I’ve worked retail a few times, and I always just went and stood in the back for awhile, maybe took a shit, had a smoke, and then came back to tell them we still don’t have it. The best were the fucking clowns at home depot. My guy, you are in the fucking warehouse, there is no other storage. Luckily, at that home depot, there was an unsecured security door on the receiving area you could just pop out back and have smoke at.
You mean the clowns who used the app you tell them to use because none of you even know where things are anymore, to be told there’s 562 in the store, but there’s none on the shelf, but if we pester enough managers eventually, someone will get the lift and bring the box down that’s been right there the whole time? Those clowns? Cus Home Depot customer service has been shit since they stopped hiring actual trade professionals who know what they’re doing. You HAVE to be an annoying asshole or you’ll never get anything there anymore. I’ve literally had associates tell me “we’re out of stock” and I point up and go “what about those boxes right there??” followed by “oh, let me see if I can find someone allowed to use the ladder”.
Home Depot gets the customers they deserve for the “service” they now provide.
I feel your pain my dude. After a unexpected hardfreeze I had to go get some replacement parts that fail so the expensive stuff doesn’t explode. Saw the app that they had at least three or four boxes somewhere but they weren’t on the shelf. The associates were utterly useless so me and another dude just started tearing boxes apart until we found them. It was glorious. They were like. “What are you doing?”. Sure shoot! We found them and we got them and got out of the store so we could go start fixing our pumps and sprinkler systems and yada yada.
HD’s inventory system is a shit show. The workers’ app and customer app use the same stock database, and most of the time it’s nowhere even close to what’s actually on hand (at least for the electrical stuff). I’ve had days where I need a specific part, an worker and I will scour the store looking for a pallet on the rack to find nothing. I don’t blame them, I think HD has just gotten to the point where they don’t care, if you don’t like it, go to Lowe’s that has almost the same problem. My issue is the HD/Lowe’s are an hour closer than my supply house, which is already an hour or so drive down the hill from my town.
I don’t work there anymore, but you seem quite upset about Home Depot, lol. I said the clowns that demand you “check the back.” I could look up at the shelf and read the codes on the boxes. If there was one up there, I would grab it.
You also said “it’s a warehouse, there is no other storage”. Which is blatantly untrue. The storage is up above. So maybe “in the back” isn’t the right phrase, but it means the same thing: check your stock(and surprise surprise, when we make you do that, it’s suddenly there most of the time). It’s workers with this kind of attitude which is why customers don’t believe you when you say “were out”.
I worked in a department store when I was a teenager. My favorite was when people came in looking for a video game console days after it released and ask you to look in the back because maybe one fell between some skids or something. Like Buddy, if we had one to sell we’d have sold it. Those things go right into a cage once their received. Ain’t no one losing track of them, they literally print money for the store. A lot of people just assume retail workers are all incompetent.
Adding in edit: although sometimes it ended up with the customer screaming at us, it was always great to ask them if they really thought they were the first person today to come up with that idea. For a moment before they yell again they look dumbfounded. Worth it!
Lol that was the best. “My dude you are the 40th person to ask me to check today, I checked the first two just in case, they’re sold out everywhere and we both know it.”
Then the next question, ‘can you call the other stores and check if they have any?’ and it’s like they won’t believe you that they’re sold out everywhere. Like, “Buddy, I’ve called the other stores several times, they’ve called me several times. We’re all calling each other asking for the same thing, they’re sold out everywhere.” Even then some people still didn’t believe us, like if they yell and scream loud enough and long enough we’ll bring one out from a secret supply we keep hidden just because.
I used to do that too! “Do you have this?” “Oh, the most popular item three days before Christmas which I’ve been asked about thirty times a day for the last month and a half? No sorry, it’s out of stock until at least after the holidays.” “Well can you go look in the back?”
Then I’d just go back there and dick around on my phone for five minutes, the manager would come out and ask what I was doing, I’d say pretending to look for something we don’t have and she’d go “oh, okay” and go back to playing solitaire in her office lol.
Except for that one time I went to pick up a video game that was just released. It wasn’t on the shelf, so I asked someone about it. She said she would check in the back. 5 minutes later she came out, game in hand.
The reading comprehension here is something to behold. I’m going to break this down one time for any future comments.
The scenario at hand, per the post, is in regards to customers that want you to go “look again”, after you’ve already verified that said product is unavailable, and they won’t accept that.
This isn’t in regards to basic customer service. This has nothing to do with initially verifying if an item is in stock.
