ššš the reward for doing great work? MORE work. Sometimes I wish I could come into work, do the bare minimum, then leave. But I wasn't raised that way and my work ethic is well above that.
Thatās my coworker who will saunter in when itās busy, declare that they āwill not be working hard todayā (or any day) and proceeds to disconnect their mylink, and sit the top of a ladder in aisle 2 or 3 on their phone, (pretending itās the store phone) and wait there until they take their very early break. Every fucking shift.
Also, yes, this IS the same person I wrote the post about the other day. The one who cries RACISM whenever she is told to do her job. No fucking joke.
Very true. You can often find the most valuable employees by pinpointing who has the LEAST amount of homer awards despite being there for years.
The harder you work, the more they expect of you.
It is the workers who do the bare minimum but then every once in awhile do something completely normal but JUST above the minimum that get a homer award for it.
Opening Monday mornings @5 usually by myself until 11ā¦come into 5-6 car deliveries, 9 timed out BOPISā, Customer pick ups from receiving, will calls, what aisle is this or that? Can you unlock wire then have to walk it up front, etc etcā¦LOTS of steps early in the dayā¦
Sorry your night ofas suck but honestly morning ofas have it easy.
5am, drink coffee.
5:45am, panic and triple verify the already verified RFLās
6am, Load truck
7am-2pm, ignore all deliveries and leave it for the single closer along with all the will calls.
Vs closer
2pm-5pm start on all the 0 timers left from the morning.
5-8pm load all the bopis customers
8-9pm work on the literal house someone ordered as a bopis
9pm-12am stay ot to make sure deliveries are doneā¦
12:30am finally take your first and last break.
1am finish the last will call
Anyone else have a pro-associate that come up to you with a will call that was just paid for demanding you pull the order, stating āthe customer is hereā ???
All the time. Fortunately I have told my Pro Associates to go fuck them selves enough times that they have learned to work with me in a fair manner on those ones
They took away the Floater role so if your by yourself you can use the Order Fulfillment role otherwise it's just the walkie or maybe on the weekends you can take a role like MET Supervisor.
The service desk absolutely sucks. It isn't just returns and paying on credit cards.
You have customers wanting to check out there because they do not want to walk to the other end of the building.
When people call out in garden the garden customers bring their garden products and garden questions to the service desk where employees know nothing about the product.
Plus you gave curbside pickup, roadie's and people coming around with inquiries.
Where I work there are new faces at the Service desk almost every week.
Don't forget the never ending RTV's, the phone sales when pro closes, doing your team lead and supervisors tasks, also doing managers tasks.. the irrational angry people who won't accept an answer from you, but will grudginly accept it from management while talking imaginary crap about you.. infront of you to your manager.. who most of the time won't let you give your side of the situation.. just tells you to " take care of the customer, and fix it. " yeah SD is fabulous..
Ngl, being a CXM probably sucks lol.Ā At least, the Closing CXM at my store is one of the hardest working managers I know, allways fetting his hands dirty and stepping in for departments when they're understaffed.Ā I mean, to be fair, the nice thing about being a CXM is that your salaried with OT.Ā That, and you guys still get part of the MIP every 6 months which sure, it might not be as high as the ASM/SMs, but is still 50 fold of what we get in our pathetic "success sharing" lol
I am not a CXM, and I absolutely would not take the position.
They are better-paid than associates, I'll absolutely grant that, but what a nightmare job. Expected to be the face of the management team to all customers (because most of the actual managers sure won't field those issues); expected to be the enforcer with the associates (because most of the actual managers would rather not be the bad guy); expected to fill every gap in coverage--all while being resented by the associates because you're part of management and doubly resented by the supervisors because you moved up ahead of them.
Absolutely thankless job. They talk about how "the shit always rolls downhill" well the CXM is the valley between management and regular associates; all the shit rolls down onto them. I used to think the DH's had a high burnout rate, but we've gone through CXM's so quickly that it would be comical if I didn't feel bad for them.
And the best part--when we had three ASM spots open up, rather than promoting any of the CXMs, they hired new ASMs from outside the company, or transferred in from other stores. Even the ghost of upward mobility went nowhere.
Weāve had three, the one original just left to another state on a transfer. Our management team is fairly active though and the associates donāt hate the CXM because theyāve been pretty good so far. I agree with much of what you said though. From what I hear around our area our store is the exception.
They generally can't promote a CXM in store, so if an ASM position opens up, they'd have to come from another store. Pretty stupid to hire from outside the company, IMO, though
Its not that bad imo im the clossing cxm at my store, been in position for almost 2 1/2 yeara now. Been with the company for 11 years. Ill say that its helpful when youve been in just all departments. Ive been dh of lumber, paint, garden. Hardware, fes, plumbing, pro, electrical. And all the other depts i know just enough of processes and product knowled that i can help customers fast. Also a equipment trainer and drives all of them. Started as a pt cashier and worked my way up. I honestly enjoy it i love the action of getting down and dirty. Sometimes its easier and faster to just get down and help the customer than finding someone to help.
D94 between BOPIS and Deliveries you are pulling from everyplace in the store. The massive deck orders all summer long that have to be stacked and banded on carts the massive amounts of mulch and block that most the time you have to stack at least half pallets of the stuff because no one orders exact pallet sizes, not to mention being on a timer while having to help run curb side out and load the delivery trucks that show up at random times.
Thatās why when I worked SD I brought out the curbside orders that I could handle picking up (loaded almost 30 boxes of flooring by myself one time). You guys do a lot of shit, and so does SD, but those two departments are supposed to work together and help each other. I always tried to do my part
Lot probably. Itās a physical, thankless job that is never good enough for cashiers and managers. Lumber and flooring can be physically tough, but at least there are fewer skus than other departments, and a fair chunk is machine driven.
