Coffee Time Blog 11 | Retail Madness (not that one).

Good morning! It’s 7:00 a.m. on Monday, November 10, 2025. It’s wet and cool outside, and it’s coffee time.—–

Howdy y’all. This past weekend, I went shopping at Home Depot, intending just to pick up some containers I’d bought online for storage. Surprisingly, they had the same heavy-duty small containers as the discount stores, for less or the same price. So, I thought, “I’m going to Home Depot.” But as usual, I digress. I chose in-store pickup, but it just didn’t work out.

Right now, I’m working really hard on not feeling nervous inside hardware stores. Lowe’s and Home Depot are the two big retail places where I get nervous and anxious. The third is, of course, Walmart. I do okay at Target, believe it or not; I don’t know why, but I just do.

I went in and walked up to the designated pickup counter. A woman, whom I later found out was likely the customer service manager, was on the phone on hold. Another lady was waiting, and a guy was over there, too. They didn’t acknowledge me or say, “Hi, I’ll be right with you” or anything like that. They just stood there, looking worn out. I know they aren’t bad people; it’s just starting to get busy, and they’re getting stressed. It’s not an easy job for them—I’ve worked retail before; it’s exhausting for the money it pays.

Then, a different lady walked up and said, “Hey, I can help you over here.” I said, “Oh, cool. But, I have a pickup.” She said, “Any of us here can help you with an order pickup.”

Okay, let’s stop right here. I’m trying my best not to be a complainer to people who can’t resolve a problem. For example, in retail, I won’t complain to the person checking me out who has absolutely no power to help me resolve a situation. That’s useless, and it’s not good for me or for them.

So, here I am, having to hold my tongue. I said, “Okay, cool.” She asked for my phone number, and I was trying to find the email on my phone. I found the email, which had a barcode. She goes, “Oh, your stuff is in the locker outside. What you do is just go out there and follow the instructions.” I said, “Okay, cool,” and then I told this person, “You’ve been so helpful today! You’ve done more than a lot of people.” “Oh, thank you,” she replied, and then she dropped her name. I figured, “Okay, she wants a compliment online or something.”

Anyway, I went outside to the locker, and this is where things got really interesting.

They have this system—I’ve never used it before—where you hold the barcode on your phone up to the scanner. Then, it shows your face in the video, and it’s like a Redbox. You have to lift up the flap and stick your head almost all the way in. It was terrible. Nothing was working. I tried everything, but nothing was working. I kept working and working—I was working harder to get my product than they were! (I’m laughing out loud right now.)

So, I went back in. The woman who was on the phone originally was shoving something around, and she was clearly the CS manager. She goes, “Did you get help with that?” I said, “Yeah, but it’s not taking my barcode.”

Then, a guy walks up and says, “I got this.” I’m like, “Okay.” He comes out with me, and he’s like, “This isn’t a QR code; it needs a QR code,” and so on. He’s looking at my phone and he started scrolling through my email. Three times I said, “Hey, can I have my phone, sir? Can I have my phone? Can I have my phone?” He’s like, “Oh, sorry, my bad.”

I’m trying to keep in mind that these guys are doing the best they can, which, frankly, is not good enough for me. (I’m laughing at myself while I’m typing this.)

So he goes in, “Oh, your stuff’s in here.” He goes behind a little cage, comes out with it, and says, “Here you go.” I’m like, “Thanks.” The first thing that crossed my mind was, “I bet they won’t even show that I picked it up,” which was true.

Here’s the meat of the story: I knew if I were to complain to any of these people, there would be absolutely nothing they could do to fix the process or to make it better in the future. They have absolutely no power to make such changes. The people who can make these changes are tucked away in a building somewhere far, far away that you’ll never meet. These are the people that create something like, “Oh, outside lockers! Scan a QR code! That sounds like a good idea, let’s go ahead and do that.” Meanwhile, the people on location say, “I hear we’re getting one of those computer boxes. There’s going to be training.” But I digress…again!

Before, I would have said something really snarky to them, like, “You know this defeats the purpose of online pickup, don’t you?” as if they personally made it inconvenient for me. But lately, I’m trying to keep myself from complaining incorrectly…I guess? I can’t complain because I know they are powerless and it’s not good for me or them.

So, the moral is learning when, where, and to whom I can properly complain to that would yield a result. Even the manager of that store—if I had gone to the manager and said, “You do know that blah, blah, blah, this is an inconvenience more so than just coming in and getting it”—the manager might say something under their breath like, “Yeah, I know. I get complaints about it.” Then the manager puts themselves on my side to calm me down. They’re like, “Yeah, Corporate does this to us, but I’ll make a note of it and say something at the next meeting,” which they never do. It’s like the “Karen” scenario. Karen stories are funny because Karen thinks that yelling at a person at the counter of a fast-food place is going to change corporate policy. It doesn’t.—–So, in closing: There are a lot of people out there working their tails off over the holiday season in the retail world, and they’re not getting paid what they should be. Corporate America makes it sound like they are, but in my personal opinion, anything less than $16 an hour is not enough to get by. It’s just not.

Anyway, I digressed again. I’m trying to learn how not to digress; I’ve done it my whole life.

So there you have it. If you’re out there stressed out shopping, keep in mind that the retail salespeople are just like you, and they’re stressed out because of the shopping, too.

That’s it for the Coffee Time today. If I could leave you with one thing: I try to just find the proper time and place to advocate for myself and the proper person to communicate that to.

All y’all be good to yourselves. Try to accept one another. Do the same thing for your retail workers; they’re people too. (I don’t know why I just said that.) And be safe out there. It’s crazy. It’s November. It’s November.

Peace, love, and I’ll write to you later.

Mark.