So, you’d think Home Depot was Home Depot, right? I am spending 8 days visiting my parents in Tucson, AZ, with my husband who took precious vacation days to be here with my family. It has become clear that our kitchen project is imminent, so we figure we might as well do what we can while we are here. I’ve already drawn out what we want on graph paper, with measurements (I’ve made my husband measure with me for the umpteenth time). The next step is to legitimize it at the kitchen center and get an estimate for the cabinets we want. We’ve got the time, we’ve got the babysitting and we’ve got Home Depot. What could be simpler?

I made an appointment and excitedly arrived at the kitchen design center. Well, it turns out that Peggy at the Home Depot by my parents’ house is on commission, and she will not take the time to electronically lay out our kitchen. I burst into tears. Seriously. I am so emotional about getting this kitchen done that the lady made me cry because she won’t help me complete step 2 of about 2,541. I can understand this particular store wasn’t going to benefit, but it wasn’t like we were keeping her from “paying customers;” we were the only ones in her department the 30 minutes we were there.

Not only this, but she tells me this Home Depot cannot get the cabinets I wanted, and she cannot get the number for the Home Depot nearest me (to find out if that’s the case there, too, or not) because “there are thousands of Home Depots.” Really? That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. That just about put me over the edge.

So, I am thankful that we don’t live here and won’t be working with their kitchen design center. And, I hope to have a better experience when I finally arrive home. I was mistaken to think that one Home Depot is just like any other, but I would imagine employees still should be trained that customers come first, no matter where they are making their purchase (I planned on Mills Pride cabinets, so it’s not like I was taking the design to a competing home improvement store). The good news is, I submitted a comment on the Home Depot web site, although it didn’t appear to go through (I got an error page), the next day I received a nice response and should be getting a $25 gift card to encourage me to come back. It seems whenever I expect to get something like that I don’t, but when I don’t even think twice about it, I do. Funny how things work out like that. At any rate, I am thankful for their quick reponse and appreciate the gift card offer.