

[WthrLady]

Well, I can't resist adding my experience from a while back:

One morning I went to a big box home improvement store (Lowe’s) to get mortar mix for the cement board seams in my shower. After wandering around the store, mostly near the cement board display trying to find the mortar appropriate to it, I gave up and started looking for an employee to ask. When I located an employee here is the actual conversation that ensued (no embellishments or exaggeration I promise!):

Me: can you tell me where the mortar is located to use with Hardiebacker cement board and maybe what kind is recommended?

Employee #1: What???

Me: (repeat the above)

Employee #1: What kind of party are you having? What is it?

Me: Not party…Hardiebacker. It’s cement board.

Employee #1: So, you’re building a fence? (But now is consulting her handheld device.)

Me: No, I’m using the cement board in redoing my shower. I need mortar for the seams and want to know where it is in the store.

Employee #1: What are you looking for?

Me: Mortar to use with Hardiebacker.

Employee #1: So, what letter does it start with?

Me: Hardiebacker is “H” and mortar is “M”.

Employee #1: (still looking at handheld device) so does “mortar” end in “t-a-r”?

Me: Yes. Where is it located?

Employee #1: Ummmmmmm.

Me: Would it be better if I went up to Customer Service and asked there?

Employee #1: Yeah, ‘cuz I don’t understand…….

Me: (at Customer Service) can you tell me where the mortar is located to use with Hardiebacker cement board and maybe what kind is recommended?

Employee #2: What is it you want?

Me: (repeat question for 4th time)

Employee #2: What do you want to do with it?

Me: It’s cement board for my shower. I need mortar for the seams and want to know where it is in the store and maybe what kind would be best.

Employee #2: Just a minute, I’ll call someone.

**She does and the nice man actually knew what I was talking about and had an ANSWER! Yay! Fortunately, I found intense humor in all this.

Should have texted me. I practically live at the big box hardware stores. I could tell you isle and bin number LOL. FYI so can the new search apps for the store. I know the regular employees and they me. The new hires don't seem to last more than their trial period before they leave and go to the next place hiring with a sign on bonus. They stay long enough to get that bonus money and rinse and repeat. There's no motivation for self improvement or advancement anymore. They're taking advantage of the money and hiring situation at the moment.

 

[WthrLady]

If you want an added challenge, try being a woman at a home improvement store. I'm pretty sure that's where the word "mansplaining" came from, like the time an employee tried to convince my mom that the product she needed didn't exist -- although she's used it countless times before.

Honestly though, I think Hawaii's Home Depot fails only at the national level. The local staff are really good -- sometimes surprisingly so. Lowes is another story.

I've been where someone has asked the employee a question, who then turned towards me in the row, pointed and said, "Ask her, she can do that." LOL. Snort.

 

[WonkierZulu]

I know this is an old thread, but it popped up and caught my eye. I sympathize with the OP, but I suspect it's not so much the store but rather the management and employees working there. FWIW, I buy all my feed at local stores where they will load it into the car/trailer for me. I'm an (older) guy, so I don't mind having some 20 something strong back young man load up the order for me. When I get home, I'll have to unload it by myself. But I know which of my local stores will help with load out, so I take advantage of that service. I know some people who need that carryout job, and I like to keep them employed in my own small way.

But speaking of the worst stores, I think WalMart is on top of my list. Not only did they not pay their checkout people very well, but now they have basically replaced all of them with self checkout machines. I hear lots of people are pretending to scan items but just bagging them up. Since nobody is there to check at the self checkout, it's on the honor system. A few months ago Dear Wife was using the WalMart self checkout and her total came out with about an additional $45 worth of items she had not purchased. Evidently, the person before her scanned the items, bagged them up, and left the store without paying. WalMart corrected the overcharge, but someone left the store with $45 of unpaid goods. We all pay for theft as the expense is passed on to the customers, so it's not like WalMart is losing the money. And at our local WalMart, you will never find anyone to help carryout anything. I guess the only thing worse than a bad employee, is no employee at all. End of mini rant....

Walmart made me start going to church again. That place made me realize that hell is real.

 

[avjudge]

Annnd that's why I'm not allowed to go to Home Depot for my husband anymore

And the same reason that, if I do have my husband pick up something at HD when he's in the neighborhood, I send him a link to its homedepot.com page *and* the aisle/bin # location in that store that the website so conveniently supplies

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

And the same reason that, if I do have my husband pick up something at HD when he's in the neighborhood, I send him a link to its homedepot.com page *and* the aisle/bin # location in that store that the website so conveniently supplies

Mine won't even set foot into a hardware store without me. He also won't shop for any food that doesn't come in a box -- too difficult.

 

[FloorCandy]

I know this is an old thread, but it popped up and caught my eye. I sympathize with the OP, but I suspect it's not so much the store but rather the management and employees working there. FWIW, I buy all my feed at local stores where they will load it into the car/trailer for me. I'm an (older) guy, so I don't mind having some 20 something strong back young man load up the order for me. When I get home, I'll have to unload it by myself. But I know which of my local stores will help with load out, so I take advantage of that service. I know some people who need that carryout job, and I like to keep them employed in my own small way.

