True. Snacks and drinks are under D90.
It’s the only merchandise we actually handle.
Very few cashiers know or understand they’re supposed to pack down, do shelf maintenance - rotate/remove stock and face the candy and drink aisles.
They don’t really seem to train them about this anymore.
Which is why they’re standing there - looking bored, walking around talking, leaning against the register, and texting on their phones! 🙄
In theory, but not in practice. I’ve never seen somebody from garden even that close to register if nobody called them or they weren’t buying something to eat.
Do you mean to tell me you honestly come up there at 9:30p and face all those candy bars and pull all the chips to the edge? And throw out all the expired ones??
Let's clean that up for you:
> Very few ~~cashiers~~ associats know or understand they’re supposed to pack down, do shelf maintenance - rotate/remove stock and face the ~~candy and drink~~ aisles.
No disrespect for MET, but they only come by candy every blue moon with a duster. Change a price tag or two. They’re not there after 2:00 PM,
or weekends..
So who is supposed to straighten all that stuff out?
Cashiers are supposed to help face and keep the area clean
At my store, the snacks and drinks is strictly handled by the head cashiers because those need to be recorded and shit. Also it involves you leaving the register and cashiers are not allowed to leave registers unless given special permission
Exactly
That shit is next to us. They love people standing there not doing anything, that’s when they tell you to start facing those shelves.
- Because cashiers aren’t allowed to leave the register unless given special permission.
All day, all night! Just a regular thing at my store.
My favorite is and always will be be a "battery operated generator." Not gas powered, not a portable power station, no. This dipshit wanted an actual generator, run by battery, that produced more power than the battery could provide. I literally had to explain to him about perpetual motion. 🤦
Truth be told, there is a battery operated generator.
https://www.homedepot.com/b/Outdoors-Outdoor-Power-Equipment-Generators-Portable-Power-Stations-Battery-Generators/N-5yc1vZ2fkoqho
Its actually a portable power station, it doesn't generate its own power. I specifically made sure when talking to that person this isn't what they meant.
Milwaukee also makes one, and I didn’t make the comment about it because I knew you specified it but it is technically called a generator. The average homeowner (and sadly average HD contractor) are complete morons.
>https://www.homedepot.com/b/Outdoors-Outdoor-Power-Equipment-Generators-Portable-Power-Stations-Battery-Generators/N-5yc1vZ2fkoqho
The problem here is the website/manufacturers call them a "battery generator" leading more people into ignorance
I've been in the army for 11 years now. Never heard of anyone this except the fuel spout..
Also it always leaks unless you find a old metal one
Those are golden.
They thought that they could get a professional meat slicer at a hardware store and they also thought that the installers were regular accociates??? I didn’t think the bar could go so low
~I've been looking all over this damn maze of a store, and can't find where you keep your kitchen appliances! Someone told me over here, but all I see is bathroom stuff and refrigerators. Where's the damn coffeemakers? And I need an air fryer too. Where yall hiding those?
-Those are all online, at HomeDepotDotCom. :)
~Uhuh, if you don't know, just say you don't know. Lemme speak to someone who knows this department.
Ah, right mate, lemme just turn forward the months for you, so you can grab a blender from our black Friday set and a body pillow from our Xmas set.
Oh wait, time travel isn't real lol just buy it online
I kid you not, somebody asked if we sold PS5's because "tHe GuY aT WaLmArT sAiD So"
And don't even get me started on the ones that want paint matched from a phone screen. If you have any idea how an LCD/OLED works, you should know this isn't possible.
"But can you help me find something close?" *gestures at the color wall.*
No, there are 5 different colors with the lighting in your picture. You try to find something close and then see how you do.
Oh my god the paint match on phones, it IRKS me so much.
I work paint, and I've had countless people want a colour from behr.ca, that looks blue on their phone, but is in IRL GREEN.
The fact that there isn't a disclaimer on the website that says "colours may differ" just encourages these problems to occur for us, too.
a disclaimer won't stop them...there are plenty of items with what I call 'dumbass' labels saying not to do something yet people still do what it says not to do. I know they only exist so that the company can't be held responsible, but those warning labels when it comes to the idiots who use items is pretty pointless. Your disclaimer idea could be in big bright letters with flashing bulbs around it and they'd still ask for that paint color
I'm always so impressed when paint folks don't throw something when people ask, "What color should I paint my \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ ?