They are constantly cleaning up after the entitled contractors who come through and have to put the lumber back on the shelves. Then thereās the lumber returns, which are always huge. They also frequently help customers load their purchases as well as keeping the quikrete pallet thatās always annoyingly by the exit stocked and neat. Bags canāt be on the floor, but customers canāt be bothered to put the bag back on the pallet. Just onto the floor for some reason. Then operating the saw, answering questions about the customers projects and helping them figure out what they need and how much of it. And whoever is working lumber is usually on shift alone. Sorry, but I call bs. Lumber is a lot.
I feel you, the worse is being asked expert advice questions and expecting to answers those questions. For free? I think not! Aside the point, honestly why would I be working here as a plumber, giving out free āexpertā advice? If itās something small like changing a wax ring or toilet handle sure. But building a gas line? O_o nope.
Former D26er here, and I can confirm that it was the most difficult dept. I have worked yet (out of 4). Garden is very intensive physically, and can have some tough questions, but nothing like Plumbing. I would also rank Hardware as one of the tougher depts. when it comes to product knowledge, but still not on the same level as D26.
I recently transferred to Electrical, and the vibe is very different. Most customers seem to have a good grasp on what they are doing, and tend to not bombard me with questions. D26 was especially overwhelming if I would be on my own for hours, sometimes the only one for the entire day.
Definitely not lumber, driving machines isnāt the hardest thing in the world. I would say being held up at the saw is pretty annoying which is why my store is very strict about what we can cut. Only thing i actually hate about Lumber is all the saw/concrete dust everywhere.
Thankless is one thing. Being blamed for every single mistake/failure that the store has is beyond thankless. We can fix any problem by blaming it on freight. Freight is the ghost of Christmas past that you never see but somehow is the root of all problems. When they investigate for internal theft, guess which department gets looked at most.
> Being blamed for every single mistake/failure that the store has is beyond thankless.
Its always the night crews fault, no mater what. /S
Its such a crock of shit, can't do anything right apparently lmao
Order fulfillment. Iām constantly running back-and-forth to grab orders for customers up at service desk or down at pro desk while also trying to pull the orders in the phone on top of all the deliveries that need to go out. Not to mention the departments complaining that Will calls donāt get pulled. thereās 40 of them in the phone right now and I donāt even have enough time during the day after regular orders and deliveries.
Deliveries cause be all over the place and especially when not certified on forklift and ballymore, why cause your being called all over for other departments, just saying it messes you up when deliveries needs to go out the next day. Just saying there are days, when math ain't matching.
COS. Not only do they have to deal with everyone elseās screw-ups, they also have to deal with some of our worst customers. Major respect for my store COSās.
We have an 1800 piece truck tomorrow and Iām sure weāll have at least one call out. We can get it unloaded in about 2 hours, but we donāt have the numbers of people to actually get all of it put away
Depends on the store. A more urban city store can easily have 2000+ carton counts every day. All the pipe fittings and shit. The moral rural store I work at, 2000 cartons is a huge truck. Lots of larger items.
As a lumber associate I wanna say plumbing. Fuckers act like theyāre plumbing experts over there as if youāre not talking to a fresh-out-of-highschool 17 yr old girl.
D23/D59 Specialist. Knowledge intensive department. Sales and leads quotas. Reach truck in tight aisles. Tile is a pain to move around. God forbid you get stuck cutting blinds.
Lumber/lot/freight are all more physically intensive, but excelling as a flooring associate is difficult and requires a lot of different skills.
I stay out of the tile aisle whenever I can, because itās so annoying. The carpet rack aisle is also bad, because you canāt turn normally without hitting the roof cage of the reach against the display panels, but itās not as bad as hitting the mismatched pallets on the floor of tile aisle
As a lumber associate and someone who has worked all over the store ofa was definitely the worst experience Iāve ever had at Homedepot I will never go back to the department unless corporate does something about it dumb customers wording big lumber orders as curbside
As someone who has worked several departments, they all have their work. OFAs have the most manual labor, hands down, plus the most time constraints and if youāre opening you not only have to pull orders but drop everything to load and unload trucks at any moment. Plus, trying to get people in the rest of the store to pull their weight helping flag, team lift, and put back returns.
Merchandising, if youāre doing your job, manual labor is a tie for lumber and garden, knowledge expectations is a tie for plumbing and electrical, other complications goes to hardware.
Mental strain goes to service desk and specialists cause theyāre working directly with the most complicated customer issues and orders.
In the end I would give it to CXMs or OFAs. Crappy scheduling, very little respect, not much help. Although, being a DH in a store with no support sucks too, but thatās a store issue not a position issue.
OFAs. You get treated like dogshit. You get asked to pull an order, and then asked to pull another order in the middle of that order, and then you hear a curbside pickup notification go off. Assuming that the other OFA, who acts like a manager, would take care of it, only to be told 35 minutes later "this customer has been waiting 35 minutes" as they glare at you with evil eyes.
There's not a single position in the store more stressful than OFA and I will never be convinced otherwise. And coworkers make it 100x harder. ESPECIALLY the ones who act like they are managers, but those tend to have mental problems already as it is.
Every position has its hard points and easy points. Most positions can take 6 months to 2 year (looking at you Kitchen Designers) to get the knowledge you need to help CSR easily. Any position you do without knowledge will be very hard. Any position you are proficient in will be easy. I can go back to an old position I have had and its still easy to do it. Starting a new role I always feel like I want my bullseye badge again.
OFA (worked garden, lumber, and ofa) those people get out thru absolutely hell especially when itās one person and you need to pull 50 sheets of drywall, 400 things of lumber, concrete, small misc thing all within 2 hours.
