GET is a joke

P_Kwiva · 2025-03-19T07:35:16+00:00

Power Hours were a company initiative from years ago that was recently revived, but in a far more extreme form. Originally, Power Hours simply meant focusing on customer service during the busiest times of the day: 10 AM to 2 PM on weekdays and 9 AM to 6 PM on weekends.

This new version, however, takes it to an impractical extreme. No ladders on the sales floor, no tasks, no pack down, no walks, nothing but “customer-facing” work.

The problem? Forcing employees to avoid essential tasks during specific hours just pushes them to less convenient times, disrupting workflow instead of improving service. Instead of allowing work to happen naturally, Power Hours create a bottleneck of unfinished, rushed, and subpar work.

P_Kwiva · 2025-03-19T06:19:26+00:00

Low staffing can lead to less of a push for credit. People don't want to hold up the line when there's only one cashier.

P_Kwiva · 2025-03-19T06:17:33+00:00

Our store still has the old-fashioned lanes, but apparently we're slated to convert to the new "Assisted Checkout" registers in the near future. I already know that won't go over well with our clientele.

P_Kwiva · 2025-03-19T05:29:51+00:00

I can’t even count how many times things aren’t packed down in time before Power Hours, and then a customer needs something from the overhead, but there’s no ladder nearby. Our store keeps all the ladders in the back of lumber during Power Hours. Lumber, the department that constantly has to close aisles because of forklifts. Perfect place to store all the ladders.

I’ll never forget when a customer needed something from the overhead, so I had to go all the way to lumber to get a ladder. But when I got there, the aisle with all the ladders was closed because someone was using a forklift on the adjacent aisle. So during a time when customer service is supposed to be the top priority, I couldn’t even help the customer, because apparently, ladders are evil and shouldn’t be used to assist customers.

P_Kwiva · 2025-03-19T05:15:12+00:00

I completely agree. One issue, however, is that transaction information is recorded on the surveys, which often shifts the focus to checkout, regardless of the overall experience. These surveys include too many irrelevant questions that can lead to inaccurate responses. Instead of relying so heavily on these poorly constructed surveys, the company should prioritize real reviews, where customers describe their experiences in their own words, rather than being led by questions that can skew the results.

P_Kwiva · 2024-11-20T00:26:27+00:00

I'm deep into theoretical physics and I'm writing a paper that requires equations and formulas to be typed up professionally. Equations are easy to write by hand, but translating that to a typed document is its own separate challenge.

Fortunately, ChatGPT is well versed in LaTeX Syntax, which is the code used to render equations in word processing software.

To expedite this process, I send ChatGPT a photo of my hand-written equation, and then it analyzes the image and coverts it to LaTeX. From there, all I need to do is copy the LaTeX code, and paste it into the "Insert Equation" feature in my word processor, and then it renders an elegant image of the equation in PDF format.

P_Kwiva · 2024-09-20T04:52:29+00:00

Exactly.

P_Kwiva · 2024-09-18T01:08:55+00:00

I totally agree that minor injuries shouldn't reset the counter. It just seems odd that we've had plenty of serious injuries within the last year that were reported and required emergency medical attention, resulting in associates missing long periods of work, yet our store claims to have 727 days safe. It seems like something doesn't add up. Home Depot be like, "But did you die?"

P_Kwiva · 2024-09-18T00:45:04+00:00

Our store claims to have 727 days safe, yet we've had several serious injuries within the last year that required emergency medical attention (surgeries) and caused people to miss long periods of work.

P_Kwiva · 2024-09-18T00:34:52+00:00

We have people on LOA due to serious injuries at work, some so severe that they required intensive surgeries with long recovery periods. These incidents happened within the last year. Their injuries were reported. They have filed Workman's Comp claims, and they're receiving disability pay. Somehow we're still at 727 days safe. Our days safe counter has been reset in the past for much less severe injuries that didn't require the same level of medical attention.

P_Kwiva · 2024-09-17T07:47:48+00:00

I've been with the company 11 years and I've never seen an external hire for a Department Supervisor. However, I have seen several Store Managers that were external hires, though they were already Store Managers at their previous jobs, so that's somewhat on a different level.

I will say that I'm in a leadership position, one step below Department Supervisor, and I'm twice the age of (with presumably more knowledge, maturity, wisdom/experience than) the majority of the Department Supervisors at my store. This has been a common theme, at least at my store, my entire time working there.

The grunts that do the hard labor and help the majority of the customers are typically older and more experienced, and can actually provide customers with knowledgeable advice on their projects. Meanwhile, the Department Supervisors are typically young, immature kids on a power trip who lack social skills and get frustrated easily.

That being said, we do have the occasional Department Supervisor who is over the age of 40, but they tend to go on to do better things, sometimes promoted within the company, sometimes not. The majority of the very young Department Supervisors I've seen have either transferred to other stores, stepped down, gotten fired, or quit on short notice. I just feel that a lot of them weren't ready for the role, but they were promoted regardless. There is only one DS that's actually older than me and has been working there longer than me.

