Employees

[Dave Fritz]

What a difference employees make. I recently purchased some items from Home Depot. At my local store when I went to pick it up the first person didn't know squat and finally hung up on me. The second person transferred me to the lumber department. Thankfully the older fella there said he didn't know who was on outside pick up but he'd find out. About a half hour later my item arrived outside thanks to the good person in the lumber department.

I ordered an item from the wrong store by mistake. My order was sent to a store in California, I'm in Wisconsin. I called to see what could be done and the person on the phone was polite and knowledgeable. She called .com and arranged a refund and I was advised to reorder from the store of my choice.

I tend to judge stores on how I'm treated but sometimes it's the employee. I'm really glad I'm no longer in business having to hire people.

[Dick Strauss]

Your thread shows that one good employee can have a big impact with repsect to overall customer satisfaction. Sometimes companies dont't realize how important one person can be until they are no longer with the company. I thnk you know this better than most.

[Zachary Hoyt]

My guiding principle is the old adage; "Neither an employee nor an employer be". I agree that they make a huge difference in many ways, for good and bad.

[Brian Tymchak]

I agree that employees are the most important part of a successful business. But as a customer it's also easy to see the impact of management. In the nearly 30 years my local HD has been there, the quality of service by the employees has regularly fluctuated from extremely poor to fantastic. Currently it's very good, but just a few years ago, I was disappointed several times and ended up going to Lowes farther away.

[Jim Koepke]

One of the problems with large organizations is the management. They might "talk to" any employee who spent too much time helping one customer. I've been on the receiving end of that talk.

My wife, Candy, at one time worked for a fabric store. The district manager was sure she was stealing from the company because she had been there for so long. Candy liked the job because it was very close to home and she was into sewing. She liked meeting people with similar interest and it gave her a opportunity to get out of the house. The DM felt any good employee would have found a better job in that time because of the low wages and how employees were treated.

My recollection is Circuit City went out of business because their management had similar feelings about their employees. They laid off many long term employees to cut payroll. Many of these employees had built customer relations that the less experienced sales staff hadn't. There were many other management failures involved showing a lack of thinking, this was just one foolish move.

jtk

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

One of the big home stores in the DC area was Hechingers. It was huge like Home Depot and Lowes. I went into Hechingers for a few items and after wards went looking for a 1 inch forstner bit. 2 of the tool are employees had no clue. One tried to sell me a spade bit and the other wanted me to buy a brace and ship's auger. There simply was no forstner bit in the store. So I went to Arlington Hardware up in the heart of Arlington VA. a creepy place with creaky wooden flors, they sold parts for old fashioned gas lights and kerosene lamps, any thing and everything to fix lamps, etc. I told the guy what I wanted and he disappeared into the store room and came out with a Irwin1 inch forstner bit. From then until the store closed, I went no where else.

[Jim Becker]

Perry, there was a Hechingers here in Bucks County years ago until the chain went out of business. I still have a hoe with their logo on it, as a matter of fact. In many ways, they got the whole home center chain thing going pretty well in the areas they serviced but unfortunately didn't have "that thing" needed to survive long term and compete with the businesses that grew bigger faster.

[Roger Feeley]

Perry,
if you are still in the dc area, check out Browns hardware in Falls Church VA. It’s kind of small but very old school.
— When Hugh Brown passed a few years ago, he put the store in a trust to benefit the employees.
— I’ve lived in Falls Church for about 7 years and the core staff at the store has remained the same.
— Browns has a guy that picks up table saw blades to sharpen. That’s a convenience I appreciate.

I always start my hunt for hardware at Browns and I have no problem paying more than at HD or Lowes.

[Rollie Meyers]

One of the problems with large organizations is the management. They might "talk to" any employee who spent too much time helping one customer. I've been on the receiving end of that talk.

My wife, Candy, at one time worked for a fabric store. The district manager was sure she was stealing from the company because she had been there for so long. Candy liked the job because it was very close to home and she was into sewing. She liked meeting people with similar interest and it gave her a opportunity to get out of the house. The DM felt any good employee would have found a better job in that time because of the low wages and how employees were treated.

My recollection is Circuit City went out of business because their management had similar feelings about their employees. They laid off many long term employees to cut payroll. Many of these employees had built customer relations that the less experienced sales staff hadn't. There were many other management failures involved showing a lack of thinking, this was just one foolish move.

jtk

When I read they were planning that stunt, never went into the store again while they were in business, did go there once or twice while they were being liquidated though.

[Thomas McCurnin]

With corporate America they pay crap wages, have little of no health care benefits, have no matching 401k, all to improve the bottom line. Corporations make employees work part time so even if the company has benefits, the employee, working part time shifts doesn't qualify for such benefits.

It's hard being an energetic employee that cares about customers when the company doesn't care about its employees.

You want loyal dedicated employees? Pay a living wage, provide benefits, and have programs in place that support and nurture the employee rather than treating them like a replaceable commodity.

[Andrew More]

I think it's a problem of things you can quantify vs those you cannot. You can clearly see what an employee costs, it's far harder to tell the value they're adding to the bottom line. Doubly so as the organization grows in size. And when there are mistakes or hard times the simpliest thing to cut is employee hours and wages. Nothing else comes close to the cost of an employee.

