I've never had to go to such lengths to purchase a tool as I did at this Home Depot.
I needed an angle grinder, so I asked a Home Depot employee for assistance. The first employee I approached was an older man who was already helping another customer unlock an item. Since he was in the same aisle, I thought he'd be the right person to ask. He told me he was busy but would page someone else to help me. A few seconds later, I heard the intercom announce a call for customer assistance. Ten minutes went by, and still, no one showed up.
I started searching for another employee, but everyone on the floor seemed preoccupied with tasks like stocking shelves. I went to the front of the store to request help again, and once more, they paged for assistance. Five minutes passed, and still nothing. Frustrated, I continued searching the aisles and found the same older employee in the plumbing section. I politely asked him for help with the tool I needed, and he responded, "What tool?" I reminded him it was the same tool I had asked about 15 minutes earlier. He then told me to ask someone in the power tools section, even though the tool I needed was just one aisle over.
I explained that I had been waiting for assistance and no one had come, and asked him again to help me. He refused, saying he couldn't because he might get called back to the plumbing aisle. The whole process would have taken less than a minute. He eventually followed me to the next aisle but didn't open the tool section. Instead, he pointed out another employee a few aisles over and claimed that was the person to ask. Frustrated, I told him that the other employee had been busy with other customers for the past 15 minutes and that it wouldn't take long to help me. He responded with a dismissive "nope, sorry" and went back to his section.
I was left standing in the main aisle, waiting for the "tool guy" to free up. After a few more minutes, he finally became available and assisted me.
I understand that employees are assigned to specific departments, but when a customer has been waiting over 20 minutes for a tool to be unlocked, it seems logical to have another employee step in for a minute or two. Maybe it's against Home Depot policy, or maybe that older man in the plumbing section just wasn't willing to go out of his way to help a customer when he clearly could have.
After this experience, I'm definitely leaning towards an Amazon purchase next time I need power tools. read more