I had fun with the home depot whiny bois yesterday, but I’m really over this at this point.
You told your little story, I told my little related story. That’s all. WTF are you losing your shit about?
Oh you mean when the website that you told me to check says it’s in stock, and I can see it on the top shelf with my own fucking eyes, and you insist it’s out of stock WHILE I’M POINTING AT IT asking for you to get the ladder. And I’m the clown. Home Depot and everybody who works there can suck a fat dick.
My favorite is when you tell them “your app says it’s in stock with 58,837 units but there’s none in the section they’re supposed to be” and then the employee pulls out their own phone, opens the same app, and says “well they should be in [same aisle you just told them didn’t have any]. Did you check there?”. It’s to the point that if I ask a question and they pull their phone out and start to open the app, I just walk away. They’re useless. But I guess I’m a clown for expecting a service worker to provide the services they’re paid for and not just tell me to “check the app”.
“I ran into one employee that didn’t want to do their job, so clearly the same is true for 490,000 employees that work for this enormous chain”
There are people who genuinely think the only reason they’re not getting what they want is because they’re not being enough of a hassle. It’s never that what they were asking for was incomprehensible or physically impossible, it’s that they didn’t kick and scream loud enough.
I used to work in an electronics place, and we had a guy who came in once who wanted a specific camera at a very specific price. As in, he came in and flat-out said “I want this and I will give you exactly this amount for it.” The price he had in mind was about $10 below our cost, which we told him, and he absolutely refused to budge on it, and also wouldn’t just leave. Me and the manager literally had to show him the thing on the cashier screen that showed our cost and stuff and the managers was like “If we sell you this, it’s like we’re paying you $10 to take this camera from us.”
He eventually left without it, but it took forever.
As a customer, if I wanted to know if you have something at a counter, even if I said “are you sure?”, if you clicked 3 times randomly on your computer screen then I’d be sufficiently convinced.
Why do you need to ask if you’re sure? When I worked retail the quicker I got you what you wanted the quicker you would leave me alone so why wouldn’t I be sure? It’s not like I would pretend to check.
If I asked if you had X and you immediately replied No… I would ask to be sure. If you did any token move, pretend or otherwise to check if you have it then I’m fine with it.
Here’s the thing: you might know the answer immediately because you’re an experienced worker but not everyone is trained. Companies spend $0 on training now and customers don’t know who’s the real person to ask.
I don’t ask something rude like “are you sure?”, I say “oh I thought they were on aisle 3?” or something. Then you can see the person really knows where something is.
So I had a similar situation on the customer side. I was looking for a canned vegan tuna salad, but after looking at several different stores of the chain carrying them, I asked a retail worker if they know whether they’re coming back; he didn’t know and without me asking got the store manager who told me no. I thanked both of them and continued my normal grocery buying. At home I researched the product, found the actual producer, found out they produced on demand of large chain stores and figured they’re probably no longer in an agreement with the chain store and I didn’t see myself as the person calling for hours just to get a very likely, but slightly more detailed no.
I don’t see how people can’t understand how retail economics work. Retail either has it and it will come back sooner or later or they don’t and at no point is the individual retail worker responsible for that.
I don’t see how people can’t understand how retail economics work.
Look, I drove to the store to buy a thing. If you don’t have the thing, that means I wasted my time. But since that situation means I am to blame for my own bad feelings, such is obviously impossible since I am a perfect and flawless being.
The only logical conclusions are that either you are incompetent, or that you hate me.
At that point is it ok to call the supplier to ask if there are any stores currently ordering the product?
Why does this comment have a yellowish background?
Edit: Oh no! My comment now has a yellowish background…
Edit 2: And now it doesn’t. My conclusion: lemmy now highlights comments that are very recent ~ 2 mins old or less. Useful.
People also wildly overestimate what a normal retail worker has influence over. One time we were out of a particular new model of camera because an airport in Malaysia got attacked and all the shipping got delayed, and someone asked me what I was going to do about it. Well I was actually heading out to Malaysia this weekend to sort it out personally lol.
Can you check the back?
Are there any sales today?
I shop here all the time!
Is there a senior citizen discount?
Well _____ has it cheaper!
I always ask “I presume you only have what’s on display but in case I’m wrong, do you have any other stuff”? (Mostly when I’m buying new shoes or a shirt, that’s pretty hard to find in my size). If they say they don’t, they don’t. Why would they lie to me, their purpose in the shop is to sell stuff.
