Obligatory picture posting of Mr. Fife. A.k.a., "The Barney Fife Rule".
"Nip it! Nip it in the pocket protector!"
Posted on 11/21/2005 12:14:13 PM PST by billorites
Home Depot did the math and has decided not to ban a Lawrence man for a year after he accidentally walked out of a Metheun store with a 41-cent, used pencil in his pocket Thursday.
“We will not be pursuing any claims against Mr. Panorelli for this incident,” read a statement from Home Depot. “We welcome Mr. Panorelli back as a customer in our stores at any time.”
On Thursday, Michael Panorelli, 51, a regular customer, was treated like a common thief by the store’s security detail and, despite a corporate apology, he’s fuming.
“That apology doesn’t mean much to me,” he said. “I’m not happy with the way I was treated. I didn’t deserve to have a security guard asking me why I needed a pencil so bad I had to steal one.”
Panorelli said that after he was stopped by security, he was escorted into a back office, where he was instructed to sign a document that banned him from Home Depot. He was told that the company’s lawyers would be contacting him in within the next two months and might pursue civil charges.
For Panorelli, it was a clear case of plain ol’ common sense gone awry. It all started when he went to the store early Thursday with George Salas, a homeowner who hired him to do window replacement. The two ventured to the molding and trim aisle and Panorelli asked Salas for a pen or pencil so he could jot down calculations and make markings on lumber. Salas picked up a sharpened carpenter’s pencil and handed it to Panorelli.
“I’m not sure where he got it from. I was in the middle of reaching for something in the bins, so I put the pencil in my pocket to free my hands. Within 15 to 20 seconds, I forgot about it,” Panorelli said.
But the store’s security put a tail on him. Panorelli and Salas bought $117 worth of lumber, but just after walking out the doors, they were stopped by security. “At first, I thought he was kidding, making a joke, but after he said it four or five times, I realized he wasn’t,” Panorelli said.
He said workers in the store know him because he goes there so often. He added, “Of course I was embarrassed. There I was in the office with three workers looking at me like I was a criminal.”
I hope there is a Lowes close by so he can spend all that money there.
"I hope there is a Lowes close by so he can spend all that money there."
Amen to that sentiment. Perhaps the security guard needs some extra training to polish up his people skills.
The security guard should be canned. The only thing he should have done is to ask the customer if he remembered to pay for the pencil. The customer would have simply given it back.
This is beyond dumb. HD has spent a lot of money to get where it is today and they don't need idiots wrecking their market share.
If I were HD HQ, I'be be firing a store manager and his security folks.
Sometimes you wonder if people are even able to think and reason and apply common sense anymore.
They should have gave the guy the pencil after he bought over 100 bucks worth of stuff as a lovely parting gift.
This all boils down to the impersonal service of the big box outfits. My dad as a contractor for over 50 years buys at the local lumber yard mostly. I can still remember going with him there when I was a kid. At the time he could go behind the counter and write out his own yard ticket for the stuff he needed without being questioned about it.
Something to say about being known and personalized service.
Regards
I have a personal boycott on Lowes because they treated me like a criminal after I returned a fault shoplight.
Home Depot has the best return policy. No hassle, happy smiles. I drive the extra two miles because of that.
Sounds like this guy has Homeboy-Depot by the jewels. I hope he takes them to task and the manager is fired.
I have boycotted Home depot for the same reason......................and Best Buy, too.........
I have heard stories about IBM and/or GE employees near retirement age that were dismissed for accidentally walking out from their workplace with a company pen or pencil in their pocket.
Of course, in those cases the company just wanted to avoid paying their retirement benefits.
"Home Depot has the best return policy. No hassle, happy smiles. I drive the extra two miles because of that."
Yeah, but did you ever try returning a used pencil?
He is going to ask for half of Tony Stewart's winnings, plus the actual NEXTEL Cup.
Come on now, folks. Not a single one of you has mentioned Wal-Mart. It's been so long since I've read a Wal-mart bashing thread I guess I'll just have to start one myself.
These withdrawal symptoms are getting worse. A Home Depot/Lowe's bashing story just doesn't do the trick any more.
The reason he's a guard is because he's not bright enough to operate a broom.
No, he is a moron : )
The &^%#$%$@%$&%Wal Mart stores are selling high end merchandise now....8000 tv's. This will KILL Best Buy...KILL em I tell ye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, the pencil thief is just going to walk?
Law and order is just breaking down everywhere.
I was doing a quick project for the M-I-L and had to have 3/4" cut off of two 12" ceramic kitchen floor tiles. She had purchased them at Home Depot so I went back up there to see if they could cut the tiles for me. I was pointed to 3 different areas before I finally found a manager at the service desk (who also, luckily and by chance, spoke a little English). He informed me that HD no longer cut tiles but they do have tile cutters to rent for half days and full days. I told him that I just had two tiles to cut and he informed me that they stopped that customer service practice two weeks earlier and for two tiles I'd probably just need to rent a cutter for half a day at $29.
I literally told him to kiss my @$$ and that I'd just go next door. Well, I walked in to Lowe's and handed the guy the tiles with my marks all set and he cut the tiles in less than 1 minute, no charge, no questions asked and that, in turn, left me plenty of time to run down to the hand tool crib to pick up a new Estwing hammer.
Home Depot will never see another dime from me.