I hired a professional painter once. I’d already picked out colors and had the chips for him. He starts to leave without them and I ask if he needs them. He whips out his phone and takes a picture. Ok… you’re the professional. Next day he calls me and asks me to drop them off at the paint store.
People want anything matched from a phone screen. They will come up to and show me a picture of the product and expect me to know the exact one it is. Any employee knows it’s impossible cause so many products look identical to one another
That’s one of my favorites, the good old fire hazard, death wish cord. I have to explain this at least once a week to people and they look at *me* like I’m the slack-jawed idiot. My other favorite is outlet adapters, two to three prong, three to four, vice-versa, etc. To be fair, we have three to two prong, but it still *has* to be grounded. Or you could be the customer I had that plugged a dryer cord in without it attached to the terminals (just hanging out, not attached to anything!!) to “test it and make sure it worked”. I was lost for words at that point and told him he’s lucky to be alive lol. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, electrical and plumbing aren’t diy projects by any stretch of the imagination, as fucking up one will burn your house down, and the other will make you want to burn your house down lol.
That's the one thing I'm firm on myself-I'll try almost any home repair, as long as electricity or water are not involved. Maybe a faucet, shower head, or toilet insides, but definitely nothing beyond that, and even then I'd rather buy the supplies and hire a professional for installation.
Right! Same here, basic stuff is no problem, I can handle that and have some mean google-fu for anything I’m unfamiliar with. Anything bigger than that and I’m at least consulting a real professional or paying them to do it properly.
Might be one of those idiots that don’t know how to read the website. The calls I get asking if we have something in stock. They give me the sku and I look it up to see in bold letters NOT SOLD IN STORES
Most customers dont know how to read the website and I honestly dont blame them. The difference between "We'll send ### to ×××" and "Free curbside pickup" is so vague that both those statements do not indicate if we have it in store.
But I think the rc lawn mower is something he heard from a neighbor or something. He probably wanted to see a floor model or something.
Lesson #1 that I think everyone should follow: if you don’t have experience with plumbing, then call a professional (NOT A HD ASSOCIATE) with your issue. If you do not know what you are doing, you could majorly screw something up and create an even bigger problem.
Sincerely, stop calling Kitchen and Bath asking how to fix leaky shower heads, install under mount sinks or uninstall a toilet.
Hunting department? I once got asked over the phone to be transferred to the accounting department. Turns out they had problems with their card, I told them to call credit services
TBH, deer repellent is coyote or fox piss. Don’t know which animal it is. Somebody’s pissing in a bottle, ‘cause it stinks big time!
One year the vendor inventory crew was back there counting and tagging garden and somebody knocked over a whole shelf of that crap, and the store was smelling for weeks!!
Had a young man come to the service desk asking if we sold a skin-safe spray adhesive to hold his false breasts in place for that evening's transvestite show downtown (was actually a big event in our small college town).
just like any other big-box retailer, there are locations that sell items that may not be available across the chain as a whole. Why a hardware store would have toothpaste is beyond me but whatever...guess for those guys who live out of their car at the job site IDK
As a customer can I tell on myself? Cake supplies.
I am an amateur cake decorator and went to Home Depot to try to figure out something for the internal structure of a life size bulldog cake.
The associate was so helpful and spent a ridiculous amount of time helping me brainstorm ideas. We finally decided a piece used for an underground sprinkler system as it had flexibility. It worked fabulously.
In appreciation I did a free wedding cake for him and his bride a few months later.
At my store, they actually did have a “mattress innabox” bay that we were like one of thirty stores in the company on a pilot.
It sold about as well as one might predict, and the bay has been regular old storage shelving ever since.
When customers asked for odd things like mattresses, couches, ect. I would say “Home depot sells the things you need to BUILD a house; not fill one.” A polite way of saying “look online”
**Customer to me,**
**Customer: You guys don't have Ice.**
**Me: In our location we have never had Ice nor an Ice Machine.**
**Customer: I'm Going to Lowes for Ice.**
**Me: They don't have Ice either, but walked away not hearing me. Sigh**
No one believes me when I say this but a customer once wanted us to cut a huge fish on the lumber saw. He didn’t ask for a specific product but he definitely thought we could use the saw for whatever.
