Poll: Retail Disappointments

[DefunctTheory]

I just got back from Home Depot, and I have to say: I've never been more pissed off at a Retail Chain in my life.

About a decade ago, I noticed that Lowe's was being replaced by Home Depot. Lowe's professional oriented stores were being swapped with Home Depot's 'Average Man Friendly' style. And for the most part, it didn't effect me.

Until recently, anyway. I started finding it hard to find things. Instead of being divided by type of product (All cleaning supplies here, all wood here), everything is divided by what area of your house you'll be working on. This is a pain in the ass, especially when a particular supply has multiple applications, but you have to troll the store to find out which one its sorted by.

Anyway, I went in to the store today to get some acid... boric or phosphoric (Preferably boric). I needed it for cleaning purposes.

But Home Depot, the supposed King of Depots, does not carry heavy duty cleaning supplies. In fact, most of there staff doesn't even seem to know that acid CAN be used to clean anything other then a pool.

It seems like such a small thing, but it induces my rage. I want my fucking Lowe's back.

So, I ask you, Escapist, in this age of ease and grab bag stores, has the retail market ever failed you?

 

[DeadlyYellow]

In my little slice of the world, the local Target manages to Trump both Best Buy and Walmart with their electronic entertainment section.

 

[Gaiseric]

I've had a lot of trouble finding things at Home Depot. And both Target and Walmart have let me down with not carrying items that seem like they would carry.

 

[ZeZZZZevy]

good sir, your poll seems biased.

And if you absolutely can't find something in a store, amazon has the selection of the internet at its disposal. Sure you have to wait a few days, but they generally give you a good price.

 

[ace_of_something]

In the long long ago. When overtime was in short supply I moonlit at the Home Depot and Lowe's. (not at the same time of course) and actually. Just now got hired to work 2 days a week at Lowe's again. (mayor says no OT for a few years and I kind idiotically rely on that money)

I can say this; They are pretty much the exact same store. With only minor differences like where they decide things go in the store and a few other things (HD has rental tools, Lowe's will cut tile for you)

Anywho working in retail sucks ass and people often get mad at the little workers who have no say in anything.

 

[Lionsfan]

If possible I always try to avoid Home Depot. It just feels like a barren wasteland of shittiness whenever I go into the local store. The staff are incompetent and I feel like I'm dealing with a bunch of High School brat who just need a couple extra bucks for prom

 

[Skorpyo]

*Sigh*

I used to work retail. While I didn't want to go back down that particular memory path...

Stores anymore only carry the highest selling products with the lowest risk of theft, so whenever I go to buy damn near anything, it's either locked down or they don't carry it. Definitely hurts to be a P.C. gamer too, especially since I already own Starcraft, don't want WoW, and third-party train/farm/prison simulators make me ill.

 

[Lullabye]

Anyway, I went in to the store today to get some acid...

Totally misinterpreted that......

I remember when I tried to find these certain tiles for our kitchen floor. My god it took almost an hour to find the right section.

 

[Dags90]

I went to Blockbuster a few years ago to rent a movie only to find out that A.) you can't rent without a credit card, and B.) they didn't have what I wanted. I was pretty annoyed. I remember it went out of business shortly thereafter and had this hilarious sign to the effect of "Only this store is going out of business, the company is stilling holding on by a thread."

 

[DefunctTheory]

Anyway, I went in to the store today to get some acid...

Totally misinterpreted that......

I remember when I tried to find these certain tiles for our kitchen floor. My god it took almost an hour to find the right section.

Understandable.

I also want to mention that I actually like GameStop. I only included it in the poll because I know the majority of the people here don't.

If possible I always try to avoid Home Depot. It just feels like a barren wasteland of shittiness whenever I go into the local store. The staff are incompetent and I feel like I'm dealing with a bunch of High School brat who just need a couple extra bucks for prom

I got that impression too. Most of the people working there were my age, and had soft hands.

There was one guy that seemed to know what I was talking about. But alas, that doesn't matter when they don't carry the damn product.

The shame is the place sells 300 dollar gas mask, but apparently sell nothing that would require there use.