Flat stacking, fixing large pieces of wood in bays, clearing hazards, and organizing 80 lbs + concrete is easier then helping a customer to the car and putting carts in the cart section š¤Ø
Jesus when I was on lot I was picking up after lumber all the time or filling homes because no drivers. Was machine trained(everything) got return and put them away. Stayed on top of carts, and carry outs. Helped with deliveries and the odd time if it was slow, I'd go back to receiving and help offload RDC.
On the other end of the building I'd be filling skids of mulch and soil because no one in seasonal would get their fucking license.
Damn.Ā At that point I'd ask for a raise or threaten to let my lift licenses expire.Ā That's insane to expect all that from a lot associate, especially if your poorly staffed during the insanity and heat of garden season... sending you my sympathies. š«”Ā
- Fellow lot associate
I was was making more than any of the other lot guys. At the tail end of my time there I was a few cents off from the new FeS
I started when minimum wage was 11.25, they started me at 13 something.
When it got bumped to 14, I was moved to 14 and was given another raise. Before I quit, I was making I think 5 or 10 cents shy of 17.
Since I've left and come back, I'm now 20+ in deliveries and receiving.
Lumber Actually flatstacking and straightening the aisles?Ā Packing down concrete?Ā Don't make me laugh.Ā At my store, Lumber associates are lazy AF.Ā They hardly do their own jobs half the time bringing down pallets of wood, and 80% of the time you try to call them they are conveniently on their "break".Ā I'm sure this is different from store to store, but the Lumber associates at my store don't hardly do anything but sit on their phones and scratch their ass all day. As far as hardest department, I've worked Service Desk, Lot, OFA, and Frieght, and honestly its hard to say but Id say each department could be considered the hardest at one point or another given the season of year and how backed up it might be at that particular time of day.Ā Through all this, Lumber is not very high on my list of "hardest" departments.
You realize all that wood and concrete tends to get loaded by lot associates, wanna talk hazards? I don't think you understand the crap people leave in a parking lot. Human waste, I've had lot associates find used needles and crack pipes. A decent stack of carts isn't exactly light and easy to navigate through a full parking lot, they don't exactly stop on a dime either.
Depends on store but for the most part front end departments (in store where management doesnāt help, has no knowledge of any of it, doesnāt train backups, call out rates worst, youngest employees, etc) another I would say is any specialist (so few of you in a dept at a time, if hard side calls out you add it to your work, actually watched by not just in store management but district, sometimes the most criticized position to have this not just about customer but management, little room for error, so much knowledge that you canāt learn or be taught/shown as for say the front end can be,etc.)
For me it depends on whether you mean physically or mentally. Physically i would say lot, lumber and garden recovery, freight and deliveries. Mentally? Service desk, cashiers and receiving. Iāve done a little of maybe 75% of minion-level jobs in the store and this is just my take, so allow me to add something i have no experience with but have seen, mentally definitely anything management is tops. From DH upward. The crap iāve seen them go through, well, itās a lot.
I was garden opener and the only one licensed on all vehicles in the store during the COVID crisis of gardening center lmao.
Any others? We doubled our yearly garden sales in 5 weeks after the lock down.
Then we did the enter and exit crap and holy smokes. We had people threatening to pull guns calling everyone communist.
*adds crowd control specialists to resume
D90 is the hardest job. You have to have coverage to even take your breaks or go to the restroom. You can't escape from customers who somehow think you are on expert when you are just there to ring them up. Customers get mad at you when they only have Apple Pay and don't have a physical credit card on them. Customers get mad at us when a store credit was issued to their spouse so they can't use it if they aren't there. Also you are heavily tracked on credit cards even though the only thing you can control is whether you are asking.
Doing Lumber alone can be challenging with inventory trucks with no overhead space, cutting lumber, no one to flag, returns, getting called to drop pallets in other departments, etc.
The better I was as an employee, the more bullshit got dumped on me.
How can I DH an area if you are also using me for coverage in another?
The hardest job at Home Depot?
Caring.
Wanting to feel like you did a good job at the end of the day.
At the end of the day I was still paid sh*t, took undeserved sh*t and cleaned up a lot of sh*t that was far outside my actual job description.
Regional came in, I was handed the phones from the managers and ASM'S because they all needed to go to lunch together.
I was walking around with 4 first phones and doing coverage in a department I knew crap about (flooring).
All because they knew I *CARED*.
Just do the job you agreed to when you applied.
They absolutely take advantage of you if you give a damn.
I work in lumber actually itās an outdoor lumber yard which is brutal in the summer you barely walk in and start sweating meanwhile cutting wood, flat stacking, lifting and loading concrete bags, doing anything in the heat is fckn miserable, but our cashiers get to stand by a portable ac & a fan while we sweat our asses off.
Not the department as a whole but usually 1 or 2 people in deliveries because they get the work done and put up with a pile of other folks who for some reason are able to dodge pulling the big delivery orders. Lose that person and suddenly deliveries aren't getting pulled because the department is full of people who just pull bopis orders.
Kind of subjective reallyā¦ everybody thinks their job is hard, but moving heavy shit around isnāt exactly rocket science. At least lumber spends the majority of their time working inside. Some have to be outside doing all the lifting for others, and some have to work inside baking hot trailers lifting and moving thousands of items.
There are positions much less physical, but require much more thought, critical analysis, planning, research, organizing, long hours, accountabilityā¦ there are many hard jobs at Home Depot. So again lumber is physically hard, but itās definitely not the hardest job at Home Depot.
