I used to work for Home Depot as a designer and project manager for the Expo Design Center. When you go shopping at these huge home centers, do you ever wonder why they never have help, or why the people who work there do not know what they are doing? Well, it is very simple...
When Home Depot first started in 1979 in Atlanta, GA, it was started by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank. They were incredible with hiring and training their associates and teaching them how to take care of every customer all the time, how to build relationships with them, and how to get them to trust Home Depot during their purchases. The associates were confident of what they were selling and had the knowledge of the product without even telling the customer, "hold on, let me get the book and see what it says about that product."
Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank were, and still are, very smart people. They wanted the customer to see how knowledgeable, organized and confident their employees were when dealing with a customer, and the repeat business was outstanding. How do I know this? Simple: Bernie Marcus told me the whole story in person at our grand opening store in Darien, IL in 1994. I was the store designer at that time and I learned a lot from him alone.
In 1984 Home Depot went public with the stock options offered to the customers and to the employees. I started with Home Depot in 1990 when I bought stock at $15.90 a share. Today it is very bad, and the story I am about to tell you explains why Home Depot is what it is today!!!
When you first got hired by Home Depot, they wanted at least 5-10 years of experience in what you were being hired or applying for. After the hiring process, you went to Home Depot University for about 2 months and then were sent back to the store that hired you. Even after that, you were entitled and forced to do department tests every day or week if you were not busy, and trust me, they checked to see if you were not busy. It was not like today, when you can walk around and see associates just standing in some of the aisles talking while customers are standing around wondering where everyone is. You had to take these tests until you basically got your master patch.
In the past, if you had done a great job, or had a letter from a customer saying that you helped them out and took care of their needs, you would get a Home Depot customer service patch, and if you collected 5 of them, you could hand them over for $100. That means they were worth $20 each. You also got monthly bonuses when your department and store did great in sales and met their plan.
TODAY... They get rid of people like me who worked for them for 16 years total, because of the pay they were paying me, $23.00 an hour. I put in 16 years. But why do they get rid of employees who have been there for a while? Because of the new management they are hiring that does not have a clue what customer service is all about. They hire 23-27 year old kids who think they know everything about running a corporate company and just destroy the Home Depot theory.
So what do they do? They start off telling the president, Robert Nardelli (who destroyed G.E.), that Home Depot has to start cutting back on payroll to keep up with their non-profits and non-sales. They cut out most of the older employees who are getting paid $13 per hour or more, stop the overall training programs, get rid of some executives who are cutting into Home Depot's pockets, and then hire kids right from the streets who do not know a thing about anything.
Go into any Home Depot now and ask a hardware guy if he knows what a die pick is. He will sit there and scratch his head, then go ask someone else or make up a story and say "oh ya, we don't have them anymore," and lie to you and walk away. Go to kitchens and ask a designer how a plywood construction cabinet differs from a non-plywood cabinet and which is best for the consumer price-wise. He or she will not have a clue what to say. They will walk you to the books and read what they see inside the KraftMaid book, the Thomasville book or the American Woodmark book, and lie to you again. But this is what Home Depot wants for its customers, because again, they do not care about you...
As long as you spend $25,000.00 on their cabinets, and then come to find out that the designer never explained to you what cherry cabinets do when sunlight hits the doors and darkens, in time and at a fast rate as well. Or why you do not have scribe molding to cover the end of the cabinets after being installed, and you notice a huge gap between the cabinet and the wall. Or when you do not get the molding you asked for and they send you whatever they want.
People... Lowe's at least hires people and trains them correctly. But beware, not all Lowe's are the same...
I feel so sorry for Bernie Marcus, who is probably sitting down having some coffee and reading the newspaper about how bad the stock is, and noticing whenever he walks into a Home Depot that he gets the worst service ever, or none at all... To this day, he does go into some Home Depots and shops around. Arthur Blank is now the owner of the Atlanta Falcons football team.
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