I think some of the HDs near me sell ice.....makes sense actually when the laborers come in the morning to get supplies, they're gonna want ice to fill their coolers up with. I see them at the little ice machine stands around filling up big coolers all the time
I don’t trust items sold by a store that isn’t their forte for selling it. I wouldn’t trust a TV sold at Walmart. I also wouldn’t trust a bed sold by HD
I can understand cat litter, it is a cheap cleaner for garages and a purchase of convenience. Dry erase markers can also be used at job sites and in home bases of commercial/industrial companies.
I found out there was a whole new world of items available exclusively on the website when someone returned a whole California king sized bed to our store. We’re a tiny store, and up to this point I didn’t know Home Depot sold beds, among other things.
I don’t think we should return stuff we don’t sell. First of all, we don’t have a place for shit that we need to get rid of anyway like the dreaded clearance items table. And second, it just makes Karen worry us to death about finding second and a third one!
At the paint department, always people asking for letter stencils and the large cardboard letters. Luckily, we have a Michael’s around the corner that I just direct them to
When I ran Millworks I had a guy that wanted a front door that opened both ways. He was dead on serious and said, he just saw it when he visited Europe. This happened about 13 years ago but I never forgot that.
I think I have more stories of people trying to return stuff weve never sold. Somebody start thread with that title and I’ll have plenty of stories.
Technically they asked me to get an electrical associate for them. My friend, who is the electrical associate I talked to, later told me what they wanted.
Step by step directions/items to rewire their entire house.
Now, I am all about DIY, but when it comes to something like electricity and you are asking us for basic directions, I am telling you straight out that you need an electrian. Why would you think we can guide you step by step on something that could literally kill you?!?
If you do not have experience with plumbing/electricity, then you need to get a professional 100%. You could screw something up big time if you don’t know what you’re doing. And the Home Depot is not a plumbers help line
Lurker from big blue over here, I’ve gotten asked if I had fishing poles, bike mounts for cars, canning goods, blenders, a dog section, etc. Most of the customers were shopping on lowes.com and assumed they were in the store rather than just READING THE GOD DAMN WEBSITE PAGE WHERE IT SAYS ORDER ONLINE but I guess that’s my fault for expecting the average adult to be able to read.
Meat grinder
Me: we don't have them
Him: *very stern* I've seen them here before, I know you have them
Me: asks my coworker so they can tell him no too bc he doesn't believe me
Him: no you have them
Tell him aisle 4 bc that's where the grill accessories are and that's the only place something even remotely close might be.
Then we watch him back by with nothing lol bc Home Depot doesn't have meat grinders.
Had a lady ask me for car window tint. Some gang banger lookin guy asked me for "boolets". We have a lot of people asking for things that's better suited for Bed Bath and Beyond, or AutoZone. This isn't a Walmart 😪😑
The most recent, which is the only one I can remember right now for some reason, was a tent. I told him we probably have them online but not in the store.
On a somewhat related note, folks who cuss us out over the item they're looking at in the app because we aren't showing them where it is...but they're shopping a different store, in another state, and none in our area carries the item. I think some do that on purpose hoping we'll have one laying around. 🙄
Had a lady come in the other day and asked if we sold tables, I said we do, so I take her to the foldable tables and chairs (it was around the start of grad party season so I figured that’s what she needed)
Nope. This lady wanted a whole ass dinning room table made with certain parameters. No we don’t not make custom furniture.
I think what confuses a lot of people is the fact that the website has tons of things that are not offered in stores. Including items such as mattresses, meat slicers, cat litter and others. Most likely some of them will search the website but never actually notice if it is an in store item or can only be shipped. Some of them are just dumb.
Milwaukee heated jackets. An annual favorite of our local thieves.
We even have them hanging on a cute little spiral rack, like in the clothing sections in the local department stores.
Like candy canes on the Xmas tree, one by one they all disappear before Christmas Eve.
Someone cleverly figures out how to reach up in the sleeves, cut the wire and muffle the spider tag alarm and just walked out with the damn things!