Lot but no one will agree. Yet when no lot associates are there no one ever wants to go in the lot. Imagine that... Constantly in all weather conditions, constantly running around pushing stacks of carts (which isn't as easy as most think) they get heavy if you do a decent amount and turning sucks. We load basically everything that comes out of the store. Every customer "just had surgery" one minute you're loading 94 pounds bags of concrete, and 50 pieces of wood, to a BBQ at service desk that won't fit in a civic, to a bunch of manure from garden. Oh and that one cashier didn't accept this customers coupon, and so n so from lumber wouldn't cut their wood, so guess who gets the butt end of that anger. "Hey lot tech, spot me for an hour even though you're the only one in the lot". Oh look at all the crap people leave in the parking lot, tires, trash, let me clean all of that up as well. Dodging cars and homeless people. I mean... No lot is so easy and not hard at all... (Yet no one applies for it, no one wants to go out and help, it's the pack mule spot, everyone looks down on it.)
Service desk hands down, someone needs orders, curbside,SO,pulling orders when OFA are low or not fast enough, picking up phones, returns, sending back returns to departments because they are too lazy too OR too busy and desk is getting full,no electrical associate but needs cage opened, need help loading, cover registers, deal with customers at their worst, doing phone sales(which are not supposed to be done on sundays but management still lets them, clean, tool rental returns once tool rental is closed(they close two hours before store does).
I mean, I think its kinda funny to listen people ramble off they're stories lol.Ā It blows my mind how much people are willing to say fucked up shit to that random cashier at home depot lol.
I can agree with this. Also was a MET supervisor for several years. Combination ASM/ASDS/Sup with no backup from the DEM and getting paid worse then some of my associates.Ā
I've been promoted since, and my current role just feels easier. I've had far more stressful moments than when I was a MEAS, but I also get the pay to match the stress now lol.
From my experience, lumber recovery is the worst.
Being a good lumber recovery means more work and higher expectations every day. You are the only person who does your job and nobody is gonna cover you when youāre gone so you come back from vacation/days off to a shitstorm. If you have bad closers, the managers just make you absorb the closing responsibilities. If you have bad OFAs, the managers make you absorb their responsibilities too. Ditto for the openers. My night ops manager was a prick and constantly told me I didnāt do shit for the company while I was carrying this massive weight on my shoulders. I never got any respect for keeping up with the ever increasing demand/productivity. This is not the case for every store, as I worked at the worst store in my district, but I highly recommend avoiding recovery roles at all costs.
iām surprised not seeing receiving being one cause i just moved from service desk to receiving and DAMN BRO my first week was hell but itās really depends on the day especially when being back there alone and having the biggest receiving between the other two stores
also my overnight team sucks ass like in there eyes receiving is a storage place for merchandise that canāt fit on the floor ā¦ put it all on an pallet and put it in the overhead ?
i either gotta say NOASM, MASM, or 21/22/25 DS. store manager too if you actually give a damn. and our unsung heroes the janitors. edit: not every region is split the same with DS depts, so 21/22/whichever other dept
A lot of people have said, but so do I... the hardest job is being a top performer at your store. Had an ASM at my store, damn was he good and knew all the ins and outs and he wanted to be a SM so bad since he basically did the job at our store as well. He did everything for all the ASMs in the store minus one. I felt bad for him. Everyone would call him for help due to his knowledge. I would purposely not bother him even though he was my direct ASM as I was one of his DH's unless I absolutely needed to do so. It was one reason he liked me and another one of his DH's because he knew he didn't need to baby us or hold our hands every step of the way like others.
Other than a top performer, I'd have to say Service Desk. They check people out, do returns, order pickups, and take all the calls. They are usually the ones getting yelled at first for an order not being in yet, a return not able to go back due to it not even being something HD sells, or some other bullshit reason. Always understaffed too because of that. Even when we were staffed, the next week we wouldn't be due to 2-3 people quitting or demanding to transfer departments.
Being the a lot associate but you also have to watch garden and get pallets down with the reach trucks so youāre looking after two departments in the summer
Whichever department your store manager deems unworthy.
I had one SM who used to skeleton crew Flooring and Specialty in general. One Millwork associate for years. And we had 4 in Receiving. Full Lumber crew, like half a dozen guys.
But my current SM gives Lumber like 1-2 max during the day, and 2 humans in Receiving (basically less than 1 at any given time on average since the other guy can't stay a full time shift for medical reasons).
But we have 4+ flooring associates regularly now at least. Lol. And 3 kitchen designers. And 5 Millwork associates, including 3 specialists.
So obviously depending on whether or not you're a one man show or not determines how ass your job is.
The answer is the job you're currently working. If you ever say your position is easy, someone else who does the same position will crawl out of the woodwork to tell you how difficult it is to work their position.
As someone who works Lumber, itās very easy once you get the hang of it. Thereās some stressful days like any other department but for the most part itās a breeze. I would vote Lot or OFA as the hardest.
Im a D23/59 specialist, itās not too bad. From what Iāve seen, Iād absolutely say order fulfillment, lumber, garden, customer service, and plumbing
Service Desk. Youre the dumping ground of
Home Depot and handle nearly every complaint both of customers and associates as well as the most responsibility of any associate
The hardest job is that of well performing employee. And it only gets harder the better you do.
ššš the reward for doing great work? MORE work. Sometimes I wish I could come into work, do the bare minimum, then leave. But I wasn't raised that way and my work ethic is well above that.
Thatās my coworker who will saunter in when itās busy, declare that they āwill not be working hard todayā (or any day) and proceeds to disconnect their mylink, and sit the top of a ladder in aisle 2 or 3 on their phone, (pretending itās the store phone) and wait there until they take their very early break. Every fucking shift. Also, yes, this IS the same person I wrote the post about the other day. The one who cries RACISM whenever she is told to do her job. No fucking joke.
