HD customers are terrible people

TL;DR at the bottom.

I worked at HD as a cashier many years ago, before SCO. I was also a cashier at 3 different convenience stores, so I have something to compare HD customers to.

Stealing - HD customers steal, but the part that breaks my mind is that they never present as poor people stealing as a hustle. These are guys in expensive suits, but they steal from HD, and they get mad when you won't help them do it.

Countless customers driving expensive cars, wearing expensive clothes and jewelry would try to give the wrong numbers on their cut carpet or chains. As an HD cashier, that's why you have a tape measure. When I would bring it out, customers would get mad or nervous.

One guy, the guy I remember in the flashy suit driving a new Jaguar begged me to not measure his carpet roll. When I did it anyway, he was mad at me and sulking for the rest of the transaction. Others would be like, "you don't need to do that, I said it's 6'." Well, goody for you. Idk what to say to you, but this is a part of my job and if you measured correctly you should have nothing to worry about.

Older Karen ladies love to just go off on HD cashiers in my experience -

I had just been told by management that my transactions were taking too long, and that I needed to be faster. Never mind that the customers kept holding up transactions and I couldn't help that. So I had a line in Garden, and I was trying to get through it. This lady starts yelling at me that I was "too rough" with her plants. I wasn't even touching her precious plants, just the top half inch of the plastic planters they were in. She wouldn't shut up, and she was so mean that I ended up having to go to the back of the store for a while.

Another time, I was working with a couple of other cashiers on either side of me that were the types of people who are perpetually cold. They cranked up those heaters and the store was busy. I ended up sweating, and I guess I ended up smelling like sweat. This Karen in my line just starts in on me about how I stink, and like the other one, she won't shut up. Just keeps going on about it and escalating. I don't even think she could actually smell anything. I think she just saw the sweat and reacted. For the life of me I don't know what she expected me to say.

There are 2 kinds of HD customers when it comes to the HD credit card. Those who didn't want it the last 3 times you asked and still don't want it now, and customers who have the card and "iT wOrKs, DaMmIt!" -

About half of HD customers are super mad that you have the audacity to do your job and keep asking about that card.

As angry as the people are that don't want a card, the people that have HD cards are really mad. They're absolutely sure that you are doing something wrong when the card won't run. Then I would have to call the number for the card and talk to them. Customers would naturally be angry that they're just having to stand there while I call customer service. Sometimes this resulted in me being told I have to cut the card with scissors. It feels wrong to do it, and the customer loses their mind.

How dare I check IDs, and run checks through the machine that verifies them -

I saw so many paper checks come through my register. I had to slide them into this little machine that scans them to see if they're good, I guess. "You don't have to do that. My account is good." Yeah, well, I do have to do this.

HD made us ask for ID every time someone used any kind of credit or debit card. The customers got as mad about this as cigarette customers do in convenience stores.

HD contractor customers aren't much better than the others -

Contractors constantly paid for things at the lumber register with stacks of hundreds. Of course, the hundreds have to go in the tube and get sent to the back of the store. This takes a quick minute. To the customers, you're "doing something else" while you do this and not serving them.

But also because of all the 100s, I kept running out of change over and over again in the same shift. This requires me to call my cashier supervisor for change. She was a terrible person to work with because she spent all her time walking around the store gossiping on the phone. She would take forever, and the pressure from customers was insane.

There were also a few contractors with extensive beautiful tattoo work. Whenever they would have to wait for something like my supervisor bringing change, they'd see me glance at their artwork and then go on about how they shouldn't be treated badly as an HD customer because of tattoos. Just no, dude. I'm bored, and I've got anxiety, and your tattoos are awesome. I just looked because there's nothing else to do while we're waiting like this.

HD customers get violent -

I've had a few people threaten to hurt me over the fact that there was a long line and only one register open. A couple of them leaned over my register counter and got in my face.

One drunk weird couple came in one night. They tried to buy something over by lumber. Their card declined. They slurred and blew their alcohol breath on me while they told me the card declining was clearly my fault.

Then they go to leave, but for some reason they wanna leave through the big lumber doors. I was told not to open those doors for anyone after a certain time of night unless they had a clear need, as in, no other way to get their stuff out the door. So I told them it was against policy. They got really mad, and the woman takes her shopping basket and slams it as hard as she can into the other baskets. She was wearing several rings on her fingers, and she smashed her fingers by pinching them between the rings and the basket handle. This lunatic comes over to show me the little knick she has on her hand that's smaller than a dime. Her husband screams at me to "look at what you did to her" and starts telling me what he's going to do to me. This was my fault for not opening the bay door, clearly. I had to get help getting them out of the store and made an incident report.

Overall, they were almost all humorless, angry, griping, violent, and/or dishonest. I remember one cheerful customer. That's it. Just one. I only worked there for 8 months.

All of you that are still working there, I salute you. Whether it's awful for you, but you're sticking it out, or if you really enjoy the job.

TL;DR:

Rich customers tried to steal by not measuring properly and got butthurt when I measured.

One Karen went off on me about handling her plants "roughly." Another Karen went off on me because I was sweating under the heaters.

Customers are too angry about being asked if they want a credit card. Customers with a cc constantly got mad when their card didn't work.

Customers with checks hated that I had to verify their checks. Customers with cc hated that I asked for ID.

Contractors got mad when they had to wait for me to be brought change or send 100s to the back. Some of them had a complex about their tattoos.

I was threatened with violence a few times because the lines were long. One drunk couple got mad because their cc declined, then demanded the big door be opened, and I said no. The woman smashed her own hand, and her husband blamed me, screaming and threatening violence.

Almost none of the customers were happy. I worked there 8 months.