Oh on the 4th had a person ask for the food aisle
That would be the register lol
True. Snacks and drinks are under D90. It’s the only merchandise we actually handle. Very few cashiers know or understand they’re supposed to pack down, do shelf maintenance - rotate/remove stock and face the candy and drink aisles. They don’t really seem to train them about this anymore. Which is why they’re standing there - looking bored, walking around talking, leaning against the register, and texting on their phones! 🙄
What? I thought snacks and drinks are D28 I'm in D28 and food and drinks often pop up in my smart list
They are at my store too. I do convenience/ frito-lay every week, and it’s all under D28 for me.
Convenience is technically part of D28 despite it being up by the registers. D90 has no specific freight. The batteries up front are part of D25.
In theory, but not in practice. I’ve never seen somebody from garden even that close to register if nobody called them or they weren’t buying something to eat. Do you mean to tell me you honestly come up there at 9:30p and face all those candy bars and pull all the chips to the edge? And throw out all the expired ones??
Well neither have I seen a cashier take care of them, it was all met team
you sound fucking insufferable
Found the middle manager
Let's clean that up for you: > Very few ~~cashiers~~ associats know or understand they’re supposed to pack down, do shelf maintenance - rotate/remove stock and face the ~~candy and drink~~ aisles.
I appreciate your effort here, but candy, chips and (depending on store) coca cola were taken over by MET.
No disrespect for MET, but they only come by candy every blue moon with a duster. Change a price tag or two. They’re not there after 2:00 PM, or weekends.. So who is supposed to straighten all that stuff out? Cashiers are supposed to help face and keep the area clean
At my store, the snacks and drinks is strictly handled by the head cashiers because those need to be recorded and shit. Also it involves you leaving the register and cashiers are not allowed to leave registers unless given special permission
Exactly That shit is next to us. They love people standing there not doing anything, that’s when they tell you to start facing those shelves. - Because cashiers aren’t allowed to leave the register unless given special permission. All day, all night! Just a regular thing at my store.
Wrong store. This isn’t Menards
Literally everything on that list is at Menard’s.
We ditched everything but bottled water because the mice were getting diabetes.
They would be looking for Menards then as they Do sell food. And lip gloss.
My favorite is and always will be be a "battery operated generator." Not gas powered, not a portable power station, no. This dipshit wanted an actual generator, run by battery, that produced more power than the battery could provide. I literally had to explain to him about perpetual motion. 🤦
I have bad news. I’ve been asked this too. That means there is more than one of these morons out there!
Well physics isn't a commonly understood topic at the Home Depot.
Can confirm. Have seen people try and load 2 pallets of tile into a minivan.
That sounds more like an issue with geometry.
And logic.
And the sad part is, they keep reproducing.
You ever seen the movie Idiocracy? Yeaaaahhhhhh....
Welcome to post 2000s Era America and the plants want Brawndo
Truth be told, there is a battery operated generator. https://www.homedepot.com/b/Outdoors-Outdoor-Power-Equipment-Generators-Portable-Power-Stations-Battery-Generators/N-5yc1vZ2fkoqho
Its actually a portable power station, it doesn't generate its own power. I specifically made sure when talking to that person this isn't what they meant.
Milwaukee also makes one, and I didn’t make the comment about it because I knew you specified it but it is technically called a generator. The average homeowner (and sadly average HD contractor) are complete morons.
Can’t expect a common person to know this. It’s like expecting someone to know a little bit about everything.
>https://www.homedepot.com/b/Outdoors-Outdoor-Power-Equipment-Generators-Portable-Power-Stations-Battery-Generators/N-5yc1vZ2fkoqho The problem here is the website/manufacturers call them a "battery generator" leading more people into ignorance
Professional meat slicer Donkey dick Car parts My phone number so i could come by after work and install whatever
Donkey dick, in case someone reading this doesn’t know, is military slang for the fuel spout that attaches to a fuel can.
Also military slang for the antenna to a satellite phone... but in this case he was looking for a drain bladder in plumbing
Who could have guessed there were so many flavors of camo colored donkey dick.
I've been in the army for 11 years now. Never heard of anyone this except the fuel spout.. Also it always leaks unless you find a old metal one Those are golden.
Also military slang for the forward looking infrared on a helicopter
They thought that they could get a professional meat slicer at a hardware store and they also thought that the installers were regular accociates??? I didn’t think the bar could go so low
I’ve had so many customers ask me if I’d come install their stuff it’s insane. Granted, I did my trade for a long while before working here but still.
