Not sure if anyone really cares, but after just over 6 months of indentured servitude at the Big Orange (Home Depot) I really feel compelled to give everyone an "insiders" view of working for a home improvement company.
I have learned a lot about both the corporate view, and the typical home owner view of the home improvement retail business, and I must say, both sides scare me. Not just the type of scared like when someone peeks around a corner and says boo, but Amityville Horror, or The Exorcist scary.
I'll start from the scary corporate view. To start my diatribe, let me say that we (the faithful sheep of Home Depot) must endure training by way of 15 minute videos on the computer that teach us about the products we are trying to sell. Some of these videos could be informative, but the people in charge of writing are really out of touch with the real questions that the consumer ask. Contrary to the writers belief, a little thing called price dictates what I sell more than quality, or long term savings ever will. As an 8 year veteran of the plumbing industry, I would HIGHLY recommend Delta fixtures, with Moen being a distant second. Of the products Home Depot sells, my list would then be Kohler, American Standard, Pegasus, Price Pfister, and LASTLY Glacier Bay. Trust me, price DOES reflect quality here. Yet despite all my "highly trained" experience, Glacier Bay is one of the best sellers in the plumbing department for Home Depot. Why, you may ask? Because you can buy a bathroom faucet for$19.99. But then you need to buy a $16.00 pop-up assembly for the drain to hook up to your existing piping. Now your at $35.00 and I will guarantee you that I will see you within 1 month to start replacing parts that are failing on your Glacier Bay faucet that you saved a couple dollars on. The best part about that......Home Depot doesn't have ANY replacement parts for Glacier Bay fixtures. Guess what? Now your gonna buy another one. No you say, I will not. WRONG! No body listens to a Home Depot associate, because we are all flunkies. That's right, we are just people that couldn't master the spatula at Mc Donald's, so we are here at the big Orange selling you things to make your house work like new. All of the great training I am so privileged to view on the Home Depot super secure network tells me that the customer is the sheep and they will buy what I tell them to. The scary part about that is they are about 75% correct. Read on and we shall see what I mean.
If you come into my department (Plumbing), and ask me a question about what you need to make your water quit staining your toilet or sink or tub, I will sell you two to three times as much crap as you need. Why? Because I can. No, I won't do that to 98% of the people that come into my department, but the 2% that think they are God's gift to home improvement, I WILL HAMMER YOU with totally unnecessary crap because I interpret your "intelligence" as arrogance. If you come to my department and tell me how to do plumbing, I will NOT ask to see your master plumbing license. Instead, I WILL attempt to throw any and all unnecessary crap into your cart. No, I do not get paid commission. I don't even get an employee discount, but, I figure if you are really that smart, you will know that I am hosing you, and will call my bluff at some point. If you don't, SHAME ON YOU, and I will have proven my point. I will go back into the break room, and look at my license, and have a hearty belly laugh at your expense.
So just what could a customer do that would warrant my insensitivity towards them. Gosh, where should I start. Well, if you come to my department, and ask me for a 2" fitting ( 90 degree elbow, 45 degree elbow, or any of the other 2" fittings we sell) and I walk over, and casually grab the fitting you ask for, DO NOT take it over to the 2" pipe and see if it will fit. IT WILL! I know the difference between 1.5", 2", 3", and 4" pipe and fittings. The same goes for any water distribution and gas pipe. If I catch you second guessing me, I WILL scare you to the point that you will not buy anything on that trip, go home, remeasure, and come back for the parts, all the while wasting your gas that you could have used for wheeling. As a side note to the last comment, please understand that ALL PIPING USED IN PLUMBING IS MEASURED IN INSIDE DIAMETER, NOT OUTSIDE DIAMETER. If you come to me and ask for 5" pvc pipe for a project you are working on I WILL LAUGH AT YOU!. Not only are 5" pipe and fittings EXTREMELY rare, I can guarantee that you do NOT have 5" in your home. You do not have 4" pipe in your home. I can put your whole house on a 3" drain line and still be well under code.