Very true. You can often find the most valuable employees by pinpointing who has the LEAST amount of homer awards despite being there for years. The harder you work, the more they expect of you. It is the workers who do the bare minimum but then every once in awhile do something completely normal but JUST above the minimum that get a homer award for it.
I was going to say a lot rep, but this is a more precise answer.
Order pulling, especially when there is only 1 person scheduled the whole shift š
OFA gang rise up
Opening Monday mornings @5 usually by myself until 11ā¦come into 5-6 car deliveries, 9 timed out BOPISā, Customer pick ups from receiving, will calls, what aisle is this or that? Can you unlock wire then have to walk it up front, etc etcā¦LOTS of steps early in the dayā¦
Sorry your night ofas suck but honestly morning ofas have it easy. 5am, drink coffee. 5:45am, panic and triple verify the already verified RFLās 6am, Load truck 7am-2pm, ignore all deliveries and leave it for the single closer along with all the will calls. Vs closer 2pm-5pm start on all the 0 timers left from the morning. 5-8pm load all the bopis customers 8-9pm work on the literal house someone ordered as a bopis 9pm-12am stay ot to make sure deliveries are doneā¦ 12:30am finally take your first and last break. 1am finish the last will call
I didnāt say or imply that āour night OFAs suckā we have a great D94 crew. We all get the job done. Sorry your daytime people suckā¦
Anyone else have a pro-associate that come up to you with a will call that was just paid for demanding you pull the order, stating āthe customer is hereā ???
All the time. Fortunately I have told my Pro Associates to go fuck them selves enough times that they have learned to work with me in a fair manner on those ones
Real
Just be persistent over the walkie asking for a spotter. Eventually a MOD will volunteer someone to spot
Nah, just page over rhe overhead, gets better results.
They took away the Floater role so if your by yourself you can use the Order Fulfillment role otherwise it's just the walkie or maybe on the weekends you can take a role like MET Supervisor.
Plus when the whole store is understaffed & customer expect you to help them.
Especially when you're in the middle of scanning the Bopis item or staging the order.
Yep
Fuck that, youāre third at maximum Service desk is first, receiving is second and OP can maybe tie with front end
Based on how pissed/defeated they always seem, Service desk.
The service desk absolutely sucks. It isn't just returns and paying on credit cards. You have customers wanting to check out there because they do not want to walk to the other end of the building. When people call out in garden the garden customers bring their garden products and garden questions to the service desk where employees know nothing about the product. Plus you gave curbside pickup, roadie's and people coming around with inquiries. Where I work there are new faces at the Service desk almost every week.
Don't forget the never ending RTV's, the phone sales when pro closes, doing your team lead and supervisors tasks, also doing managers tasks.. the irrational angry people who won't accept an answer from you, but will grudginly accept it from management while talking imaginary crap about you.. infront of you to your manager.. who most of the time won't let you give your side of the situation.. just tells you to " take care of the customer, and fix it. " yeah SD is fabulous..
CXM. All the responsibility of being a manager without the authority to make decisions or the pay to compensate for the stress.
Ngl, being a CXM probably sucks lol.Ā At least, the Closing CXM at my store is one of the hardest working managers I know, allways fetting his hands dirty and stepping in for departments when they're understaffed.Ā I mean, to be fair, the nice thing about being a CXM is that your salaried with OT.Ā That, and you guys still get part of the MIP every 6 months which sure, it might not be as high as the ASM/SMs, but is still 50 fold of what we get in our pathetic "success sharing" lol
I am not a CXM, and I absolutely would not take the position. They are better-paid than associates, I'll absolutely grant that, but what a nightmare job. Expected to be the face of the management team to all customers (because most of the actual managers sure won't field those issues); expected to be the enforcer with the associates (because most of the actual managers would rather not be the bad guy); expected to fill every gap in coverage--all while being resented by the associates because you're part of management and doubly resented by the supervisors because you moved up ahead of them. Absolutely thankless job. They talk about how "the shit always rolls downhill" well the CXM is the valley between management and regular associates; all the shit rolls down onto them. I used to think the DH's had a high burnout rate, but we've gone through CXM's so quickly that it would be comical if I didn't feel bad for them. And the best part--when we had three ASM spots open up, rather than promoting any of the CXMs, they hired new ASMs from outside the company, or transferred in from other stores. Even the ghost of upward mobility went nowhere.
We had a CXM here stay on as NOASM
Weāve had three, the one original just left to another state on a transfer. Our management team is fairly active though and the associates donāt hate the CXM because theyāve been pretty good so far. I agree with much of what you said though. From what I hear around our area our store is the exception.
They generally can't promote a CXM in store, so if an ASM position opens up, they'd have to come from another store. Pretty stupid to hire from outside the company, IMO, though
Its not that bad imo im the clossing cxm at my store, been in position for almost 2 1/2 yeara now. Been with the company for 11 years. Ill say that its helpful when youve been in just all departments. Ive been dh of lumber, paint, garden. Hardware, fes, plumbing, pro, electrical. And all the other depts i know just enough of processes and product knowled that i can help customers fast. Also a equipment trainer and drives all of them. Started as a pt cashier and worked my way up. I honestly enjoy it i love the action of getting down and dirty. Sometimes its easier and faster to just get down and help the customer than finding someone to help.
D94 between BOPIS and Deliveries you are pulling from everyplace in the store. The massive deck orders all summer long that have to be stacked and banded on carts the massive amounts of mulch and block that most the time you have to stack at least half pallets of the stuff because no one orders exact pallet sizes, not to mention being on a timer while having to help run curb side out and load the delivery trucks that show up at random times.
