[nascarnation]

I assume HD has to pay similar to competitors? Otherwise why not quit and go to one of them to do the same work? My experience is the minions in Menards, Lowes, and HD are all pretty interchangeable, although Menards has totally avoided self checkout.

[imardmd1]

The motivation issue is dependent on the personal philosophy of the employee that you encounter with your problem. I have found individuals (usually older ones with longer history with the store brand). Part of it has to do with the number of shoppers in the store. but I have found in the three different HD stores, two Lowes stores, and two True Value outlets, each one of them giving me help above the call to "customer first."

What I also have found is that much of how the customer is treated depends on the attitude with which the customer treats the store employee that is helping you. Saying so is more than just a hint, you fellow "customers."

Superciliousness has not worked well in those stores for me as a customer any more than it does here on FR exchanges of opinions and comments, or in my role as an employee of a company whose success I wish to augment.

Actually, in those big box stores I have found employees who love to see me coming, as one who will "step in their shoes" and treat them in a way that will validate the value of their presence as a customer's resource to a satisfying experience. Walmarts included. Dollar Tree also included.