Home Repair and DIY

pony_trekker · 07-31-2003, 03:24 PM

>>And don't get me started with the idiots at Home Depot who load up the F150 with lumber and plants and then back up while you're backing up, and you've got to watch the idiot in front of you with the minivan full of petunias and juniors backing up.

I am fully convinced that if you took an average of the IQ of the people in any Home Depot parking lot, you would get a number right around room temperature. In October. With the Air conditioning on.

There is a main street that leads south up to a home depot parking lot near to where I live. The exit from the parking lot faces west. Clear stop sign and no left turn sign that doesn't allow people to turn north.

Of course, every time that I head south past that entrance some boob in a F150 or Explorer waits until I am 15 feet away and whizzes through the stop sign and turns left.

PS, why are people who drive Fords stupider than other people?

NotFromHere · 07-31-2003, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by pony_trekker
>>And don't get me started with the idiots at Home Depot who load up the F150 with lumber and plants and then back up while you're backing up, and you've got to watch the idiot in front of you with the minivan full of petunias and juniors backing up.

I am fully convinced that if you took an average of the IQ of the people in any Home Depot parking lot, you would get a number right around room temperature. In October. With the Air conditioning on.

There is a main street that leads south up to a home depot parking lot near to where I live. The exit from the parking lot faces west. Clear stop sign and no left turn sign that doesn't allow people to turn north.

Of course, every time that I head south past that entrance some boob in a F150 or Explorer waits until I am 15 feet away and whizzes through the stop sign and turns left.

PS, why are people who drive Fords stupider than other people?

I think the Home Depot sucks the brains out of whoever walks in the front door. It's just that the people with the F150's and Exploders have less of a brain to start with. So I'm at the Depot last night (I feel dumber already) having killed yet another house plant and the boob next to me sets off his car alarm. Yes, the horm works, please turn it off. Boob can't figure out how or why his alarm is going off (it's the button on your keychain stupid). While he's freaking out, the cart with his fertilizer rolls away from him and hits the car behind him (good thing it wasn't me, I would have killed him). So he goes to chase down his fertilizer while the damn alarm is still honking. Brings back the cart and puts it in the SAME DAMN PLACE AS BEFORE as he tries to open the door. Stupid's cart starts to roll away again and the comedy continues until I have finally cleared my way out of there.

You're right.

Mmmm, Burger (C.J.) · 07-31-2003, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by NotFromHere
So I'm at the Depot last night (I feel dumber already) having killed yet another house plant

BTW, don't buy plants there. The quality is much better at a nursery--harder to kill at least.

NotFromHere · 07-31-2003, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
BTW, don't buy plants there. The quality is much better at a nursery--harder to kill at least.

Yeah, I usually buy the nicer plants at one of the nurseries in the area, but we just happened to be there buying 2 stroke oil and I had just killed a $3 plant so - I bought a .99 for the atrium which seems to get too hot for some of the plants I have chosen.

Atticus Grinch · 07-31-2003, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by NotFromHere
I think the Home Depot sucks the brains out of whoever walks in the front door. It's just that the people with the F150's and Exploders have less of a brain to start with.

I'm so off the Home Despot bandwagon. I was on it for the first year of home ownership. Then I realized that the totally unpleasant shopping experience and dusty and crunched boxes and shit weren't worth the 0 cents I was saving compared to, say OSH or the corner hardware store.

As for the infectious stupidity, I think it's the natural effect of warehouse stores of all kinds. My wife came home from Costco yesterday with five pounds of grapes. Five pounds! WTF?!?

evenodds · 07-31-2003, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
I'm so off the Home Despot bandwagon. I was on it for the first year of home ownership. Then I realized that the totally unpleasant shopping experience and dusty and crunched boxes and shit weren't worth the 0 cents I was saving compared to, say OSH or the corner hardware store.

I made the mistake of going to Lowe's on an errand for the M-I-L. The unpleasantness and unhelpfulness of the staff made me long for the comparitively friendly environs of Home Depot.

NotFromHere · 07-31-2003, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by evenodds
I made the mistake of going to Lowe's on an errand for the M-I-L. The unpleasantness and unhelpfulness of the staff made me long for the comparitively friendly environs of Home Depot.

The OSH by our house is a shithole so we avoid it. It looks like it was built in the 60's and never restocked or cleaned. Lowes is too far and there are 2 Home D's within 10 miles of me. While I hate the Home D and miss the Eagle Hardware (before being purchased and ruined by Lowes) the Depot is all I have.

Atticus - 5 pounds of grapes is all you can get at Costco. And it probably cost as much as 1 pound at Safeway. Maybe you can get her to go back, buy some more and start that wine making business.