 

[twistedmic]

I got so fed up with my local Wal-Mart Super Center that I eventually stopped going there and now do most of my shopping at a nearby Super Target. That store was almost always out of certain items, items which were not hot-sellers, the store had a constant dingy/dirty look to it (and it's only five years old come this September) and I know, from my stint as an employee at that store, that the management was total shit and they hardly cared about their employees.

A more recent, and less severe, disappointment came from Blockbuster. I went in to rent the new(ish) Evangelion movie (2.0 You Can (Not) Advance) only to find out that that store didn't carry it, they had stupid SyFy original movies (Sharktopuss) but they didn't carry Evangelion at all, not even the series. I got home and did some searching on Blockbuster.com and found out that none of the stores in my state carry it.

 

[Abbyrose07]

My whole life has been full of retail disappointments because I work in retail...lol. I would say shopping at Meijer, they tore down the old Meijer in my city which had nothing wrong with it and built a smaller one that has less items and is set up strange...they always seem to be out of stock when I am looking for something...

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Don't shop for games at Walmart or Best Buy. Just...just don't.

 

[Vault101]

*Sigh*

I used to work retail. While I didn't want to go back down that particular memory path...

Stores anymore only carry the highest selling products with the lowest risk of theft, so whenever I go to buy damn near anything, it's either locked down or they don't carry it. Definitely hurts to be a P.C. gamer too, especially since I already own Starcraft, don't want WoW, and third-party train/farm/prison simulators make me ill.

at least my local EB games and JB HI FI (electronics) still has a decent PC section

Target...Kmart and such? its all sims

My whole life has been full of retail disappointments because I work in retail...lol. I would say shopping at Meijer, they tore down the old Meijer in my city which had nothing wrong with it and built a smaller one that has less items and is set up strange...they always seem to be out of stock when I am looking for something...

wow retail cant be that terrible can it? ( If um unluckey thats where my future might be)

 

[FalloutJack]

Heh, sorry, but I gotta tell you something here. It's not the store, per se. It's just the people. I will give you an example. My sister is getting married, and I needed a suit. One particular mall and department stores relevent to my needs did not have what I wanted. However, as a matter of fact, their counterparts in another store of the same name DID. It's how the POEPLE run the business, most of the time, not the companies.

 

[Aurgelmir]

I just got back from Home Depot, and I have to say: I've never been more pissed off at a Retail Chain in my life.

About a decade ago, I noticed that Lowe's was being replaced by Home Depot. Lowe's professional oriented stores were being swapped with Home Depot's 'Average Man Friendly' style. And for the most part, it didn't effect me.

Until recently, anyway. I started finding it hard to find things. Instead of being divided by type of product (All cleaning supplies here, all wood here), everything is divided by what area of your house you'll be working on. This is a pain in the ass, especially when a particular supply has multiple applications, but you have to troll the store to find out which one its sorted by.

Anyway, I went in to the store today to get some acid... boric or phosphoric (Preferably boric). I needed it for cleaning purposes.

But Home Depot, the supposed King of Depots, does not carry heavy duty cleaning supplies. In fact, most of there staff doesn't even seem to know that acid CAN be used to clean anything other then a pool.

It seems like such a small thing, but it induces my rage. I want my fucking Lowe's back.

So, I ask you, Escapist, in this age of ease and grab bag stores, has the retail market ever failed you?

Did you put GameStop there as a specialist? Because I do not really feel they can live up to that title. They hardly carry anything that other shops do, and half of their employees seems to know as much about games as my grandmother...

 

[DefunctTheory]

Heh, sorry, but I gotta tell you something here. It's not the store, per se. It's just the people. I will give you an example. My sister is getting married, and I needed a suit. One particular mall and department stores relevent to my needs did not have what I wanted. However, as a matter of fact, their counterparts in another store of the same name DID. It's how the POEPLE run the business, most of the time, not the companies.

Except that I've been to Home Depots in 4 different states in the last two years, with the same results.

Generally speaking, shit rolls down hill. So I would assume the source of the shit is pretty high up in Home Depots' corporate ladder.

I know what your saying, though. Just don't think that's whats going on here.

 

[NEVRINx54]

i work at HD and the heavy duty cleaning supplies are in aisle 45 at my store... and only select projects are grouped, everything else is by department... garden, paint, millworks, etc...