Home Depot bashing

[TheFugitive]

I needed to replace one of those heavy steel basement doors at my house.  I went surfing and found one at HomeDepot.com.  It had to be special ordered.  They would ship it to my local Home Depot store.  It actually came sooner than expected so when I got the text telling me it was in I went to the store to pick it up. 

First step was to rent their $75/hr. truck to transport it.  That process was actually surprisingly painless.  You do it at the tool rental located next to the Pro Desk.  So once I had the truck I went and picked out some 2x6s that I would need to install the door.  I rolled those up to the ProDesk checkout and handed the girl my paperwork on the door to pay for it all. 

"Oh, you can't pay for a special order here" she told me.  "You can only do that at the Service Desk".

"Why not?" I asked.  Seemed like a good question as there was a register hooked to their computer network sitting right there.

"I don't know but you can't.  We can have it brought here to load it in your truck, but you can't pay for it here."

I pursued this line of questioning for a minute longer and did not really get an answer as to why (though I did learn the rather interesting fact that Home Depot and HomeDepot.com are technically two separate companies).

Finally I told her "Not your fault.  I was a manager in this industry for over a decade, and I know that upper management in this business is made up of a bunch of freaking idiots."

So I rolled my cart full of 2x6s the entire width of the store across a very busy front aisle
that was filled with merchandise displays.  It was sort of amazing that I did not hit anybody nor
knock over any displays.  Then I had to maneuver into a very tight Service Desk area where there was barely enough room for the lumber. 

I handed the guy the paperwork for my door.  He said "So, you're returning this lumber then?"  I told him "NO! I am buying the lumber, and picking up a door.  I am not returning anything."

"Well, why didn't you pay for all of this down at the Pro Desk then?"  I then had to step into the role of his Corporate Trainer to inform him that I could not do this.

As I was explaining a female employee came along and began walking away with my lumber.  "Whoa, where are you going with that?"

"You just returned it" she told me.

"NO I DIDN'T!  I didn't return anything!  All I want to do is pay for it and for my special order door, load them in the truck I just rented from you, and go."

At that point it finally clicked with the cashier.  He rang me out and I navigated my way clear across the front aisle through all the traffic and displays again (after likewise giving him my speech about "I know all senior management in your company are frigging idiots".)

Amazingly I did not injure anyone rolling that stuff clear across the store.  They brought my door and loaded me, and the rest of the day went much smoother after that.

They really need to seriously rethink their policies and procedures.  Forcing large items to be rolled the length of the store for no good reason just increases chances of somebody getting injured.