A Blight Upon The Home Depot

Yesterday I called The Home Depot to get some prices on six-foot ladders. Now, many of you know how much I abominate this warehouse store. I had to go there many many times during our remodel. With the exception of John in the kitchen department and Richard in hardware, my encounters with their inept staff, when I can locate them, have ranged from dismal to infuriating. The company seems to make a habit of hiring teenagers who would rather flirt with one another than help their customers. And this holds true for the four different stores I have visited. I absolutely dread walking into those cavernous, unmanned aisles.

So, I thought I would be clever and call them instead to get a price and some information. How wrong I was. I spent 15 minutes on hold trying to get pricing. 15 MINUTES! But get this: Annie and I were watching TV while I waited for the answer. A commercial came on that showed a woman walking through the hardware aisles of a mocked-up Home Depot store. She had a question mark perched on her shoulder that grew with every new frame. Finally, she walks into an Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) and the employee plucks the question mark from her shoulder and tosses it into a pile of other question marks. Annie and I looked at one another in disbelief.

I hung up the phone - I had been on hold for 15:03 and never got the answer from the 'associate' at The Home Depot who was supposedly helping me. I then called OSH. I got a hold of someone to get me the ladder models and prices. He was very nice and informative. When I hung up I looked at my call timer. I had been on the phone for 1 minute and 1 second. That may have been the most timely and appropriate commercial in the history of advertising.

OSH is my new hardware store. I have had other great experiences with them, but I am now converted. The Home Depot says, "You can do it. We can help." Uh, no you can't. But OSH can.