Seeing Orange
December 2nd, 2008You Can’t do it; They Can’t Help
Home Depot may not be the most efficient retailer on earth, but it is one of the most entertaining.
They put a saw on sale. The saw was on their website. The site said the sale price was not available in local stores. I ordered a saw. I paid for shipping.
I ran an errand to Home Depot. I saw that they were selling the saw for the sale price. I bought it. I tried to cancel the online order. I was told I could not.
Home Depot called me and said they couldn’t stop the shipment, but they were waiving the charge. I took the other saw back to the store.
Today I checked my email, and Home Depot said the online order was CANCELED.
I called them up, and sure enough, it’s true. There is no saw on its way to me. And the one I bought is back at the store.
Now I have to go to the store again and buy back the saw I returned.
My bet: the other one will arrive this afternoon.
More
A reader comments: “My bet is that the one you brought back (the last one in stock) has been sold.”
I just got back, and it appears he was correct. I would have recognized that beat-up box anywhere, and it wasn’t there. But two new saws had materialized, so I bought one of those.
While I was wrestling it onto a cart, some guy appeared from nowhere and helped me. Then a second guy appeared in line behind me and started telling me what a great saw it was, and how he had one, and how I was going to enjoy it.
I know this will sound truly stupid. I understand that fully. But every so often people pop up in your life, out of the blue, treat you unexpectedly well, and disappear. And you know how religious people interpret things like that. But you don’t expect it to happen when you run random and insignificant Home Depot errands.
The only non-self checkout line was bogged down, and I didn’t know I could take giant boxes through the self-check lines, so I stood there and waited it out. I thought they would never get me out of there, but it finally happened.
Now I fully expect the saw I ordered online to arrive later today. This story would not make sense if it didn’t.
Have you ever tried to accomplish a simple task and had so many things go wrong, you were amazed? That’s what this saw purchase has been like. I almost wonder if there is some secret significance to it. It’s crazy! I’ve been trying to get one of these saws for about a year, and things have gone wrong over and over.
I am afraid to open the box.
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:15 AM
My bet is that the one you brought back (the last one in stock) has been sold.
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:50 AM
[…] The Hog has an interesting experience with the government Home Depot. […]
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:23 AM
You are destined to own two…or none.
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:42 AM
Home Depot has better head fakes than Walter Payton.
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:51 AM
Who’s running that place – the government? That is pretty badly inefficient.
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:22 AM
If you saw the saw that you thought you saw, could you buy it and use it to build Marv a see saw?
Sorry…I’ve got to stop drinking in the morning…
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:22 AM
I never buy online from a retailer that has a presence nearby. Fortunately in my neck of the woods all the major big boxes are well represented within about 5-10 minutes of driving.
Sorry to hear your troubles. Especially since I still have (now nearly worthless) stock in HD from my brief employment there at the turn of the millenium while I was awaiting a real job opportunity.
At the time, it was a great place to work and be associated with. Now the stock tells me it is not.
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:59 AM
Steve, you need to get out of Miami. Those nice people are pretty much the norm. I know it’s a shocker, but it’s true.
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:18 PM
Miami has definitely traumatized me. I always tell people how I reacted when I moved to Austin. People were so nice to me, it gave me the creeps. I just assumed they were up to no good or trying to sell me something. Miami is the rudeness capital of North America.
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:51 PM
When I left Korea, and hit Japan I was struck by how courteous people were. No wife-beating in the streets after dark, no spitting everywhere – even holding a door open for an old woman wasn’t a huge surprise.
Living in a courteous culture gives you the extra mental capacity to enjoy life and do great things. Rudeness is the devil’s work, or something close to it.
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:32 PM
The more socialism, the more coarse behavior is cultivated. Socialist-prone societies expect comfort from government, not from charitable and polite peers. Was the USSR or any of the Soviet Bloc countries ever known for polite service? China?
The US is doomed and it will start in blue states and those states will impose their standards on the rest.
Freedom and etiquette appear to be directly related.
December 2nd, 2008 at 2:38 PM
The other day I went to buy a pair of new windshield wipers for the car and a guy waiting at the checkout line at the auto parts store offered to put them on for me. Now I could have put them on my self — they’re just snap-off, snap-on wipers — but I’ve learned that men actually like to help women do stuff up here, even fat, forty-something women, for no compensation either. In Miami I’d have said “no thanks my big brother the Marine said he’d put them on” and then scurried out of the store as fast as I could.
The first year I moved here I was always being startled by strangers saying things like “hello” and “good morning” when I walked outside.
December 2nd, 2008 at 2:39 PM
I should have added — though this area is getting less and less friendly as more and more people move here.
December 2nd, 2008 at 4:00 PM
There’s a reason that Home Depot is referred to as “The Borg” in home improvement circles.
December 2nd, 2008 at 7:32 PM
“Have you ever tried to accomplish a simple task and had so many things go wrong, you were amazed?”
I am 50 years old now. That describes virtually every waking moment of my entire life. The mere handful of exceptions are what are notable. I often think I am cursed – or beset by demons – or the like.