I wonder with Circuit City if the cost cuts came first, or the need for those cuts. They're in a tough industry, just look at all the stuff that your cell phone can do that you used to be able to get at an electronics store. As a result a lot of them have gone out of business recently. I think the only thing keeping Best Buy around is large appliances and other stuff you can't easily order off the internet.

[Curt Harms]

I think the only thing keeping Best Buy around is large appliances and other stuff you can't easily order off the internet.

Any area with a lot of older residents without someone to give advice on tech stuff is more likely to go to a store where they can "talk to an expert" than to order online I think. Then you've got the perhaps younger person who wants to buy a new phone that doesn't know the difference between GSM and CDMA and doesn't want to. They just want a phone they know will work with their current number. The "expert" at the store will know that stuff.

[Lee DeRaud]

Any area with a lot of older residents without someone to give advice on tech stuff is more likely to go to a store where they can "talk to an expert" than to order online I think. Then you've got the perhaps younger person who wants to buy a new phone that doesn't know the difference between GSM and CDMA and doesn't want to. They just want a phone they know will work with their current number. The "expert" at the store will know that stuff.
Heh. And then there's Target. The key to doing that at Target is the same as surviving an away mission on Star Trek: avoid the red shirts. Their tech-savvy people have special black shirts and (with a few exceptions) actually seem to know what they're talking about.

[Lee DeRaud]

I ordered an item from the wrong store by mistake. My order was sent to a store in California, I'm in Wisconsin. I called to see what could be done and the person on the phone was polite and knowledgeable. She called .com and arranged a refund and I was advised to reorder from the store of my choice.
What Home Depot really needs is someone smart enough to fix the website so it doesn't keep losing the "your store" setting. Mine keeps jumping to the "Anaheim" store (12 miles away) rather than the "Anaheim Hills" store (1 mile away). I rarely order from them online, but the two stores are wildly different with respect to layout, so the handy "N in stock, aisle X, bin Y" function fails miserably. "What do you mean, there's no 'aisle 53'?!?"

[Steve Demuth]

Absolutely, and not just in retail situations. In the Cote'd'Azure airport in Nice, France, there are enclosed boarding areas, and they close the checkthrough to the boarding area 30 minutes before flight time. So one morning at 6:00AM or so, I arrive in an essentially empty airport right at about 32 minutes before flight time (thanks to a colleague who screwed up our transport from the hotel). Rush through security, and hit the check point at 29 minutes and a half before scheduled flight time. No line, guy standing right there, I can see the boarding area and they haven't yet started, but the guy at the checkpoint absolutely will not let me through. "Door is closed." Well, good morning to you too, sir. So I go to the only available ticket agent for Air France, expecting that I'll have to buy a new ticket (I missed the flight, so I'm not eligible for refund or rebooking), and she smiles, is very kind and says, "Oui, they can be such asses. I will get you a new flight." And she does, books me the same flight for the next day (only available seats) all the way to Minneapolis, no charge, and provides me with a hotel voucher. She didn't have to, she just believed in customer service.

Six months later, in Heathrow, I got the bad-good-bad-good customer service treatment in spades. Arrived late from the continent for a connecting flight. Employee 1 tells me I have to go through security again, and am not eligible for express treatment. Puts me in a line that I literally can't see the end of, and which has exactly one agent processing. I'm screwed, of course, but another guy comes along looks at the line and asks if anyone has a flight leaving less than an hour away, and takes a few of us to another line. Here employee #3 determines I can't go through his line in time (his judgment), and have to actually leave the sterile area and rebook. Shuttles me to passport control, so I have to enter England, rebook, go through security again, and then maybe get on an airplane. After 40 minutes spent getting though passport control, encounter #4 is with an angel, employed by American Airlines. She looks at my boarding card, says, "Hey luv, you're kinda tight here. Here's your new boarding pass, and a line jumper for security. Good luck, luv." And sure enough, she hands me a new boarding pass, and a chit I can use to go to the head of the line to go through security. Which I did, and then I ran barefoot, carry on and shoes in hand, the 1/3 mile or so to the boarding area, where the gate agent, alerted by the angel who gave me the chit I was coming, is holding the boarding door open an extra couple of minutes for me. She did make me put my shoes on before boarding, though.

[Stan Calow]

When I first started out working fast food as a teenager, it was assumed everyone knew what good service was. Nowadays, social media and TV has set the standard as "attitude" and applauding employees who put themselves first.

When I get (occasionally) good service from someone at a big box store, I make a point of sending in a letter to the branch manager commending the person. And greeting those persons by name the next time I see them. At least in a small way, a savvy manager (not all are customer-service oriented either) may see some value in those individuals. I know it's one of those "becoming your parent" cliches in a Dr Rick (Progressive Insurance) commercial, but I tell managers at restaurants when I get good service too.

I dont do the online feedback however, because I think that's just a way of getting your email address so they can spam you.

[Lee DeRaud]

I dont do the online feedback however, because I think that's just a way of getting your email address so they can spam you.
I used to think that, but lately it seems like all of the solicitations I get for feedback/reviews are from places that already have my email address.

But no, I'm not going to jump through their hoops to write a review for that box of drywall screws I bought last week.