# Idiots at Big Box Stores - the Bar Has Been Raised! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 17, 2015, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381 "2015-07-17T01:59:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381/21 "2015-07-17T16:24:35Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > \*That’s stuffing for many of you. Usually baked in a pan, not in the bird, which may account for the difference in nomenclature. And far superior in the pan, because (a) less risk of salmonella, and (b) crunchy edges! > > \*\*That was an actual question from a young woman a couple of years ago. I invited her to come eat Thanksgiving dinner with me if her meal didn’t work the way she wanted. I always feel so bad for poor college kids who can’t make it home for holidays! The secret is going to [Subway](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZOKDqjqbX0). ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381/22 "2015-07-17T16:32:50Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > It’s always pleasant to read stories about people being rude to minimum wage workers. > > You could have treated her like a human being and explained nicely what incandescent meant; it would have taken 30 seconds and she would have remembered it for probably the rest of her life. Instead you were rude, belittled her and came across as a jerk. Congratulations. > > I hope you feel better about yourself. I can’t wait to hear your next tale about embarrassing store clerks with your superior knowledge. I imagine she went home and told her SO about the idiot customer who can’t tell the difference between a lamp and light bulb. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381/23 "2015-07-17T16:56:18Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > It’s always pleasant to read stories about people being rude to minimum wage workers. > > You could have treated her like a human being and explained nicely what incandescent meant; it would have taken 30 seconds and she would have remembered it for probably the rest of her life. Instead you were rude, belittled her and came across as a jerk. Congratulations. > > I hope you feel better about yourself. I can’t wait to hear your next tale about embarrassing store clerks with your superior knowledge. Hear, hear! As a young guy, I worked in a hardware store, and a fella came in looking for grommets. I didn’t know what a grommet was. He put his booted foot on a stool, rolled up his pant leg, pointed to his boot where the lace went through the hole, pointed at the metal ring-thing and said: “See that? That’s a grommet.” I have never forgotten that, and now I know what a grommet is. (I still didn’t know if we sold them, and sent him to the arts and crafty section of the store.) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381/24 "2015-07-17T16:57:09Z")
I always dumb things down at a big box. A lamp becomes a light bulb, a receptacle becomes a wall outlet, etc. If you ask where the receptacles are at Home Depot, you’re likely to end up looking at trash cans. Worse than nomenclature ignorance, though, are the employees who don’t know where anything is. I’ve had many encounters where I’ve looked for something, find an employee in Aisle 3 who won’t run at the sight of me, and have him say “I think those are in Aisle 65”, then have me follow him w-a-a-y across the store, only to find nothing resembling what I’m looking for. Hmmm. . .pretty sure door hinges wouldn’t be found in the flooring section. Then have him say, “Oh, wait, I think they might be in Aisle 6!” Trudge, trudge, trudge. Nope, plumbing supplies. After two or three of those death marches, I’ve learned to tell the person to please call someone to find out (a) if they carry what I want, and (b) where they are located. But usually I don’t even bother. If it’s not where it logically _should_ be, I leave. This is why I patronize True Value: knowledgeable people with an intimate acquaintance with what they stock. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381/25 "2015-07-17T17:14:25Z")
Well, one of those people in the OP sounds like a real A-hole. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381/26 "2015-07-17T17:16:09Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I can’t wait to hear your next tale about embarrassing store clerks with your superior knowledge. Being familiar with the word “incandescent” does not require any superior knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Nefario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/59ef9b/32.png) [@Nefario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefario)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381/27 "2015-07-17T17:30:02Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > As a young guy, I worked in a hardware store, and a fella came in looking for grommets… That was a pretty good interaction, bobot maintained respect for the customer and then sent him to a reasonable search location. (But the shoe thing is an eyelet. 