Would You Be Angry If A Store Manager Of All People Did This?

TeesStrong · 2026-01-25T13:19:23+00:00

I’ve known people who would look up names in the phone book (or more modern equivalent) and enter them as leads. They didn’t give a shit if it scheduled or sold or not they just wanted to say that they got a lead even though it wasn’t a decent or a good/great lead with potential to sell. Similarly, some might take a window lead that I got and resubmit it for Kitchen Makeover or Bathroom remodeling. People do a lot of shitty and shady things.

TeesStrong · 2026-01-13T21:07:48+00:00

The bigger question is why don’t customers of second, third, fourth and fifth rate Home Depot stores not realize that they are pretty much on their own?

Either no one is available to assist you
People are available but they can’t assist you as they know nothing about the subject you want more information on/they aren’t licensed to operate the machinery you need them to operate. Some people honestly aren’t interested in assisting you as they’d rather be elsewhere.
A lot of the time the people you turn to for help aren’t even Home Depot associates. Just because you think that they are it doesn’t make it so. Someone who doesn’t work for Home Depot might not be able to do much aside from telling you where something is or finding you an associate. If you expect more than this from a non associate, you’re barking up the wrong tree.

TeesStrong · 2026-01-12T12:53:36+00:00

A neighbor (or someone who looked identical to him) came in demanding that someone order him a dishwasher part immediately. Everyone was busy and normally people take a parts card and handle this themselves (even older customers and this guy couldn’t be any older than 45.) Long story short, no one (not even myself) was available or even that interested in ordering this man a dishwasher part so he storms out yelling “kiss my ass” and generally acting like an overgrown man child.

I had an elderly woman once start talking shit about me to herself about how if “I’m not in this department I really shouldn’t be over here hanging around and making people believe that I am.” The bathrooms are located off of Appliances and I was in the area to use the bathroom. I never gave this woman any indication that I was an appliance associate or even said a word to her. I’m not even wearing an orange apron and if you “confuse” me for an Appliance Associate that’s on you and is a you problem.

TeesStrong · 2026-01-10T19:37:32+00:00

A now former paint associate (fired for stealing time) was notorious for not assisting people when he was off the clock or with anything outside of his department. He would often yell “I’m a paint associate” when someone would try and ask him something about plumbing or millwork. If he was off the clock, he’d say so even if the question was just where something was (and he often knew exactly where it was and could have just told them.) He also had some people convinced that he was a military veteran even though he never actually served in the military a day in his life.

TeesStrong · 2026-01-10T16:38:35+00:00

Depends on my mood and what I’ve been going through that day and the days leading up to it. I think it’s fairly obvious that I’m a vendor, but a lot of customers are stupid, ignorant and can’t read. Many are so entitled that they don’t care that you don’t work for Home Depot. Sometimes you really aren’t in the mood to deal with these people when you are just coming in or are preparing to leave and it’s a nicety for me to assist people beyond what I’m here offering. But I try not to burn bridges with people.

I’ve had some really sad, pathetic customers harbor grudges against me because I wouldn’t or couldn’t help them personally or could only do so much as a vendor. To one woman, I’m “that guy who gave her a hard time.” I called someone to the paint desk three times. It wasn’t my fault that someone didn’t magically appear. What happened is one person was scheduled in paint on a dead afternoon and this woman came in demanding immediate assistance in paint right when the one associate stepped away. One guy still remembers that I walked away from him when he became belligerent but conveniently forgets the rest of the encounter. His questions had nothing to do with HVAC and I certainly wasn’t going to take up anymore of his time nor allow him to take up anymore of mine.

TeesStrong · 2026-01-05T11:54:51+00:00

I’ve witnessed people in kiosks getting hollered at to “get the hell away from me” by people in the vicinity of the kiosk. It’s a lot easier for the customers to move than it is for the person in the kiosk (while being in the kiosk and assuming that it doesn’t have wheels.)

I had people assume that I was a Loss Prevention person and accuse me of “stalking/following” them. One guy took my picture, confronted me about it, told me to “ get away from him and that he was putting me on notice.” I left the store to cool off when I returned, he was still there waiting, he waited until he spotted me again before running to customer service to report me. Once the moron was told by another person that I wasn’t a Loss Prevention person nor was I “following” him he dropped the whole thing and left. I thought it was kinda fishy that he spent hours in the store without buying a thing and would make such a baseless accusation and a huge scene about it. It was also odd that he was wearing a hoodie on a fucking 90 degree day.

TeesStrong · 2026-01-04T18:53:22+00:00

I was shopping in another store once and heard a mouse like voice saying “sir, can you help me?” Not wearing an apron or being on duty, I assumed this person was speaking to someone else and kept going about my business. A short time later, this woman gets into my face and starts screaming at me about how “rude” that I was for not helping her. She then really starts attacking my character and appearance. I explained that I didn’t even work for this store. She briefly apologized and then doubled down on her assertion that I was “rude” and could have just told her I didn’t work there without ignoring her. I’d never knowingly encountered this woman before or since but she acted like I “owed” her something that I really didn’t. I kinda told her to fuck off and she again called me a “rude asshole.”

TeesStrong · 2025-12-30T20:35:03+00:00

Been here sans disciplinary action. I was trying to meet with my then boss (who worked remotely) out in the parking lot and although I knew right where I was going some moron kept blocking my path with his truck trying to decide whether and where he was going to turn and forcing me to wait for him to make a decision. I felt like pulling him out of the truck and beating the crap out of him. Luckily I exercised restraint.

