I have a brother , who I love, who is higher level management at Home Depot. They reward hard work. He worked his way up from virtually the bottom.
Nevertheless these Home Depots in or near major cities you get a mixed response from staff, Lowes is no different. If you are lucky, you will get a contractor needing to work at HD who knows his/her stuff. However at Laurel HD I have seldom been that lucky.
Also they do not carry everything (a myth). I had to replace a 1 inch piece of pipe which is no longer made and they had none despite its widespread use in Laurel area. Did not suggest an alternative either.
Some of the staff at Laurel will also not really make an effort to listen to detail of what you are trying to do.,,,like there is a premium on words or something. They just direct you to a product that I have found is useless when I get it home (due to some detail they were not inclined to hear about).
Also, I do not want to sound prejudiced but HDs in this area have so many different nationalities and races working at them , communication between staff when you are trying to solve a problem can be another problem. Speaking some Spanish I was lucky enough onetime to go to a HD where Latins predominated on staff and I got out of the store with what I needed in 10 minutes....everyone seemed to be on the same ""wavelength"" at least language-wise. Seldom that lucky at Laurel or Cherry Hill stores.
I think some HDs need to have more management on the floor. If Ace or other small chains have what I need I prefer them but often they will not have a particular item in stock. While willing to order it, who can wait when you have no electric or do have a leaky pipe?.
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