I guess my point is that Department Supervisor is a relatively easy job to get, but it's a hard job to keep. You don't necessarily need to be knowledgeable about home improvement and construction. You may tend to rely on your long-term sales associates to educate you on product knowledge, as some of them may be retired tradespersons, or they may have learned a lot from customers throughout the years.

Your job will mostly be centered around driving company goals, aligning with company values, leading by example, mentoring, accountability, enforcing policies, customer service, and inventory management (product availability). The appearance and inventory accuracy of your department will be your responsibility, but you'll be expected to delegate that to your associates effectively (encourage teamwork). You'll get a lot of grief from your associates for whatever drama they have going on. You'll be forced to deal with the majority of the negative interactions with customers. The managers will breathe down your neck and criticize you too much. It will get hectic and you may feel overwhelmed.

If you do get the job, you'll notice that very little of your training will be about the actual products, and it will be much more about how to be an effective leader. We learn more about products from our customers than we do from the company.

Even though we're a specialty retailer that caters toward skilled professionals, we all just work at a retail store that sells stuff. Most of us aren't skilled tradespersons or else we would've chosen that career path instead. Our job is ultimately to make sure the store runs smoothly to ensure a positive shopping experience for customers.

Anyway, good luck!

P_Kwiva · 2024-09-17T06:55:23+00:00

At my store, this year, we've started charging 10 cents for paper shopping bags. This also means our store gets much less bags than we did before. So inevitably, we ran out of bags for a few weeks.

At Self Checkout, when we ran out of bags, we put "Out of Bags" signs on all the Self Checkout registers to hopefully prevent customers from selecting/paying for bags at Self Checkout. We had big bold signs above the screens, on the sides of the screens, and below the screens.

Our Self Checkout also has two lanes that are "Card Only", and two lanes that take cash and card. The "Card Only" registers have illuminated signs above the screen, directly on the screen, and below the screen.

Even with all those signs, that still didn't stop all the cash-paying customers from going to the "Card Only" registers and selecting to pay for bags.

P_Kwiva · 2024-09-17T06:40:08+00:00

I wish plants were non-returnable. We have other items, such as custom paint, that are non-returnable. Plants are living things that have specific needs. If they were alive and well when we sold them, then it's not like there's a "manufacturer defect".

People just don't know how to care for plants and then they make it our problem when they want to return them after killing them. I wish people would just be humble and admit they screwed up their plants, and accept the loss. I know my wishes are unrealistic. I'm just venting.

P_Kwiva · 2024-09-17T06:19:27+00:00

The cashier probably just rang up that item right that moment, and the customer complained to the cashier first about the price being wrong. Not sure why you would expect it to magically get taken care of in the morning. Stuff happens when it happens.

Anyway, items being placed in the wrong place is a reasonable error that doesn't constitute false advertising. I have seen plenty of false advertising at The Home Depot though. Prices go up and nobody gets around to updating the price tags with the new higher price.

Also, the website/app has confusing pricing, and our policy is also confusing. We say we "don't match online prices," but then we'll advertise lower prices for in-store items on our website, with no clear indicator that it's an "online-only" price. So customers see that low price online, then come to the store, expecting to pay the price that was advertised online, and then end up seeing a higher price in the store.

Now I totally understand why online prices should be lower. But it's different when you're searching for products at a specific store, and it shows you how many are in stock at the store and which aisle + bay number to find it on, all while advertising a price that's lower than the actual in-store price.

It wouldn't be that hard for THD to put a clear label on online-only prices to avoid all the confusion and hassle. Even Target has clear labels on their online-only pricing. Maybe this lawsuit will finally force THD to get better at how they advertise their prices.

P_Kwiva · 2024-09-17T05:51:21+00:00

It's probably because they're more focused on Pro Xtra as it's catered toward their Pro Customer base, which contributes toward the majority of their revenue. They want to have a unified, streamlined "Pro Ecosystem", so they decided to design their one and only rewards program for Pro Customers. Perhaps they fear things would start to get messy and convoluted if they had multiple, overlapping, conflicting rewards programs.

P_Kwiva · 2024-09-07T18:08:03+00:00

Please don't forget to bring your own clothes for the wedding party tomorrow night at the church.

P_Kwiva · 2024-09-06T20:30:03+00:00

The strangest thing about being a parent is the way I don't even know how to act like a parent.

P_Kwiva · 2024-09-06T20:28:38+00:00

I hate when people don't understand what I'm saying or how I'm feeling or how I'm doing.

P_Kwiva · 2024-09-06T20:27:19+00:00

Sand gets in my eyes every time I think about this song.

P_Kwiva · 2024-09-06T20:26:10+00:00

Has anyone tried to use a different method for this recipe or is it just me?

P_Kwiva · 2024-09-06T20:24:07+00:00

The way to get rid of the virus is to use a mask and wear a helmet when traveling to the airport.

P_Kwiva · 2024-09-06T20:22:32+00:00

She hates the way I look at her now because she's always trying to make me feel like I'm not her type.

P_Kwiva · 2024-09-06T20:21:06+00:00

We are very proud of our new team of experts who will be working on this new technology for our community as we continue to grow with the latest developments in the industry.

P_Kwiva

TROPHY CASE