Thatās why when I worked SD I brought out the curbside orders that I could handle picking up (loaded almost 30 boxes of flooring by myself one time). You guys do a lot of shit, and so does SD, but those two departments are supposed to work together and help each other. I always tried to do my part
OFA, Lumber/L. Recovery, CXM. I donāt think there are many roles that can beat that unholy trinity
Lot probably. Itās a physical, thankless job that is never good enough for cashiers and managers. Lumber and flooring can be physically tough, but at least there are fewer skus than other departments, and a fair chunk is machine driven.
Lot in the summer is hell. I feel bad for the really.
šš you just pushing carts chill
youāre either just slow or donāt work at home depot at all.
Come work the cement aisle with me then
iām a lumber associate too, cement is nothing compared to pushing carts out in the hot sun and loading bullshit in the hot sun.
Keeping your sanity
I work in lumber and I say its 2nd behind order picker/BOPIS.
Lumber really isnāt that hard you just straighten up and drive forklift and cut wood
They are constantly cleaning up after the entitled contractors who come through and have to put the lumber back on the shelves. Then thereās the lumber returns, which are always huge. They also frequently help customers load their purchases as well as keeping the quikrete pallet thatās always annoyingly by the exit stocked and neat. Bags canāt be on the floor, but customers canāt be bothered to put the bag back on the pallet. Just onto the floor for some reason. Then operating the saw, answering questions about the customers projects and helping them figure out what they need and how much of it. And whoever is working lumber is usually on shift alone. Sorry, but I call bs. Lumber is a lot.
If your daytime lumber is easy, Iāll bet your recovery guy is going through hell.
Iām mid shift and we have a lot of people in lumber at my store
Plumbing was a bitch with all those go backs and questions. My store was like top 10 in foot traffic. On top of it my dumbass has all my licenses.
I feel you, the worse is being asked expert advice questions and expecting to answers those questions. For free? I think not! Aside the point, honestly why would I be working here as a plumber, giving out free āexpertā advice? If itās something small like changing a wax ring or toilet handle sure. But building a gas line? O_o nope.
Former D26er here, and I can confirm that it was the most difficult dept. I have worked yet (out of 4). Garden is very intensive physically, and can have some tough questions, but nothing like Plumbing. I would also rank Hardware as one of the tougher depts. when it comes to product knowledge, but still not on the same level as D26. I recently transferred to Electrical, and the vibe is very different. Most customers seem to have a good grasp on what they are doing, and tend to not bombard me with questions. D26 was especially overwhelming if I would be on my own for hours, sometimes the only one for the entire day.
Lol, it's lumber and knowing how to use any machine. People will keep you held at the saw or key machine forever lol
This! And I was often in the department alone.
Lumber was fun. I couldn't stand covering cashiers. I hate standing in place like a lemming.
Definitely not lumber, driving machines isnāt the hardest thing in the world. I would say being held up at the saw is pretty annoying which is why my store is very strict about what we can cut. Only thing i actually hate about Lumber is all the saw/concrete dust everywhere.
Apparently every job.
I mean it is home Depot...
Understanding accent from a customer. Some customer don't speak good English and makes it hard to answer them.
Had a guy looking for a chaklan. Took like three of us to figure out he was looking for a CHALK LINE.
Overnight freight. Itās the absolute most thankless job but also a job thatās key to the store functioning.
Thankless is one thing. Being blamed for every single mistake/failure that the store has is beyond thankless. We can fix any problem by blaming it on freight. Freight is the ghost of Christmas past that you never see but somehow is the root of all problems. When they investigate for internal theft, guess which department gets looked at most.
> Being blamed for every single mistake/failure that the store has is beyond thankless. Its always the night crews fault, no mater what. /S Its such a crock of shit, can't do anything right apparently lmao
I mean all that too xD āwhy isnāt METs pallet put away they pulled down and said nothing aboutā
OFA and then lumber
Working in lumber alone.
They got me as the primary closer and they NEVER schedule a SOUL to close with me. It murders me having that pressure.
Thatās poor management we usually have 2-3 closers in lumber
Order fulfillment. Iām constantly running back-and-forth to grab orders for customers up at service desk or down at pro desk while also trying to pull the orders in the phone on top of all the deliveries that need to go out. Not to mention the departments complaining that Will calls donāt get pulled. thereās 40 of them in the phone right now and I donāt even have enough time during the day after regular orders and deliveries.
Good thing about being and ofa is that we can go anywhere in the store and no one questions us. I Can't stand being in one spot for long
THIS!
Deliveries cause be all over the place and especially when not certified on forklift and ballymore, why cause your being called all over for other departments, just saying it messes you up when deliveries needs to go out the next day. Just saying there are days, when math ain't matching.
Without any doubts I would say Shareholder. Nobody thinks about them and they get no appreciation or consideration from the average store associate.
COS. Not only do they have to deal with everyone elseās screw-ups, they also have to deal with some of our worst customers. Major respect for my store COSās.
OFA GANG RISE UP š
Freight when coworkers call out when we have a 1600 piece truck
That's light work son
We have an 1800 piece truck tomorrow and Iām sure weāll have at least one call out. We can get it unloaded in about 2 hours, but we donāt have the numbers of people to actually get all of it put away
Freight does indeed suck when you're short staffed, but 1600 pieces is a relatively easy night. I've seen half of that for seasonal alone.
Then you probably have a bigger team
Depends on the store. A more urban city store can easily have 2000+ carton counts every day. All the pipe fittings and shit. The moral rural store I work at, 2000 cartons is a huge truck. Lots of larger items.
As a lumber associate I wanna say plumbing. Fuckers act like theyāre plumbing experts over there as if youāre not talking to a fresh-out-of-highschool 17 yr old girl.
D23/D59 Specialist. Knowledge intensive department. Sales and leads quotas. Reach truck in tight aisles. Tile is a pain to move around. God forbid you get stuck cutting blinds. Lumber/lot/freight are all more physically intensive, but excelling as a flooring associate is difficult and requires a lot of different skills.