If your water supply piping in your house is not metal, it is some sort of what we in the business consider "plastic". You will either have Pex piping, or CPVC piping. If you have pex piping, we do have fittings and all the accessories needed to complete your job, but DO NOT complain about the price of the tool needed to crimp the ring on the fitting. Yes, it does cost $95.00. This is why the plumber you called was going to charge you a couple hundred bucks to fix the leak in your pex pipe. I'm sure it was a bit cheaper than having copper run in your house, but now you know why. Pex is not installed properly if there is not an 18" loop somewhere in your system. Due to the design of pex piping, the piping system will expand and contract enough that the 18' LOOP IS NEEDED. Without it, your system could be exposed to enough pressure to separate the pipe from the fittings, resulting in a new indoor swimming pool in your basement/crawl space. Also, do not think that a hose clamp will hold well enough to keep the pipe together at operating pressure. Hose clamps are for automobiles.
The other type of plastic water supply piping used in plumbing is called CPVC. DO NOT ASK ME FOR PVC FITTINGS FOR THAT. If you ask me for pvc fittings, you will get pvc fittings, and I will see you in a little while, because you bought the wrong stuff. PVC IS FOR DRAINS! If you try to use it for water supply, you will have problems. Pvc is not rated for hot water. CPVC (the tan colored pipe) is rated for 100 psi, and 180 degrees, there fore you can use it for water supply.
Galvanized pipe is also ok for water supply. BLACK PIPE IS NOT. Black pipe is for gas. Like the gas to your furnace, dryer, range. Black pipe is not galvanized, therefore it will rust. QUICKLY!
There are many things I know that I am forgetting (like calling a water heater a "hot water heater". It's not a hot water heater, hot water is already hot. It is just a water heater). Even though the duct work stuff is in my department, that doesn't mean I know a lot about it, or that we have enough stuff to completely heat your house. There are just so many things that we can sell. Some things you will need to call a heating contractor (I can get you a number to a great heating contractor, just think Camouflage). Also, yes we sell thermostats (even programmable ones), but my license says nothing about heating, therefore I refer you to someone that knows what is going on ( Re: Camouflage!).
Finally, I work in the "PLUMBING" department, not the "How can I plumb a fuel line on my 1935 John Deere tractor to run off chicken poop so I don't have to buy Diesel fuel to till my 40 acres" department. If you come to me with that kind of problem, I may solve your problem, but it may be more cost-effective to just buy diesel fuel for the next twenty years than buy all the crap I'm gonna put in your cart. You may even need two carts for that!
Cliffs notes: Don't shop at the Lapeer Home Depot unless you have A LOT of money to blow. The jerk in the plumbing department will screw you!
I have learned a lot about both the corporate view, and the typical home owner view of the home improvement retail business, and I must say, both sides scare me. Not just the type of scared like when someone peeks around a corner and says boo, but Amityville Horror, or The Exorcist scary.
I'll start from the scary corporate view. To start my diatribe, let me say that we (the faithful sheep of Home Depot) must endure training by way of 15 minute videos on the computer that teach us about the products we are trying to sell. Some of these videos could be informative, but the people in charge of writing are really out of touch with the real questions that the consumer ask. Contrary to the writers belief, a little thing called price dictates what I sell more than quality, or long term savings ever will. As an 8 year veteran of the plumbing industry, I would HIGHLY recommend Delta fixtures, with Moen being a distant second. Of the products Home Depot sells, my list would then be Kohler, American Standard, Pegasus, Price Pfister, and LASTLY Glacier Bay. Trust me, price DOES reflect quality here. Yet despite all my "highly trained" experience, Glacier Bay is one of the best sellers in the plumbing department for Home Depot. Why, you may ask? Because you can buy a bathroom faucet for$19.99. But then you need to buy a $16.00 pop-up assembly for the drain to hook up to your existing piping. Now your at $35.00 and I will guarantee you that I will see you within 1 month to start replacing parts that are failing on your Glacier Bay faucet that you saved a couple dollars on. The best part about that......Home Depot doesn't have ANY replacement parts for Glacier Bay fixtures. Guess what? Now your gonna buy another one. No you say, I will not. WRONG! No body listens to a Home Depot associate, because we are all flunkies. That's right, we are just people that couldn't master the spatula at Mc Donald's, so we are here at the big Orange selling you things to make your house work like new. All of the great training I am so privileged to view on the Home Depot super secure network tells me that the customer is the sheep and they will buy what I tell them to. The scary part about that is they are about 75% correct. Read on and we shall see what I mean.