Finally a Lowes' is being built between 2 Home Depot's near me! The thing that bugs me most about HD is the self-checkout lines. They will have 6 of them open and one regular register. A lot of people refuse to use the self-checkout for various reasons. So, they just make people stand in the long line and fume. I guess they figure, "Screw you. We don't want to pay all those cashiers to help you people. Take a hint and do what we want you to do." People get po'd and leave. The Lowe's stores around here don't have the "almost mandatory" self-checkout.
They also take people into those lines and check the stuff out for them. This raises the stats and makes it look like a lot of folks are using them, so HQ puts in even more. One store started with 2 and worked up to 6. I hope people rip them off for the amount they save, but I doubt it.
Jim Cramer calls them "Home Despot".
I don't understand the stock market. How can I make money on Home Depot's coming crash? Because it is coming. You can bank on that.
They are going insane on cost control, and suppliers are beginning to complain about not getting paid. These are the two sure signs of a retail outfit about to go belly-up, IMHO.
No! What will KILL Best Buy is their P!$$ poor check-out policy. I went into a Best Buy last year to get the wife a portable CD player for Christmas. They only had one cash register line open and the check out line was at least 35 people deep!
But do you think they would pull one of the 2 DOZEN! "floor walkers" in to man another register? NO!
Needless to say, Wal-Mart provided the Wife's Christmas gift that year.
Home Depot sucks, and Lowes blows.
84 Lumber, Plymart, and Ace Hardware get my home improvement business.
I used to be a part owner in a lumberyard that actually sold material to Home Depot and Lowes. Since they don't stock material longer than 16 ft, they severly limit themselves to homeowners, and blow off builder/contractors.
Lowe's paid on time, every time. Never had a problem.
Home Depot paid only after they were cut off and always had some lame excuse. We would have to send them the same copies of their bill up to FIVE times. I started sending it Certified, return receipt requested and then told them who signed for it. It did not matter. I would have to send it all over again. But, I took them to the cleaners price-wise so I put up with it. Also, they were spending $40,000/month with us, so . . .
As soon as Lowe's knocks Home Depot out of business, someone like WalMart will open up a DIY type store (if they haven't already) and then Lowe's will have to turn crappy to compete.
Anyone remember Builder's Square? When they opened, they were great. They knocked out several local dealers. Then they turned crappy. Then they closed. The roof was leaking, the 2x4s looked like pretzels, no one worked there. It's a vicious cycle. Look out, HD.
At least I can say, when I have to go there, that my local HDs do have people that have worked in construction. I like the employees. It's management that blows.
Duh, Home Despot - print your logo on the pencils and give them away for free. It'll cost ya less than a penny with all the stores you have. Good grief!
Well, this story does tell me how to find an employee at Home Depot. Any time I've been there I was more likely to find a tumbleweed blowing by in the aisle than an employee.
#48 Rocks
My friend used to work at a Home Depot and he would get mad because the store would knowingly let contractors shopli\ft stuff. I guess they didn't want to start a hassle, but it really angered my friend.
I remember when the lumber yards would give you a carpenter's pencil or two if you bought lumber, but then I remember the free glass with a fillup at the gas station or those dinosaur banks....
I've always had good experiences at Home Depot. This incident sounds like an anomaly -- unfortunate coincidence of both a retarded security staffer and a retarded shift manager on duty at the same time. I rather doubt that either the security guy or the manager are still employed by Home Depot.
LOL! I really think you should e-mail that comment to Home Depot's corporate headquarters. It IS awfully difficult to get an employee on the floor to help you (though the service desk folks are pretty easy to come by), but at least once you get hold of one, I've found them to be very helpful.
"..BUT after their recent remodel they decided to put Spanish on every sign in the store.."
I noticed that in the one by us too, and we have virtually no hispanics in the area at all.
I guess its intended to score points w/ the multicultural libs if nothing else.
Ping. If that was me, I would be giving Lowe's ALL of my business.
THANK YOU! It seems like both sides could have used some, but we seem to have moved past that point.
How am I not surprised...
It took Home Depot seven months to complete my kitchen cabinets, entire homes have been built in six months. Apparently, they took the measurements wrong three times by two different employees.
Perhaps this may have been just case of bad luck. I tried another Home Depot for wooden blinds. I was quoted 1-2 weeks, ended waiting a month and a half. Again, wrong measurements.
If it were the particular Home Depot where I lived, I would likely boycott the place to make sure they got the point that such stupidity should be caught quickly by management.
The manager should have realized that the security personel was out of line and appoligized for the overreaction.
However, you have to realize that there are a lot of idiots in the world, and since Home Depot has a lot of stores, it's likely that they are going to end up with some of them working for them.
It sounds like they stomped on this at the corporate level quickly. It was the stupidity of a couple people in a company that employs thousands. I think Home Depot is well aware that this was handled poorly and I suspect that they are dealing with the problem.
A nationwide boycott of Home Depot is a bit of overkill. Some of these things will happen in a company that large.
Why don't we reserve the nationwide boycotts for cases where not only is the company in the wrong, but they aren't trying to fix things.
In this case it appears to ba an isolated incident and Home Depot appears to be appolegetic.
What I find amazing is when I walk in these stores - HD or Lowes - I can barely find anyone to help me when I need help. Never knew they had security cameras on me. Maybe next time, I'll just say out loud something about walking out the store with it. When Security shows up, then I can ask him for help.8-)
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