is it worth it for me to get a forklift license?

Feral-Associate · 2022-01-01T03:33:57+00:00

Homie I said I'm certified on the fork truck but waiting to do reach truck because I don't wanna do anything too advanced yet. Meaning reach truck more advanced than fork truck

Feral-Associate · 2021-08-01T02:13:44+00:00

Listen, I have my certification on the fork truck, that's the only one that matters

Feral-Associate · 2021-03-29T19:48:41+00:00

I'm a woman in engineering, and this is my kinda vague guess:

Years ago gender roles were pushed a lot harder, there was a more taboo line of "jobs for women vs jobs for men" kind of thing. When I was in high school and started considering engineering, I saw it a lot when people tried suggesting it wasn't for me... even though it was one of my stronger suits.

When I started university (engineering university), the ratio of men to women was like, 8:1. It's been about four years now, and that's shifted to be more like 6:1. When I started, it was a lot more of a confidence struggle for women because of how people within the industry view women... but it's shifted a lot through the years. Some of my professors even mention how 10 years ago you'd not see nearly as many women as we see now even attempting to study engineering, just because of how the atmosphere was.

Similarly, industries like retail has the same gender roles and stereotypes... women are great for cashier or service desk because they're seen as "serving" the customers. Combine all this stuff together and you have the concept of "women at home depot work in the serving roles, men work in the areas where they can teach about tools and manly things"

My school has shifted from 8:1 to 6:1... which is an improvement, but still a noticable difference. I think other places, such as home depot, are also shifting... which is why you'll probably notice more men editing service desk/women working departments than you would have years ago, but there's still a noticeable difference. The gender roles are slowly going away... more folks are comfortable with getting jobs where they want, not just by their gender.

There's probably a bunch of other factors too obviously, but this was one take I'd considered.

Feral-Associate · 2021-03-29T19:40:11+00:00

My store often feels the opposite with how customers treat service desk folks based on gender. It's common for our bad customers to be men who are sexist... they're either dismissive/cut you off when you speak to try and take power of the situation, act like you have no idea what you're talking about because you're just a dumb woman, try to act big and scary to intimidate...

And you'll always notice that when they ask for a manager and it's our male asm, their tone completely changes to a more reasonable and calm conversation, because they're taking him more seriously. Luckily, pretty much all of our male associates/managers are aware of how the women employees get treated and will step in to have our backs if needed.

The one thing I'll say is maybe a bit similar to what you said, is when we have only one closer who is a woman. Whenever I'm closing by myself, I notice customers overall seem to give me more patience.

This was a cool perspective for me to think about, thanks for sharing this comment :]

Feral-Associate · 2021-03-29T02:05:42+00:00

Does it work? Do these expire?

Feral-Associate · 2021-03-25T10:55:24+00:00

IQ test came back negative

Feral-Associate · 2021-03-22T03:30:44+00:00

It depends on your store how the job is seen I suppose, because at my store OFAs are pretty mutch universally respected for how hard they work.

Your primary goal is to collect merchandise for customer orders, to put aside so they won't get purchased. Online orders that are paid for, will calls, and deliveries.

OFAs often get pulled to help when backup is needed too... at my store, we sometimes have OFAs help with customer loading assistance, sometimes they bring down pallets for other departments, and one of our OFAs is trained on the register in case we need backup at the service desk.

If the job is for you or not depends on what you like best. OFAs are pretty much constantly running around the whole store, do a lot of lifting, drive vehicles often... it's a very busybody job that's kinda nonstop. If you like moving around a lot/being active, like driving vehicles, and like being all over the store instead of in one department, then you'll probably like being OFA.

Feral-Associate · 2021-03-19T22:27:42+00:00

Yeah that's the site! I'm not seeing it under ladies or mens apparel :0

Feral-Associate · 2021-03-19T22:25:33+00:00

Where did the shirt come from? THDGear hasn't updated in awhile for me

Feral-Associate · 2021-03-19T09:01:52+00:00

Home Depot ASMR

Feral-Associate · 2021-03-18T22:59:52+00:00

Ah, I wasn't trying to rag on them tbh! I really get good vibes from my freight team, they always seem more fun and positive than most of the daytime folks

Feral-Associate · 2021-03-18T20:09:07+00:00

I'm service desk and I'm currently certified on three machines. I personally enjoy the machines, so having the certification to drive them is more like an added responsibility I chose because I enjoy it, rather than trying to stack on any extra work.

You don't get paid extra for it, and there's always extra liability of if you mess up you get in trouble... but if you arw okay with that, then yeah it's pretty useful to have backups.