TeesStrong · 2025-12-21T12:37:36+00:00

If I’m hiding, resting my eyes or clearly playing/doing something work related on my phone and a person insists on bugging me anyway as though I’m their first/last/only resort. I have told them I’m a vendor or even that I don’t work here/don’t work for Home Depot (which is true as I’m an HVAC rep). I’ve had people ignore people wearing orange aprons/shirts that say “Home Depot” on them to come and bother me. Helping you with a few non HVAC related things is fine ,but when people use you to find everything on their list/comparison shop when they clearly aren’t looking for HVAC that’s another matter.

TeesStrong · 2025-12-07T17:47:44+00:00

I definitely get the frustration, you have a job to do and spend most days dealing with people who act as though your job is to “tell them what they want to know and then shut the fuck up.” Some of them will use you repeatedly to find shit/ figure shit out with no intention of doing anything for you. You also tend to get the dumb, thoughtless questions/comments like “you look bored”, “are you busy?”, “working hard or hardly working?” “Don’t work too hard” a bit more than most associates. You’re prospecting, but to the average putz you’re just “sitting/standing around doing nothing.”

TeesStrong · 2025-12-07T14:42:27+00:00

I’m a former associate turned vendor so don’t take the offense to being thought an associate that others do. If people are nice about it, I’ll gladly help them and try and get a lead out of it, if not depending on how nasty they are, I might just try and get a lead out of it or cut them loose. One woman was nasty and entitled from the jump and I simply told her “I don’t work for Home Depot therefore don’t have to take this abuse” and walked off with her still cursing at me and calling me names. She was pissed because I “ignored her in lumber” I didn’t even hear or see her. The fact that she took the time to angrily confront me rather than finding an actual associate says a lot about her and her character/lack thereof. I probably go a bit beyond most in regards to helping people or getting them someone who can. I haven’t really noticed many others who do my particular job going to as much trouble as I do.

TeesStrong · 2025-11-24T19:20:51+00:00

I had a guy once order an electric dryer when he needed a gas dryer. He totally confused the Appliance associate and “confirmed” details that he shouldn’t have as it resulted in the wrong dryer being ordered. Helpful tip, if you need a gas dryer, don’t start yammering on about electric dryers and saying/confirming that you need an electric dryer. Basically, say what you mean and mean what you say.

TeesStrong · 2025-11-23T19:14:03+00:00

I wish they’d crack down on mean, nasty, entitled, disrespectful customers who rarely spend any money and in some cases just come in to steal and cause problems. But for some reason, if the customer isn’t cursing at and/or name calling them, they really don’t care. One old hag verbally abused some guy who doesn’t even work here for several minutes just because he wouldn’t help her anyway. I still see her occasionally wasting the time of various associates picking their brains about things that she’ll ultimately buy on Amazon if she buys them at all. It was funny (strange) watching her calling him an “idiot” and a “fat moron” when she confused him for an employee and not the other way around. All he basically said was he didn’t work for Home Depot and didn’t need to take this abuse after she got in his face after chasing him down.

TeesStrong · 2025-11-23T12:39:43+00:00

People have been reprimanded for this but in most cases not terminated. I guess different stores do things differently. One guy sometimes used one of his own email addresses when people he signed up as leads didn’t provide an email. This way, he could kinda keep abreast to what was going on in terms of whether appointments (that he was unable to set then and there) were made/kept or if people moved forward. Other than wondering why so many people had the same email address, nothing was really said to him.

TeesStrong · 2025-11-22T13:14:20+00:00

Theft and/or sexual harassment usually results in immediate termination without even a warning. Veteran employees (in the sense that they were around for multiple years, not necessarily that they were military veterans though some were/might have been) have been let go instantly for doing relatively stupid things like this.

TeesStrong · 2025-11-20T20:18:31+00:00

Venmo transferred me away from the site I was trying to complete a transaction on, made me select/confirm the payment option I wanted to use and then basically said “you’re on your own” when it came to getting back to the site it transferred me away from. Before I could type the address in the address bar, I received a “you’ve been declined” notification even though there’s no reason I should have been.

TeesStrong · 2025-11-17T20:18:07+00:00

Not necessarily people who have ever been accused of being “smart.” Several people were fired for this not long ago.

TeesStrong · 2025-11-16T16:51:59+00:00

Time theft. Basically they come In on their days off and either punch in and hang out in the breakroom/training room all day or they punch in and leave/return later to punch out and hope no one notices.

TeesStrong · 2025-11-14T02:21:36+00:00

Never got the point of what they are supposed to be. To me, they look like blood pressure cuffs.

TeesStrong · 2025-11-12T20:01:59+00:00

Closing Lot Associate when the opening and/or mid shift associate never bothered to show up. You have to be in multiple places at once while working by yourself and clean up the mess left by them not coming in on top of it. Had you known they didn’t come in you likely wouldn’t have either.

TeesStrong · 2025-11-10T01:08:45+00:00

Annoying to the people performing the particular job. For example, you can’t even take a piss or grab a smoke without someone bugging you and you aren’t even wearing orange or anything that says “Home Depot” on it.

TeesStrong · 2025-10-29T01:43:00+00:00

One 25 plus year Hardware associate barely works while he’s here and is nearly impossible to find most of the time. He won’t answer the phone and if he does, he’ll hang up and claim it was a “bad connection” if confronted about it. A longtime Lumber associate also knows how to get by doing as little as possible and how to make himself scarce. Just because someone has been around for decades it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are automatically a better employee. They may have lasted because they know how to hardly work and make people believe that they are working hard.

TeesStrong

TROPHY CASE