As an FYI, Costco is trying to get into the high end furniture business to compete with the chains who regularly rip you off for furniture.
Get your $10,000 bed at Costco

pony_trekker · 08-01-2003, 08:50 AM

First of all, now, I only go to HD when it's an emergency -- Like I have no light bulbs and its 1000 PM.

Second, I can't find shit there.

And if you ask someone to help, the staff there generally are 2 steps stupider than the clientelle:

Q. Where are the light bulbs?
A. I don't know, I work in paint.

Q. Where are the light bulbs?
A. I don't know, I'm on my break.

Q. Where are the light bulbs?
A. I don't know, I work in light fixtures.

Q. Where are the light bulbs?
A. What's that?

Third, The lines are ALWAYS at least 30 people long.

Fourth, they never have the stuff I need there. Each year when it's time to put in the window air conditioners, I can't find weather stripping, etc. For the past two years, I simply go to my friendly neighborhood True Value hardware store, where I ask for "Everything I need to put in a window air conditioner" and they get it for me. And I'm in and out in 60 seconds, rather than 60 minutes. Yeah, I pay about $2.00 more but it's well worth it.

Fifth, shit is always mispriced.

I have never been to Lowes.

Atticus Grinch · 08-01-2003, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by pony_trekker
Third, The lines are ALWAYS at least 30 people long.

What really iced the cake for me was the introduction of those "scan it yourself" checkout lines. These cheap-ass sacks of shit can't pay another three people $7/hr to drag my bag of screws across a laserbeam? Will we be doing our own dentistry next?

NotFromHere · 08-01-2003, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
What really iced the cake for me was the introduction of those "scan it yourself" checkout lines. These cheap-ass sacks of shit can't pay another three people $7/hr to drag my bag of screws across a laserbeam? Will we be doing our own dentistry next?

Yeah, that cracked me up. They won't pay somebody to clerk your stuff and put it in a bag, but they'll pay people to watch you scan your stuff and help you out when you screw up. I don't see the difference, but that's the new deal with them.

ThrashersFan · 08-01-2003, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by NotFromHere
Yeah, that cracked me up. They won't pay somebody to clerk your stuff and put it in a bag, but they'll pay people to watch you scan your stuff and help you out when you screw up. I don't see the difference, but that's the new deal with them.

We have had self-scan at the grocery store for about a year now. Part of me says "WTF isn't that supposed to be part of what I am paying for?" but then I suck it up because it is usually quicker to use the self-scan.

I like HD -- it is amazing how much shit I didn't realize that I needed before I went in there.

Replaced_Texan · 08-01-2003, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ThrashersFan
We have had self-scan at the grocery store for about a year now. Part of me says "WTF isn't that supposed to be part of what I am paying for?" but then I suck it up because it is usually quicker to use the self-scan.

I like HD -- it is amazing how much shit I didn't realize that I needed before I went in there.

I love the self-scan at the grocery. It's quicker, and I'm in and out in no time.

HD takes a lot of my money, and I've never had a complaint from there, but then I drive an explorer, so I'm probably one of the assholes.

NotFromHere · 08-01-2003, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
I love the self-scan at the grocery. It's quicker, and I'm in and out in no time.

HD takes a lot of my money, and I've never had a complaint from there, but then I drive an explorer, so I'm probably one of the assholes.

Is it an honor system? How do they know you're not "forgetting" to scan some items?

Mmmm, Burger (C.J.) · 08-01-2003, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by NotFromHere
Is it an honor system? How do they know you're not "forgetting" to scan some items?

That's why there are people there to "help" you by watching.

I doubt the accuracy rate is any lower than the checkers who do it for you.

My biggest issue with Home Depot is that it's been invaded by the large cos. Sure, you can get lots of hinges, so long as they're made by stanley. or insulation, so long as it's made by certainteed. My other issue is you can't buy just one of anything. It's all in packs. I needed a couple feet of PVC pipe. Could I buy that? No -- you have to buy a 10ft length, and that doesn't quite fit in the car.

It has its role; unfortunately, it's driven out of business a lot of the other bit players.

Replaced_Texan · 08-01-2003, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by NotFromHere
Is it an honor system? How do they know you're not "forgetting" to scan some items?

At the grocery store, the item goes on a scale after it is scanned. You can't scan the next item until the first item goes on the scale, and if you take it off the scale before the transaction is completed, the system yells at you and the person overseeing the whole process comes over to "help". Plus there's that whole Clerks psychology of assuming someone's watching the whole thing. Parinoia inspiring honesty, etc.