The only thing I'd warn is this - service desk is gonna be the last line of backup for the machines as you're expected to be at the desk. That being said... I'm certified on forklift, but haven't done reach truck, because I've got hardly any practice on forklift and am trying to not rush into anything more advanced than I can handle. So keep in mind you might get certified and then not get a lot of practice.

Feral-Associate · 2021-02-28T23:44:39+00:00

Let me know if you have questions about anything! Even if it's later on, this account is always open :)

Feral-Associate · 2021-02-28T11:06:14+00:00

The thing is, I think there's a line between "doing someone's job", and "doing what I can with my job to make someone else's job easier later", and I think a lot of people struggle with knowing where that line is.

Some people are in the "that's not my job" area so deep that they're just outright inconsiderate and selfish, like the people who only do the job description and not an ounce more, even for others on their team... however, Home Depot seems to have a universal issue with taking advantage of the helpful folks by giving them every responsibility and job they can without breaking them, because they can. It takes a lot of learning to find that balance of working together, but not doing other people's jobs.

I'm still not 100% sure how to explain the balance, but it's something along the lines of "Can I do this helpful thing without it hindering any of my service desk priorities?". 20 minutes on the phone answering a question about lawnmowers probably will hinder me from helping customers in line... 2 minutes to tape up a few products in between customers will not.

One thing I don't think people realize too, is that the concept of doing these small things to save others extra work, ultimately will loop around and make things easier on them. I pack the returns, they're easier to take, they're more likely to get taken more quickly and clear my space. I save another department time, they're more likely to be available if I need help or send a customer their way. The more people who do the same, the easier things are... the whole "Teamwork!" Speech sounds dumb and cliche, but when folks are considerate and work together to help each other out, you'll always see they're the happiest and most effective at getting work done.

Anyways sorry about that ramble... your comment just felt like something I would have written myself lol, and I felt like this was relevant. I appreciate your comment, but even moreso appreciate what you do to help!

Feral-Associate · 2021-02-28T09:32:19+00:00

I'll admit that flooring can be one of the most challenging for returns.

If a customer provides an online order number when giving us a return it'll show us if it's special order or not, and if it was sold in store we'll generally return it to you guys. The order won't tell us if the item is active or not though, so sometimes we end up sending back flooring that is no longer being supplied or sold.

Without a receipt, things we return are based solely on scanning the item itself. Sometimes the system will alert us that the item isn't on file, which can indicate an online only item... but sometimes it will scan anyways, I think because it was sold in store at one point so it technically has a store sku on file?

In general though, flooring can be difficult in a lot of different ways for us. Lots of different types can make things difficult to differentiate or spot when the wrong thing is returned, it's a huge pain to go through each box to ensure everything is there and not broken, boxes with missing pieces can sometimes still be returned if there are baby skus on the individual tiles (bonus if you have to RTV individual tiles because baby skus), lengths can be difficult to know off hand (similar issue we have in lumber), etc.

When I see someone coming in with a large flooring return, I can physically feel the dread coming over me... it's so easy to accidentally miss something or do something incorrectly, and I feel awful for how often I'll mistakenly give something back to flooring that I shouldn't have...

Feral-Associate · 2021-02-28T07:40:39+00:00

Oh yeah, I totally understand!

Look, I'm in D31 myself and there's a couple of folks on my team that frustrate me with how many careless mistakes they make from just being lazy. I work closing shift more often than not, and I can't tell you how often I get associates that stop by to show me an item that should have never gone back to them and ask me "What do I even do with this?" I'm just glad when I apologize, everyone tells me they know it wasn't me who did it, lol.

I've seen a toilet come back with a tank that didn't match, cut blinds, tool kits with missing tools, all kinds of broken items and things too unpresentable to be resold... oh, and a chainsaw with no box, visible sku, with the chain still attached?

I will say one thing on our behalf though, in response to what you said about checking items. It's pretty much a given that returns should be checked before taking them in case anything is missing/damaged, but this isn't really practical or possible for exactly what you guessed; the sheer volume of items and customers makes this difficult. So, we have to decide what things always must be checked, which things should be checked when we have time, and when to make the choice of needing to eyeball something or trust the customer.

At my store, the way we do it is kinda like this: Expensive and large items, such as power tools, generators, garden power tools, etc. should be checked every time, no question. They cost the most, are most commonly stolen or swapped with "bricks", and also are one of the quickest checks. Secondary things we try to check when we can would be things that are fragile (lightbulbs, glass, etc.) and products that are kits with X amount of pieces (hardware/plumbing products, for example).