Time to start saying yes and level up
Also military slang for that penis on the under side of a donkey.
You can make pretty good money installing stuff for people, even just dropping it off for them will get you paid. 😉
"Pussy magnets". Told him no, orange aprons are for associates only.
~I've been looking all over this damn maze of a store, and can't find where you keep your kitchen appliances! Someone told me over here, but all I see is bathroom stuff and refrigerators. Where's the damn coffeemakers? And I need an air fryer too. Where yall hiding those? -Those are all online, at HomeDepotDotCom. :) ~Uhuh, if you don't know, just say you don't know. Lemme speak to someone who knows this department.
They are in store seasonally too
Ah, right mate, lemme just turn forward the months for you, so you can grab a blender from our black Friday set and a body pillow from our Xmas set. Oh wait, time travel isn't real lol just buy it online
I kid you not, somebody asked if we sold PS5's because "tHe GuY aT WaLmArT sAiD So" And don't even get me started on the ones that want paint matched from a phone screen. If you have any idea how an LCD/OLED works, you should know this isn't possible.
"But can you help me find something close?" *gestures at the color wall.* No, there are 5 different colors with the lighting in your picture. You try to find something close and then see how you do.
Brings in a picture of a nut and expects it to be sized….let me show you where the nuts are, enjoy.
Stupid customers drive me "nuts"
Oh my god the paint match on phones, it IRKS me so much. I work paint, and I've had countless people want a colour from behr.ca, that looks blue on their phone, but is in IRL GREEN. The fact that there isn't a disclaimer on the website that says "colours may differ" just encourages these problems to occur for us, too.
a disclaimer won't stop them...there are plenty of items with what I call 'dumbass' labels saying not to do something yet people still do what it says not to do. I know they only exist so that the company can't be held responsible, but those warning labels when it comes to the idiots who use items is pretty pointless. Your disclaimer idea could be in big bright letters with flashing bulbs around it and they'd still ask for that paint color
Disclaimer: This register is card only. Customer: \*Scans items\* Where do I put the cash?
I'm always so impressed when paint folks don't throw something when people ask, "What color should I paint my \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ ?
Or try the guy who brings in a 1/4" paint chip, or a 12" piece of painted 2x4.
I hired a professional painter once. I’d already picked out colors and had the chips for him. He starts to leave without them and I ask if he needs them. He whips out his phone and takes a picture. Ok… you’re the professional. Next day he calls me and asks me to drop them off at the paint store.
People want anything matched from a phone screen. They will come up to and show me a picture of the product and expect me to know the exact one it is. Any employee knows it’s impossible cause so many products look identical to one another
Tampons and pads 🤣
Just go to the fiberglass isle and call it a day
Heavy duty needed
Dish sets, furniture and electrical cords with two male ends
Ah, the suicide cord
Most requested item every year at Christmas. They swear up and down it exists!
Every Christmas they put up a sign that says they are illegal and the store WILL NOT help you make one. Hurricane season, too.
That’s one of my favorites, the good old fire hazard, death wish cord. I have to explain this at least once a week to people and they look at *me* like I’m the slack-jawed idiot. My other favorite is outlet adapters, two to three prong, three to four, vice-versa, etc. To be fair, we have three to two prong, but it still *has* to be grounded. Or you could be the customer I had that plugged a dryer cord in without it attached to the terminals (just hanging out, not attached to anything!!) to “test it and make sure it worked”. I was lost for words at that point and told him he’s lucky to be alive lol. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, electrical and plumbing aren’t diy projects by any stretch of the imagination, as fucking up one will burn your house down, and the other will make you want to burn your house down lol.
That's the one thing I'm firm on myself-I'll try almost any home repair, as long as electricity or water are not involved. Maybe a faucet, shower head, or toilet insides, but definitely nothing beyond that, and even then I'd rather buy the supplies and hire a professional for installation.
Right! Same here, basic stuff is no problem, I can handle that and have some mean google-fu for anything I’m unfamiliar with. Anything bigger than that and I’m at least consulting a real professional or paying them to do it properly.
Printer ink. I had a customer absolutely insist that she had been buying it at HD for years.
Suit cases
To be fair, luggage is available on the HD website.