If you come into my department (Plumbing), and ask me a question about what you need to make your water quit staining your toilet or sink or tub, I will sell you two to three times as much crap as you need. Why? Because I can. No, I won't do that to 98% of the people that come into my department, but the 2% that think they are God's gift to home improvement, I WILL HAMMER YOU with totally unnecessary crap because I interpret your "intelligence" as arrogance. If you come to my department and tell me how to do plumbing, I will NOT ask to see your master plumbing license. Instead, I WILL attempt to throw any and all unnecessary crap into your cart. No, I do not get paid commission. I don't even get an employee discount, but, I figure if you are really that smart, you will know that I am hosing you, and will call my bluff at some point. If you don't, SHAME ON YOU, and I will have proven my point. I will go back into the break room, and look at my license, and have a hearty belly laugh at your expense.
So just what could a customer do that would warrant my insensitivity towards them. Gosh, where should I start. Well, if you come to my department, and ask me for a 2" fitting ( 90 degree elbow, 45 degree elbow, or any of the other 2" fittings we sell) and I walk over, and casually grab the fitting you ask for, DO NOT take it over to the 2" pipe and see if it will fit. IT WILL! I know the difference between 1.5", 2", 3", and 4" pipe and fittings. The same goes for any water distribution and gas pipe. If I catch you second guessing me, I WILL scare you to the point that you will not buy anything on that trip, go home, remeasure, and come back for the parts, all the while wasting your gas that you could have used for wheeling. As a side note to the last comment, please understand that ALL PIPING USED IN PLUMBING IS MEASURED IN INSIDE DIAMETER, NOT OUTSIDE DIAMETER. If you come to me and ask for 5" pvc pipe for a project you are working on I WILL LAUGH AT YOU!. Not only are 5" pipe and fittings EXTREMELY rare, I can guarantee that you do NOT have 5" in your home. You do not have 4" pipe in your home. I can put your whole house on a 3" drain line and still be well under code.
If your water supply piping in your house is not metal, it is some sort of what we in the business consider "plastic". You will either have Pex piping, or CPVC piping. If you have pex piping, we do have fittings and all the accessories needed to complete your job, but DO NOT complain about the price of the tool needed to crimp the ring on the fitting. Yes, it does cost $95.00. This is why the plumber you called was going to charge you a couple hundred bucks to fix the leak in your pex pipe. I'm sure it was a bit cheaper than having copper run in your house, but now you know why. Pex is not installed properly if there is not an 18" loop somewhere in your system. Due to the design of pex piping, the piping system will expand and contract enough that the 18' LOOP IS NEEDED. Without it, your system could be exposed to enough pressure to separate the pipe from the fittings, resulting in a new indoor swimming pool in your basement/crawl space. Also, do not think that a hose clamp will hold well enough to keep the pipe together at operating pressure. Hose clamps are for automobiles.
The other type of plastic water supply piping used in plumbing is called CPVC. DO NOT ASK ME FOR PVC FITTINGS FOR THAT. If you ask me for pvc fittings, you will get pvc fittings, and I will see you in a little while, because you bought the wrong stuff. PVC IS FOR DRAINS! If you try to use it for water supply, you will have problems. Pvc is not rated for hot water. CPVC (the tan colored pipe) is rated for 100 psi, and 180 degrees, there fore you can use it for water supply.
Galvanized pipe is also ok for water supply. BLACK PIPE IS NOT. Black pipe is for gas. Like the gas to your furnace, dryer, range. Black pipe is not galvanized, therefore it will rust. QUICKLY!
There are many things I know that I am forgetting (like calling a water heater a "hot water heater". It's not a hot water heater, hot water is already hot. It is just a water heater). Even though the duct work stuff is in my department, that doesn't mean I know a lot about it, or that we have enough stuff to completely heat your house. There are just so many things that we can sell. Some things you will need to call a heating contractor (I can get you a number to a great heating contractor, just think Camouflage). Also, yes we sell thermostats (even programmable ones), but my license says nothing about heating, therefore I refer you to someone that knows what is going on ( Re: Camouflage!).