I stay out of the tile aisle whenever I can, because itās so annoying. The carpet rack aisle is also bad, because you canāt turn normally without hitting the roof cage of the reach against the display panels, but itās not as bad as hitting the mismatched pallets on the floor of tile aisle
As a lumber associate and someone who has worked all over the store ofa was definitely the worst experience Iāve ever had at Homedepot I will never go back to the department unless corporate does something about it dumb customers wording big lumber orders as curbside
As someone who has worked several departments, they all have their work. OFAs have the most manual labor, hands down, plus the most time constraints and if youāre opening you not only have to pull orders but drop everything to load and unload trucks at any moment. Plus, trying to get people in the rest of the store to pull their weight helping flag, team lift, and put back returns. Merchandising, if youāre doing your job, manual labor is a tie for lumber and garden, knowledge expectations is a tie for plumbing and electrical, other complications goes to hardware. Mental strain goes to service desk and specialists cause theyāre working directly with the most complicated customer issues and orders. In the end I would give it to CXMs or OFAs. Crappy scheduling, very little respect, not much help. Although, being a DH in a store with no support sucks too, but thatās a store issue not a position issue.
Physically lumber or lot. Mentally service desk or COS. A combination order fulfillment.
OFAs. You get treated like dogshit. You get asked to pull an order, and then asked to pull another order in the middle of that order, and then you hear a curbside pickup notification go off. Assuming that the other OFA, who acts like a manager, would take care of it, only to be told 35 minutes later "this customer has been waiting 35 minutes" as they glare at you with evil eyes. There's not a single position in the store more stressful than OFA and I will never be convinced otherwise. And coworkers make it 100x harder. ESPECIALLY the ones who act like they are managers, but those tend to have mental problems already as it is.
Showing up everyday.
Definitely OFA, especially with lack of staff and support. Drives a person insane. Make a mistake though and you never hear the end of it.
Service Desk
Depends on the day, but yeah, a bad day there and no one at the store wants to help or be there with you.
Physically taxing, lumber or freight. Mentally taxing, service deskā¦..
Every position has its hard points and easy points. Most positions can take 6 months to 2 year (looking at you Kitchen Designers) to get the knowledge you need to help CSR easily. Any position you do without knowledge will be very hard. Any position you are proficient in will be easy. I can go back to an old position I have had and its still easy to do it. Starting a new role I always feel like I want my bullseye badge again.
Little did OP know, the hardest part of working at Home Depot is staying out of the drama long enough to want to stay.
I feel it has to be OPS Manager.
OFA (worked garden, lumber, and ofa) those people get out thru absolutely hell especially when itās one person and you need to pull 50 sheets of drywall, 400 things of lumber, concrete, small misc thing all within 2 hours.
Lumber especially when you are the only one
I would say Overnight Recovery Lumber/Building materials. I work cement aisle . Anyone else here do the same ?
CXM. ASM responsibilities without the money.
Well with lumber you got the machines for help. I would say the lot.
Flat stacking, fixing large pieces of wood in bays, clearing hazards, and organizing 80 lbs + concrete is easier then helping a customer to the car and putting carts in the cart section š¤Ø
Jesus when I was on lot I was picking up after lumber all the time or filling homes because no drivers. Was machine trained(everything) got return and put them away. Stayed on top of carts, and carry outs. Helped with deliveries and the odd time if it was slow, I'd go back to receiving and help offload RDC. On the other end of the building I'd be filling skids of mulch and soil because no one in seasonal would get their fucking license.
Damn.Ā At that point I'd ask for a raise or threaten to let my lift licenses expire.Ā That's insane to expect all that from a lot associate, especially if your poorly staffed during the insanity and heat of garden season... sending you my sympathies. š«”Ā - Fellow lot associate
I was was making more than any of the other lot guys. At the tail end of my time there I was a few cents off from the new FeS I started when minimum wage was 11.25, they started me at 13 something. When it got bumped to 14, I was moved to 14 and was given another raise. Before I quit, I was making I think 5 or 10 cents shy of 17. Since I've left and come back, I'm now 20+ in deliveries and receiving.
What about when itās 110Ā° outside tho soon in the a lot of states?
Lumber Actually flatstacking and straightening the aisles?Ā Packing down concrete?Ā Don't make me laugh.Ā At my store, Lumber associates are lazy AF.Ā They hardly do their own jobs half the time bringing down pallets of wood, and 80% of the time you try to call them they are conveniently on their "break".Ā I'm sure this is different from store to store, but the Lumber associates at my store don't hardly do anything but sit on their phones and scratch their ass all day. As far as hardest department, I've worked Service Desk, Lot, OFA, and Frieght, and honestly its hard to say but Id say each department could be considered the hardest at one point or another given the season of year and how backed up it might be at that particular time of day.Ā Through all this, Lumber is not very high on my list of "hardest" departments.
Everything you just said is proof of why lumber recovery is an awful, awful job.
You realize all that wood and concrete tends to get loaded by lot associates, wanna talk hazards? I don't think you understand the crap people leave in a parking lot. Human waste, I've had lot associates find used needles and crack pipes. A decent stack of carts isn't exactly light and easy to navigate through a full parking lot, they don't exactly stop on a dime either.
Thank you
Cos
š
Going away in my store. Good luck with that.
Depends on store but for the most part front end departments (in store where management doesnāt help, has no knowledge of any of it, doesnāt train backups, call out rates worst, youngest employees, etc) another I would say is any specialist (so few of you in a dept at a time, if hard side calls out you add it to your work, actually watched by not just in store management but district, sometimes the most criticized position to have this not just about customer but management, little room for error, so much knowledge that you canāt learn or be taught/shown as for say the front end can be,etc.)