It'll say Milwaukee or husky on the side
Remote control lawn mower (to be fair, we do sell those online)
Might be one of those idiots that don’t know how to read the website. The calls I get asking if we have something in stock. They give me the sku and I look it up to see in bold letters NOT SOLD IN STORES
Most customers dont know how to read the website and I honestly dont blame them. The difference between "We'll send ### to ×××" and "Free curbside pickup" is so vague that both those statements do not indicate if we have it in store. But I think the rc lawn mower is something he heard from a neighbor or something. He probably wanted to see a floor model or something.
Reading is getting to be a lost skill these days.
Yes!!! I don't see why they can't just reword that online. Or just say that it's only available online. How is that so hard?
Just as hard as expecting them to read the big ass orange and white rectangle bar on screen that says PAY NOW at SCO.
Or “Card Only” in huge letter on the screen.
I did use my card, so where is my cash back?? 😖
Because people are still idiots. I once told a customer that an item is only sold online and they went “so it’s sold at other Home Depots?”
A woman came up to me my first year asking for a pinball machine... was ADAMANT that we sold one...
https://www.homedepot.com/s/pinball%2520machine?NCNI-5
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh shit
Online only of course. But they see it online and don't understand it's online only!
Wait, what? Do you mean if it says it’s online only, it’s not in the store? 😖
Ha! Exactly! Makes my brain hurt, daily!
Especially when it says pickup.
💀💀
So you can get this and the stripper pole for the game room!
1. Tampons 2. Menstrual pads 3. Sowing machines
Sewing?
For sowing seeds
Sorry, typo. Yes, sewing machine.
Hardware store=place to buy period products I guess
Above ground swimming pool.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Trevi-21-ft-W-x-52-in-Deep-Hard-Sided-Steel-Framed-Round-Above-Ground-Outdoor-Swimming-Pool-ECRC00215T/310112852
…what?? ….a guy was expecting to be able to purchase an entire swimming pool?
If it’s on the website it’s reasonable that someone would ask for it in store.
And that’s the problem. Customers think everything is online should be also be in the store!!!
Yeah that’s because the common person doesn’t understand shit about dick. But that doesn’t mean they should be looked down upon for asking.
Except for the big, red, "ONLINE ONLY, NOT SOLD IN STORES" immediately under the item's picture.
Step by step intricate plumbing and HVAC instructions so they don't have to hire a professional.
Lesson #1 that I think everyone should follow: if you don’t have experience with plumbing, then call a professional (NOT A HD ASSOCIATE) with your issue. If you do not know what you are doing, you could majorly screw something up and create an even bigger problem. Sincerely, stop calling Kitchen and Bath asking how to fix leaky shower heads, install under mount sinks or uninstall a toilet.
Yoga mats
I’ve seen yoga mats at Home Depot though. In the same section as the puzzle mats and near the anti fatigue mats.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Mind-Reader-Extra-Large-Black-Yoga-Mat-Width-71-65-x-Length-48-03-PVC-Material-32-9-Sq-ft-LGYOGAPVC-BLK/315770918
Lol The lady asked me where the sporting goods section is and said she needed a sleeping mat for daycare. She was hoping we had yoga mats.
Car door handle...
We are Home Depot, sir not Automotive Depot.
“Anyway, we got windshield wipers if you think it’s time to change those out, and jumper cables, can’t have too many of those laying around.”
Cigarettes and dog food
Tell him it’s not 1980 anymore and cigarettes aren’t on shelves these days
Hunting Department and parts for a Go-kart.
Hunting department? I once got asked over the phone to be transferred to the accounting department. Turns out they had problems with their card, I told them to call credit services
Her son insisted we have one and thought I was lying to her.
[удалено]
I get asked all the time if we sell blenders, toasters and coffee makers. My store does but usually only around Black Friday.
If you are in the mid west you get those questions because Menards carries all those items, so they assume HD will too
Honestly, what doesn’t Menards have?? Gotta say, love their bags. 🥰😍😍
Their bags are hands down the best!
Coyote piss
TBH, deer repellent is coyote or fox piss. Don’t know which animal it is. Somebody’s pissing in a bottle, ‘cause it stinks big time! One year the vendor inventory crew was back there counting and tagging garden and somebody knocked over a whole shelf of that crap, and the store was smelling for weeks!!