Finally, I work in the "PLUMBING" department, not the "How can I plumb a fuel line on my 1935 John Deere tractor to run off chicken poop so I don't have to buy Diesel fuel to till my 40 acres" department. If you come to me with that kind of problem, I may solve your problem, but it may be more cost-effective to just buy diesel fuel for the next twenty years than buy all the crap I'm gonna put in your cart. You may even need two carts for that!
Cliffs notes: Don't shop at the Lapeer Home Depot unless you have A LOT of money to blow. The jerk in the plumbing department will screw you!
After a 15 minute ride to get about 2 miles to where her bus is stuck, we pull up next to the bus and offer to help. Anyone familiar with the northeastern part of Davison will surely know where Dead Man's Hill is at the end of Washburn Rd. Yep right at the entrance of the hill is where the bus was. Since I know most of the kids on the bus (most of them are my kids friends), I start talking to them and asking them if they're all ok. All the kids are fine, but the bus driver tells us the school wouldn't approve of us doing the extraction (liability insurance and all). So we turn the jeep around and as we are, we see the tow truck coming. Chris makes a comment that the tow truck driver better hit the gas a bit. Sure enough, he starts sliding a bit and we are taking bets if he will make the top of the hill. About then, he starts sliding more to the east (off the road) and I'm thinking great, I'm gonna have to be strap b**ch for a fricken' tow truck. ::poke:: All the while, Harley is bustin' a gut cuz this dumb tow truck driver is about to bury his big ol truck. After he backs down and then finally makes it up he gets down to business. He breaks out all kinds of chains and snatch blocks and starts hooking up. Now I really don't question people in professions that I'm not in, but the way this dolt hooked up this bus, we were waiting for him to rip off the bumper, or drivers side front tire or maybe even snap the tie rod in two. After what seemed like an eternity, this goofy old dude finally strarts to take up the slack in the cable. He's got the front on one hook and the back on another. He starts reeling both ends in at the same time. At this point, I'm already seing the wording on the class action wrongful death suit when this poor excuse for a tow truck driver rolls this bus over and sends it back down the hill full of kids. Well, somehow, he keeps the bus rubber side down, and all the kids survive the ordeal. Now it's almost 4 hours after my kid first got on the bus. The bus driver looks down the hill, and sees the parents of 2 of the kids on the bus. The bus garage told him that the parents were coming to get their kids and that when they got there, he could release them to the custody of the parents. This proved to be just as much entertainment as the last half hour. As the kid (who Harley and I both agreed was being a pain from the moment we got there) goes to step off the bus, he jumps off the last step and lands feet first on the nice wet, slippery ice that the bus just 3 short hours ago slid off the road on. And with that his feet promptly got to about the same height as his eyes. It was at that very point that physics took over and, with the help of karma, promptly planted this little show off on the seat of his pants. ::ouch:: Yes, Harley and I have our reservations in Hell secured now, as we both laughed, and I must add that we laughed VERY LOUDLY!! Maybe it was our uncontrolled laughter, or maybe karma wasn't yet done with this kid, but after he righted hisself, he took about 5 more steps and as they say in showbiz, he gave us an encore. Yep except this time his landing strip was a rather large puddle. I saw a 400 pound man do a belly flop on a cruise ship that couldn't match the splash this kid made on impact. Yes, karma is alive and well folks! :mrgreen: So, wet kid makes it to his ride, tow truck guy packs up and heads out, the bus is free, so we head out. After a 10 to 15 minute squirrly ride home, I walk up the steps to my front door. I walk through the door and my wife is just then picking up the phone. It is the school administration calling (4 hours late) to tell us that our daughter's bus has gone off the road, but was rescued and is on the way to the school. Now I don't know exactly how many people on here are parents, but those that are could probably imagine just how fired up we as parents were to find out from the school that our daughter was ok 4 HOURS AFTER THE FACT!!!!! Thank god for cell phones. because without them, I might have missed the best belly-flop-in-a-puddle ever known to man.