Paywall removed: https://archive.is/8P8ti
It’s 4 days a year, making them see what it’s like is a pretty good idea
Eh, with 4 days a year they’ll be essentially perpetual new employees who don’t know how anything works and who aren’t given any training or responsibilities because they’ll be gone tomorrow. Everyone will be on their best behavior and no one will tell them the ways they need to break the rules to get stuff done because they’re outsiders who are either management or might rat them out to management. This is a gimmick.
It definitely will take time for it to work, and it will depend on company culture (which Home Depot may have a terrible one, in which case even more time).
I do think it’s a good idea, but it’s got to be treated as a learning opportunity and not an opportunity for punishment.
If the companies serious, it’ll be helpful, if not… well then you’re right.
No retail worker is going to risk their job based on corporate platitudes about learning opportunities. It doesn’t matter if the company is serious, there’s no way for their employees to know, not enough incentive for them to take a risk, and not enough time for the reality of the job to naturally sink in simply by being there.
The best you can hope for is a cranky old timer to tell it like it is Office Space style simply because he doesn’t care about his job. Maaaybe whatever stores are closest to the corporate office will get fatigued enough by the constant stream of white collar workers on field trips that they’ll just start ignoring them and something might be learned by chance. But most are just going to show up for their mandatory floor time, shadow whichever poor sod is trustworthy and energetic enough to be the corporate babysitter, and then return to their desk none the wiser.
You know why their sales are in the shitter? Because contractors have been going elsewhere. They’ve locked so much product behind lock-and-key, it then takes an hour to find someone to get it for you, and then you have to wait for that associate to zigzag through the store to bring it to the register, and then you have to wait while the poor cashier hands you three other people’s items before giving you what your items. The items they are locking up are the ones that contractors grab the most, not the stupid shit Suzie homeowner is coming to buy. On top of all that, the quality of their products keeps dwindling.
Ain’t no one got time for that.
You’re not lying. I regularly buy spools of cable, and I used to have to hunt for an employee clear across the store. They put it out on the walkie and 15 minutes later someone wanders back to the wire cage. I just go elsewhere now, it’s cheaper everywhere else anyway.
This doesn’t make any sense to me. When I worked for Home Depot corporate in the 90’s, you were required to work on a store for one week. I thought it was an annual thing. Did they drop the requirement?
I should point out that by the end, I hated my job and the culture, and was so ready to leave. After Bernie and Arthur left, the place really went down hill
They couldn’t do any worse than some of the actual retail employees at HD from my experience… When I can find one.
The ol’ Hilton move