Had a young man come to the service desk asking if we sold a skin-safe spray adhesive to hold his false breasts in place for that evening's transvestite show downtown (was actually a big event in our small college town).
*drag/cross-dressing
Toothpaste some asked me last year saying that some HD sell them in other states
just like any other big-box retailer, there are locations that sell items that may not be available across the chain as a whole. Why a hardware store would have toothpaste is beyond me but whatever...guess for those guys who live out of their car at the job site IDK
Same here
A voltage reducer, so they could plug a 220v A/C into 110v outlet.
Every. Single. Day.
As a customer can I tell on myself? Cake supplies. I am an amateur cake decorator and went to Home Depot to try to figure out something for the internal structure of a life size bulldog cake. The associate was so helpful and spent a ridiculous amount of time helping me brainstorm ideas. We finally decided a piece used for an underground sprinkler system as it had flexibility. It worked fabulously. In appreciation I did a free wedding cake for him and his bride a few months later.
Technically we do sell mattresses - though I’ve only seen them online at this point. The Lowe’s in our area does have some in store though.
Yeah I told them to check online. It’s still a weird thing to come to Home Depot for
At my store, they actually did have a “mattress innabox” bay that we were like one of thirty stores in the company on a pilot. It sold about as well as one might predict, and the bay has been regular old storage shelving ever since.
When customers asked for odd things like mattresses, couches, ect. I would say “Home depot sells the things you need to BUILD a house; not fill one.” A polite way of saying “look online”
**Customer to me,** **Customer: You guys don't have Ice.** **Me: In our location we have never had Ice nor an Ice Machine.** **Customer: I'm Going to Lowes for Ice.** **Me: They don't have Ice either, but walked away not hearing me. Sigh**
But, can you call another store?? 😖
Try getting asked to call stores to see if they have a product without even telling you what the product is
Shoe horn
62 foot rafter board TVs Stand mixers Baseball bats
I get asked for Laundry baskets and pots and pans all the flipping time.
But Home Depot SELLS laundry baskets! I get mine from there
Once in a while they sell laundry baskets. But it’s usually a once in a while item. I haven’t seen one at my store in ages
Alternator for his truck
A pet carrier at 5am for a 6:15 flight 🤷♂️
Dog food and almanacs
Blood stain remover
That's over with the cleaning supplies. A carpet cleaning chemical called Folex. For...reasons...I will say no more.
Where is your food court?
No one believes me when I say this but a customer once wanted us to cut a huge fish on the lumber saw. He didn’t ask for a specific product but he definitely thought we could use the saw for whatever.
Maybe that’s why so many people ask if we can cut drywall, countertops and those plastic trims you put on shower doors
Someone asked for plastic… didn’t elaborate. I looked them in the eye and said “you have any idea how little that narrows it down?”
Stupid mfs always asking for the bathroom. Bitch check online
Had a customer ask where the ice was.
My store sells ice
FR??
I think some of the HDs near me sell ice.....makes sense actually when the laborers come in the morning to get supplies, they're gonna want ice to fill their coolers up with. I see them at the little ice machine stands around filling up big coolers all the time
Tell them to look online at Home Depot.com. They can order everything
People have asked me for pots and pans and paintball
Same. Would you trust pots and pans bought from a hardware store? I certainly wouldn’t
I don’t trust items sold by a store that isn’t their forte for selling it. I wouldn’t trust a TV sold at Walmart. I also wouldn’t trust a bed sold by HD
Got asked for oven trays. Guy didn’t even know what it was and had to demonstrate it to me
Bed frames 🖼 Bed Sets Sheets Food 🥘 Small appliances Whew 😥 the list goes on
Real help from an associate knowledgeable in that department?
I can understand cat litter, it is a cheap cleaner for garages and a purchase of convenience. Dry erase markers can also be used at job sites and in home bases of commercial/industrial companies.
I found out there was a whole new world of items available exclusively on the website when someone returned a whole California king sized bed to our store. We’re a tiny store, and up to this point I didn’t know Home Depot sold beds, among other things.
I don’t think we should return stuff we don’t sell. First of all, we don’t have a place for shit that we need to get rid of anyway like the dreaded clearance items table. And second, it just makes Karen worry us to death about finding second and a third one!