😃 ) We have a well stocked Ace Hardware and I often go there looking for some obscure fastener to misuse as a solution to some weird problem. I try to avoid help. First you have the young studs, usually 18-20 somethings, that have no idea that 90% of their offerings are really standard items with lots of size and finish options. Then you have the 60+ old studs that are retired plumbers, etc. that must interrogate the customer then launch into a spiel of THEY would “fix it right” rather than offering real help or admit that the store doesn’t have what you want. It’s really about showing respect for the customer, saying when you don’t know, and not pressuring the customer to make a purchase. And they usually back down when I bring my calipers. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381/28 "2015-07-17T17:31:03Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Being familiar with the word “incandescent” does not require any superior knowledge. So, it’s okay to be rude to stupid people? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381/29 "2015-07-17T18:41:21Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > The ‘light bulb’ isle is part of the electrical department. Lamp is the correct technical term used to describe light bulbs. Anyone who doesn’t understand the term ‘lamp’ in this context probably can’t help in the light bulb isle. Which is why you hear all those “how many \_\_\_\_\_ does it take to change a lamp?” jokes. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381/30 "2015-07-17T19:08:21Z")
> [@Nefario](#): > > That was a pretty good interaction, bobot maintained respect for the customer and then sent him to a reasonable search location. (But the shoe thing is an eyelet. Actually, most laced shoes have eyelets (never say all), but not all eyelets have grommets. Gromments are the solid metal rings around some eyelets to give them more durability. 😛 My story: I am currently remodeling our master bath. Since I had everything removed back to the studs, joists and sub-floor my wife asked if it would be a good time to install an additional outlet. “Yep”, I replied, “Mind going to Lowes or HD to get 2 GFCI outlets, a junction box and an outlet box while I keep going with the clean up? Specify ‘new construction’ on the outlet and junction boxes”. She made notes so she could ask for those exact items and off she went. She came back with 2 GFCI outlets (Yea!), an old construction outlet box (sigh) and some kind of metal, weather resistant box with no knockouts for wiring and no way to affix it to a stud (Boo!), I have no idea what it is used for. She showed me her list that she gave to the sales clerk and it was exactly right. That was a bit irritating, since the lables on the shelves matched the descriptions on her list. The clerk just didn’t pay attention. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381/31 "2015-07-17T23:55:57Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > So, it’s okay to be rude to stupid people? No, but it makes one wonder how she got the job. And about the store manager who hired her. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381/32 "2015-07-18T00:11:34Z")
I was not rude until she demanded attention. It opened with a timid “Can I help you”? As there were others nearby, I assumed she was addressing someone with a puzzled look. I was reading labels. Difference. She then got in ny face - literally positioning herself directly in my sight. Unsolicited. Had I asked for assistance and then been curt, I would be the idiot. The person who demands to inject herself into my life and then proves utterly incompetent needs to learn not to draw attention to herself, let alone demanding a customer’s attention. If you demand I speak to you, you are responsible for the interaction. And light bulbs and cheap light fixtures are big box. I am old, and do not need light fixtures which will last more than 20 years at the outside. For garden hose, brass pipe fittings, real building supplies (HD used to sell a decent quality dimensional lumber - as pressure treated. They now have crap even in pressure treated) I go to real stores. I came up lame before getting around to retirement planning, so am on SSD. That means Wal-Mart for food (which isn’t all bad) and HD for “good enough”. Paint always comes from real stores. HD does carry some Glidden lines (of dubious quality, I suspect). ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381/33 "2015-07-18T00:18:15Z")
Was I supposed to drop what I was doing (creating profit for her employer) and educate her on the meaning of “incandescent”? No. It is not my duty as a customer or as a human being to teach something that any 12 year old in this country should know. When she did not know the word “lamp”, I let it slide. Walking away was the kindest of all options by the time we got to “incandescent”. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381/34 "2015-07-18T00:22:40Z")
There is another HD about a half mile off the routes I use every couple of months. So far, the folks there are actually helpful on the occasion I have had a question. I’ll just let this one simmer for a year or so and maybe see if they clean up their acts. The closet Lowes is way off any beaten path. The last real lumber yards are way out. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381/35 "2015-07-18T00:26:35Z")
I asked the kid working at Lowe’s where the razor scrapers were. He showed me. I said thanks, and he said something like “Would you mind telling me what those are used for?” So, I did. This was probably the kid’s first job, and he wanted to learn it. Good for him. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381/36 "2015-07-18T00:41:28Z")