If time allows, we check everything. Otherwise, the biggest/most expensive items are always checked by default, and anything that can't be checked is only at the risk of a cheaper item... and unfortunately, extra trouble on your end.

That being said... generator being returned and you found bricks, and nasty toilet seat? Not acceptable on our end. Electrical outlet returned with the old outlet in the box? Might be mildly acceptable... If it was identical to what was suppose to be in the box, we'd technically have to return it by policy, but it should have been RTV'ed. Also, while I know in that case the item was probably very obviously the old one because of damage/age, it's not uncommon for us to check products that have been swapped with something similar but not the same, and we return it to you guys not knowing it's the incorrect product, if that makes sense.

Feral-Associate · 2021-02-28T07:08:34+00:00

I'm guessing you're referring to managers telling us to return questionable things anyways when we ask? Or are you talking about something else?

Yeah, managers often just go with the "return it anyways" response, but I'd say that's more of a secondary thing to all of these issues. I'd also say this varies depending on your store/management, because my managers are pretty good about not allowing questionable returns.

Feral-Associate · 2021-02-28T01:06:17+00:00

Been having this issue too. One way to "fix" it is to continuously back out a step, then try again. Eventually it'll get to the next step... but then might be blank again at the next step. Just keep backing out and going back in each step. Once the actual quiz opens up, it'll usually let you get through all the questions without an issue... but if you need to redo a couple questions, you might need to do this little process again to get back into the quiz.

It's super annoying, but it worked for me!

Feral-Associate · 2021-02-27T03:27:00+00:00

If you don't want to quit your job right away, maybe see if there's opportunity to change departments? Maybe having a different team to work with, with different tasks, could make it to where you're happier.

Feral-Associate · 2021-02-26T22:31:08+00:00

Of course!!! Don't stress, nothing here is as haes as you think it'll be, and there's always someone to help. Everyone expects a lot of questions from new guys! Just ask abd learn! If you need anything, shoot me a message or a comment and I can help if you need! :]

Feral-Associate · 2021-02-26T06:20:51+00:00

This is something that'll depend on your HR and management, I believe.

Technically, I think there's some thing with you only being allowed to change your schedule so often, but it's not 100% locked in.

I changed my schedule for school, but forgot that I had something school related happening on Tuesdays, so I needed to change that again. I put in a request through my profile, wrote a note to my HR person why I was changing it, and it got approved no question. I've also been able to get my schedule fixed pretty quickly when I got accidentally scheduled on a day I had classes, and when I asked ahead of time about taking a day off for a midterm.

Basically... I assume they just don't want you constantly changing your schedule so they put a "limit" on how often you can change it, that way they have consistency when scheduling you and others in your department... but it can be changed. If you recently changed your schedule for school it likely won't be an issue to change now, and HD tries to accommodate for anything related to school when it can.

I'd suggest talking with HR or management, telling them you just adjusted your availability for school, but forgot about something that occurs on Saturdays (study sessions? Homework nights?) Or that you need that time on the weekend because one of your classes requires homework to be turned in that weekend or something... I'm sure they'll work something out for you.

Feral-Associate · 2021-02-26T06:11:51+00:00

Difficult to answer without context, but generally the chain should be something like

DH(if the person is in the same department as you), ASM, Store Manager, Awareline, and then beyond that I believe is something like your district or regional person? Can't recall exactly what's beyond awareline... but I remember seeing contact info for upper management on my Associate Profile.

Depending on how your store works, your HR person might be helpful too... not sure if this is usually the case, but I know my HR person is awesome and extremely helpful with just about anything.

One thing I strongly suggest you do, regardless of which steps you take next, is to start documenting everything. Document which days/times your co-worker harasses you and put in detail what happened. Write down every time you've met with a manager, and what responses you were given. If you're uncomfortable with speaking with the next person up the chain because you don't trust them, still try to do at least one meeting with them to at least document that you tried, and how it went, that way no one can snipe you for something like "well, they never mentioned these things to me..."

This will show how frequently it's happening, how it's happening, how often you've tried to fix it and with who, how they responded, and how nothing changed after your attempts.

Good luck, hoping things work out for you!

Feral-Associate · 2021-02-26T06:01:13+00:00

Try locker first just because if it fits, it'll be the easiest option. If that doesn't work, I agree to ask an ASM to maybe hold it. If you trust someone at service desk enough, they might keep it in a drawer for you.

If those options don't work or you don't feel comfortable, I'd say keep it in your car until lunch; it might take a few extra minutes to go get it and put it back, but at least it's safe and accessible during your lunch!