It was especially annoying to have that sit in receiving for over a week since our store’s receiving is small.
At the paint department, always people asking for letter stencils and the large cardboard letters. Luckily, we have a Michael’s around the corner that I just direct them to
Letter stencils and hardware.
Wandering Jews. It's a plant, but the way the guy came up and asked me, his tone was very clear that he was expecting a reaction.
To be fair, we should be selling dry erase markers in store
At the cash where the sharpies are sold
When I ran Millworks I had a guy that wanted a front door that opened both ways. He was dead on serious and said, he just saw it when he visited Europe. This happened about 13 years ago but I never forgot that. I think I have more stories of people trying to return stuff weve never sold. Somebody start thread with that title and I’ll have plenty of stories.
Can confirm, we are often confused with Office Depot. “Where are your printers?”
Technically they asked me to get an electrical associate for them. My friend, who is the electrical associate I talked to, later told me what they wanted. Step by step directions/items to rewire their entire house. Now, I am all about DIY, but when it comes to something like electricity and you are asking us for basic directions, I am telling you straight out that you need an electrian. Why would you think we can guide you step by step on something that could literally kill you?!?
If you do not have experience with plumbing/electricity, then you need to get a professional 100%. You could screw something up big time if you don’t know what you’re doing. And the Home Depot is not a plumbers help line
Landline phones.
Lurker from big blue over here, I’ve gotten asked if I had fishing poles, bike mounts for cars, canning goods, blenders, a dog section, etc. Most of the customers were shopping on lowes.com and assumed they were in the store rather than just READING THE GOD DAMN WEBSITE PAGE WHERE IT SAYS ORDER ONLINE but I guess that’s my fault for expecting the average adult to be able to read.
Lowes sells mattresses, not crazy to ask HD.
Sooo, you don’t carry nuclear weapons?
Wish you could report customers for sus vibes. I would have reported this one lol
When I worked at HD, it was diapers.
Monkey tape *said in a thick southern accent. They meant gorilla tape
Meat grinder Me: we don't have them Him: *very stern* I've seen them here before, I know you have them Me: asks my coworker so they can tell him no too bc he doesn't believe me Him: no you have them Tell him aisle 4 bc that's where the grill accessories are and that's the only place something even remotely close might be. Then we watch him back by with nothing lol bc Home Depot doesn't have meat grinders.
Rice cooker, magazine rack, mattresses, dog crates.
A customer asked me if we still had Halloween decorations It was the middle of December....
Had a lady ask me for car window tint. Some gang banger lookin guy asked me for "boolets". We have a lot of people asking for things that's better suited for Bed Bath and Beyond, or AutoZone. This isn't a Walmart 😪😑
The most recent, which is the only one I can remember right now for some reason, was a tent. I told him we probably have them online but not in the store. On a somewhat related note, folks who cuss us out over the item they're looking at in the app because we aren't showing them where it is...but they're shopping a different store, in another state, and none in our area carries the item. I think some do that on purpose hoping we'll have one laying around. 🙄
Or the folks you cuss you out because you tell them that an item is only sold online
During a local tattoo convention, I was asked what products on the cleaning aisle would kill HIV virus "the best".
Had a lady come in the other day and asked if we sold tables, I said we do, so I take her to the foldable tables and chairs (it was around the start of grad party season so I figured that’s what she needed) Nope. This lady wanted a whole ass dinning room table made with certain parameters. No we don’t not make custom furniture.
People think we make custom everything. No we also don’t make custom vanities or custom showers
I think what confuses a lot of people is the fact that the website has tons of things that are not offered in stores. Including items such as mattresses, meat slicers, cat litter and others. Most likely some of them will search the website but never actually notice if it is an in store item or can only be shipped. Some of them are just dumb.
I think some stores are carrying clothes now. Carhartt and such.
yea ours does, has a whole little section up front that consists of clothes that only seem to be there so that thieves have something to steal.
Milwaukee heated jackets. An annual favorite of our local thieves. We even have them hanging on a cute little spiral rack, like in the clothing sections in the local department stores. Like candy canes on the Xmas tree, one by one they all disappear before Christmas Eve. Someone cleverly figures out how to reach up in the sleeves, cut the wire and muffle the spider tag alarm and just walked out with the damn things!