But speaking of the worst stores, I think WalMart is on top of my list. Not only did they not pay their checkout people very well, but now they have basically replaced all of them with self checkout machines. I hear lots of people are pretending to scan items but just bagging them up. Since nobody is there to check at the self checkout, it's on the honor system. A few months ago Dear Wife was using the WalMart self checkout and her total came out with about an additional $45 worth of items she had not purchased. Evidently, the person before her scanned the items, bagged them up, and left the store without paying. WalMart corrected the overcharge, but someone left the store with $45 of unpaid goods. We all pay for theft as the expense is passed on to the customers, so it's not like WalMart is losing the money. And at our local WalMart, you will never find anyone to help carryout anything. I guess the only thing worse than a bad employee, is no employee at all. End of mini rant....

I live in the NYC burbs, the self checkout is lorded over by an older vulture of a lady who does a great job watching for theft, but when the machine is stuck on something she pretends she doesnt see you struggling and trying to wave her over. We still have full lanes of cashiers, and the self checkout has long lines too. TBH I don’t know how Walmart would cope with the added business of covid and government mismanagement wiping out local retailers if it didn’t have self checkout. What I will say, if you look at the videos of flooding in Manville, NJ a few weeks ago, Walmart was literally a port in the storm, nearly the whole town was underwater, but Walmart had the high ground. They let employees and their families who lost their homes and everything, stay at the store and they gave them clothes and food for free. I know people who work there, and even tho they live a ways away, they were unable to get home due to the flooding, and Walmart took care of them too. I’m not sure if it’s a corporate thing, or management of that store, but it has turned me more towards Walmart than target.

 

[FloorCandy]

It's like that King of the Hill episode where Hank goes to the Mega-Lo-Mart
"I'm looking for a tap and dye" (I'm probably spelling that wrong)
"What is it you're trying to do?"
"I'm trying to find a tap and dye!"
"OK...tap and dye...but what are you trying to do?"

Where do you keep the go’ dang hammers! Hahaha

literally one of my favorite shows ever made!

 

[WthrLady]

I live in the NYC burbs, the self checkout is lorded over by an older vulture of a lady who does a great job watching for theft, but when the machine is stuck on something she pretends she doesnt see you struggling and trying to wave her over. We still have full lanes of cashiers, and the self checkout has long lines too. TBH I don’t know how Walmart would cope with the added business of covid and government mismanagement wiping out local retailers if it didn’t have self checkout. What I will say, if you look at the videos of flooding in Manville, NJ a few weeks ago, Walmart was literally a port in the storm, nearly the whole town was underwater, but Walmart had the high ground. They let employees and their families who lost their homes and everything, stay at the store and they gave them clothes and food for free. I know people who work there, and even tho they live a ways away, they were unable to get home due to the flooding, and Walmart took care of them too. I’m not sure if it’s a corporate thing, or management of that store, but it has turned me more towards Walmart than target.

Not a fan of either one.
I stopped shopping walmart in 2010 and something changed at target around 2012/14. I'm not sure what in their display/sales model changed, but I can't stand to go in there at all. Luckily it's 45 minutes away. I don't do kohls either. I used to like them, but their styles and quality dropped a few years ago, and they aren't my things either.
Thank goodness I can sew.

 

[gtaus]

I’m not sure if it’s a corporate thing, or management of that store, but it has turned me more towards Walmart than target.

I suppose local management of the store makes all the difference. I know a few people who have worked for our local WalMart and they were not treated very good.

One young guy joined WalMart with the understanding that he was there part time and that his main goal was to attend Tech school to become a mechanic. He worked in the WalMart auto department. Anyway, after a number of months working weekends and holidays, they got short handed and wanted him to work day shifts. He told them he could not work days as he was attending school. So they gave him the option of either working at WalMart or continuing his education. He left WalMart.

Another person I know worked there and made a mistake by not asking for ID from a 40 year old purchasing cigarettes, or something like that. Anyway, she was fired because they had a policy everyone had to be carded regardless of their apparent age. A few days later, she was informed that WalMart had made a mistake and that she should have been (re)trained on that policy and not let go on a first offense. Long story short, she got 6 months unemployment insurance payments because of the improper firing and she did not go back.

I also had an extended family member who delivered truck goods to WalMart and our other local big box stores. He said that our WalMart treated them terrible, but they treated their own employees even worse. Other than doing his job delivering his goods to our WalMart, he would never set foot in that store to buy anything from them. He absolutely hated them.

Dear Wife will buy some groceries from WalMart a couple times a month. I have very little need to shop WalMart for what I need, so maybe I go there 3-4 times per year. But it is always my last choice, never my first stop.

But it is good to hear that other WalMart stores are doing better. Like I said about Lowe's, I really think local management has more influence on your shopping experience than the store name/brand itself.

 

[gtaus]

Walmart made me start going to church again. That place made me realize that hell is real.

Ouch! There must be a story somewhere....