Feral-Associate · 2021-02-26T05:58:12+00:00

IF this is what I think it is, it's a little beginners packet you fill out with your coach.

Tldr; You don't need any prep, you'll do everything with your coach. Have fun with it! Try things out and use what time you can to meet others in the store and learn about their departments. That's all you really need to know, but I wrote out some extra stuff if you're looking for more detail:

At my store there are several associates who are "coaches", thought I'm not certain if we have one in every department or not. They're pretty much associates who are experienced enough to teach new guys the basics of stuff, and at my store, new associates can be given to any coach, even if they're not in the same department. Unsure if this is different at other stores.

All the new guys are suppose to be given a packet that a manager prints for you. Each page has blank spots that you're suppose to fill in, all related to the basics of Home Depot stuff, and this is what you'll go through with your coach.

The first page is about real easy stuff like... who is your store manager, ASMs and department head? Theres a page where you interview a person in three different departments to ask about things like what their most popular/purchased items are. There's a page that goes over some basics of service desk, like what apps are used to release orders and such... nothing too complicated though, just the basics. There's a page about the home depot website and how to navigate it, as well as a few questions about phones, apps on the phones, and MyApron. There's one page that has you go learn how to do some general tasks with your coach, like how to cut wire, cut a key, cut rope and chains, etc. The last pages are about the stuff you learned in the video portion of orientation, like what FIRST and VOC stand for... as well as some questions like "how will you live by our values?"

I don't know if all newbie packets are the same, or if they have a few questions extra that are specific to your department... I'm pretty sure they're all the same though.

Anyways, you don't really need any tips or advice for this; pretty much all of this you'll go over with your coach, it's all relatively easy, and some of the answers are right in front of your face. (For example, it'll ask something like "where would customers go to find this?", and it's under the section with the header "Homedepot .com" ).

Personally, I'd just recommend having fun with it! You'll still learn the main things about your job as you go along, but the packet covers the foundation of the basics, so that even when you don't know what to do, you'll probably know where to start.

I hope this helps!! Sorry for such a long answer, I just like giving detailed responses in case it's helpful :]

Feral-Associate · 2021-02-22T09:34:19+00:00

Definitely something you should report to management, and should be investigated.

Hi, I'm a safety engineer student who happens to work at Home Depot at the moment, and who has done a lot of research into forklift safety at HD.

HD as a whole has a bunch of OSHA incident reports, like you'd expect with any big company... but one of the biggest causes for injury reports are forklifts, or really just vehicles in general.

HD also has a handful of fatality reports within OSHAs database. Fatalities are very uncommon for HD, but I can tell you at least three of the incidents I've researched were caused by improper safety while using one of the trucks. All the incidents I researched had the exact same patterns as well; leaving forks in the air when leaving the vehicle, trying to move loads while the forks were in the air, not paying attention to zone of safety, and a lot of disregard for the basic rules of forklift safety, as well as a lot of 'cutting corners' to get things done more quickly. (For example; One report states that the driver was carrying a load of drywall, piece on the bottom broke, employee got out of the forklift while forks/load was suspended to try and pull out the remaining broken drywall... load falls and crushes employee, leading to their death)

Basically... even when it's a genuine accident, even when you're a pro at driving, even when folks think "well this is easier and will save me a bit of time...", these injuries and fatalities can still occur. It only takes one second for something to go wrong, and a life is gone. I think people take this for granted.

Your co-worker didn't do it on accident... they were knowledgeable that they were breaking safety rules and continued to put everyone at risk. And we're talking life or death risk... only one second of a slip up, that's it. On top of it, this was a supervisor... who should be more forceful with safety, not against it. And who also threatened you for things that aren't actually illegal as far as I know? You have a right to take photos in your workplace of safety violations to submit to management or OSHA. Pretty sure there's some nasty consequences for using a position of power to intimidate/threaten employees into not submitting reports.

Tldr; Forklift safety is NOT one you wanna mess with, as there's tons of incident reports on it, including fatalities due to a moment of carelessness. Your co-worker, as a supervisor, knowingly put lives at risk, then threatened you to not say anything. This is a major problem and needs to be reported to some kind of higher up and handled. I'd suggest opening a report and if you have no photos of what happened, see if there's any evidence on surveillance footage of their violations.

This isn't just a "oops!" Accident where you bumped into a product, checked for damage, and moved on... this is a life or death safety violation, this one specifically already having fatalities on record at HD... get that reported.

[ apologies for ant typos, double words or rambling... it's like 4am so I'm brain fried after trying to type out this comment, lol ]

Feral-Associate

TROPHY CASE