Out of interest I asked my 16 year old son, and 17 year old daughter what incandescent meant. My son (16) knew it had something to do with light bulbs. My daughter (17) didn’t know but recalled a song she learned in grade 6 that talked about our incandescent sun. These kids aren’t dummies. (In fact my son initiated a conversation right after about the merits of both Nikolai Tesla and Thomas Edison’s participation in perfecting the light bulb.) I don’t think it’s a word in common use with today’s kids. Anyway, yeah it’s not your job to educate her, but Home Depot sells thousands of products and the fact that one employees didn’t know the meaning of incandescent is meaningless. “Oh, they’re the old kind, you know, with a wire filament that glows.” Is that really so difficult? Do you think every employee should know every term relating to every product? You’d probably find some general workers who were not familiar with the terms vulcanized or galvanized, or a hundred other things. There’s such a thing as on-the-job training ya’ know. I don’t see any upside to being rude to the worker. Maybe we are more polite in Canada after all? ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381/37 "2015-07-18T00:56:35Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > If they were the main draw, they’d put them in the back so you had to walk past everything else. Like the big grocery store putting milk in the back or Walgreens having the pharmacy in the back corner. It’s probably that they’re one of the higher markup items. That way when you go in to get something else you see the bulbs and remember that you need some, and as long as you’re there, you might as well grab them. The shelf space at the front door is premium space, what they put on it has to make money. You’re almost required it look at it (50/50 shot of going that way or turning). But the chance of you going down some other aisle is much lower. If you go to Home Depot for a can of paint, you’ll walk past the light bulbs, but you probably won’t accidentally walk past the garbage cans or PVC fittings. So what they put on that first shelf is going to be the money makers. > > Same as in a grocery store, the stuff you see on the shelf next to the checkout is usually marked up higher then the items in the rest of the store. > > And re-victimize himself? Home Depot is not set up like grocery stores or conveniencestores. Light bulbs are a loss leader. They lose money on your basic bulbs like 60 watts and such. Yet the light bulb aisle is usually the main aisle when you walk in the front door. They do have a significant mark up on the specialty bulbs. 2x4s are sold at cost. Yet if you walk in the lumber door they are in the first bay of the main isle. Your typical home owner may never even need to go to the back of the store. Most stuff in back is major purchases. Doors and windows, appliances, flooring, bathroom fixtures. I was a manager with Home Depot for a number of years. When I started they had requirements like licensed plumbers and electricians working during certain hours. When I left they had done away with such things and you were lucky if you could get anyone with even basic knowledge out of new hires. They don’t pay minimum wage except cashiers but what they hire at now is about 60% of what they paid when I started. You get what you pay for, more important than increasing sales was increasing profit and they did it by cutting payroll. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381/38 "2015-07-18T01:08:37Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Out of interest I asked my 16 year old son, and 17 year old daughter what incandescent meant. > > … Try Grommet. See what they have to say about that. I, for one, would like to know. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381/39 "2015-07-18T01:19:24Z")
I can almost kinda/sorta understand not knowing “incadescent” in this day and age. What really surprised me at the Home Depot the other day was a worker assisting a customer and not knowing the difference between CFLs and LEDs. He was clearly pointing to a package of LED bulbs that had big “LED” lettering on the packaging and explaining to the customer that those were CFLs. That said, that was kind of an outlier in terms of my experience. Usually, my local big box hardware people are reasonably knowledgable about stuff, especially the older folk. And some get downright excited about helping me. I was looking for one of those old-fashioned crystal doorknobs, and the guy helping me told me all sorts of stuff about them, about how I should keep the old one, as if it’s original it might be worth something, about how to properly the tension the screw so it goes flush against the rod, etc. I largely ignored him, but his enthusiasm about crystal door knobs was refreshing. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381/40 "2015-07-18T01:20:57Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Try Grommet. See what they have to say about that. I, for one, would like to know. Son: It’s an animated dog from a claymation cartoon. Daughter: No. My son was chuckling and knew that wasn’t the answer I was looking for. He had never heard of a grommet, but guess what? Both him and his sister now know. And will probably know forever now. See how that works OP? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-at-big-box-stores-the-bar-has-been-raised/725381.md?page=3)