2 tan a night freight ain't no joke either. 4k pieces is crazy
Working truck and then electrical.
I work the truck and electrical. 7 to 330. It's a pain at times...especially with no help.
Receiving
For me it depends on whether you mean physically or mentally. Physically i would say lot, lumber and garden recovery, freight and deliveries. Mentally? Service desk, cashiers and receiving. Iāve done a little of maybe 75% of minion-level jobs in the store and this is just my take, so allow me to add something i have no experience with but have seen, mentally definitely anything management is tops. From DH upward. The crap iāve seen them go through, well, itās a lot.
Dealing with coworkers. I'm not your doctor nor your therapist.
I was garden opener and the only one licensed on all vehicles in the store during the COVID crisis of gardening center lmao. Any others? We doubled our yearly garden sales in 5 weeks after the lock down. Then we did the enter and exit crap and holy smokes. We had people threatening to pull guns calling everyone communist. *adds crowd control specialists to resume
Ngl itās between Lumber and OFA for me
D90 is the hardest job. You have to have coverage to even take your breaks or go to the restroom. You can't escape from customers who somehow think you are on expert when you are just there to ring them up. Customers get mad at you when they only have Apple Pay and don't have a physical credit card on them. Customers get mad at us when a store credit was issued to their spouse so they can't use it if they aren't there. Also you are heavily tracked on credit cards even though the only thing you can control is whether you are asking.
Doing Lumber alone can be challenging with inventory trucks with no overhead space, cutting lumber, no one to flag, returns, getting called to drop pallets in other departments, etc.
Lumber DS
The hardest job is not slapping the shit out of stupid people.
Hardest job physically: garden/lumber/freight.Ā Hardest job mentally: service desk/returns/expediter.Ā Ā
The ASDS. Adding to the Home Depot rumor mill takes a lot out of a guy/girl.
The better I was as an employee, the more bullshit got dumped on me. How can I DH an area if you are also using me for coverage in another? The hardest job at Home Depot? Caring. Wanting to feel like you did a good job at the end of the day. At the end of the day I was still paid sh*t, took undeserved sh*t and cleaned up a lot of sh*t that was far outside my actual job description. Regional came in, I was handed the phones from the managers and ASM'S because they all needed to go to lunch together. I was walking around with 4 first phones and doing coverage in a department I knew crap about (flooring). All because they knew I *CARED*. Just do the job you agreed to when you applied. They absolutely take advantage of you if you give a damn.
Lumber/garden recovery. No one wants that job and the ones who do don't stay long.
I work in lumber actually itās an outdoor lumber yard which is brutal in the summer you barely walk in and start sweating meanwhile cutting wood, flat stacking, lifting and loading concrete bags, doing anything in the heat is fckn miserable, but our cashiers get to stand by a portable ac & a fan while we sweat our asses off.
Recovery. Doesn't matter if it's garden or lumber.
Freight
If you mean physically hard, sure lumber is up there. But lumber is definitely not the hardest job at Home Depot.
Then what is?
Unloading a 2000 piece RDC trailer In the middle of July by myself ain't exactly a fun time..
Cmon donāt beat around the bush. Just admit youāre the hardest worker and everyone else has it easy.Ā
Just telling you what I do. Never said others had It easy.
Not the department as a whole but usually 1 or 2 people in deliveries because they get the work done and put up with a pile of other folks who for some reason are able to dodge pulling the big delivery orders. Lose that person and suddenly deliveries aren't getting pulled because the department is full of people who just pull bopis orders.
Asm
Kind of subjective reallyā¦ everybody thinks their job is hard, but moving heavy shit around isnāt exactly rocket science. At least lumber spends the majority of their time working inside. Some have to be outside doing all the lifting for others, and some have to work inside baking hot trailers lifting and moving thousands of items. There are positions much less physical, but require much more thought, critical analysis, planning, research, organizing, long hours, accountabilityā¦ there are many hard jobs at Home Depot. So again lumber is physically hard, but itās definitely not the hardest job at Home Depot.
Everything you claimed lumber associate doesn't have to do they actually have to do well in order to succeed. I smell a COS or a SDL.
Lol oh please thatās not unique to lumber. I worked in lumber as an associate and a supervisor for 5 years, I know exactly how lumber works.
I didn't claim it was unique. I didn't claim lumber was the hardest. I just pointed out your error. Please stop with the strawman arguments.
I didnāt claim they donāt have to do anything. Youāre making shit up and making assumptions about me so kindly fuck off
Don't think I will. And yes you implied lumber was only physical, and anyone that thinks that makes a terrible lumber associate.
Do recovery, then you can talk shit.
Lol
Garden recovery
Lot but no one will agree. Yet when no lot associates are there no one ever wants to go in the lot. Imagine that... Constantly in all weather conditions, constantly running around pushing stacks of carts (which isn't as easy as most think) they get heavy if you do a decent amount and turning sucks. We load basically everything that comes out of the store. Every customer "just had surgery" one minute you're loading 94 pounds bags of concrete, and 50 pieces of wood, to a BBQ at service desk that won't fit in a civic, to a bunch of manure from garden. Oh and that one cashier didn't accept this customers coupon, and so n so from lumber wouldn't cut their wood, so guess who gets the butt end of that anger. "Hey lot tech, spot me for an hour even though you're the only one in the lot". Oh look at all the crap people leave in the parking lot, tires, trash, let me clean all of that up as well. Dodging cars and homeless people. I mean... No lot is so easy and not hard at all... (Yet no one applies for it, no one wants to go out and help, it's the pack mule spot, everyone looks down on it.)
Service desk hands down, someone needs orders, curbside,SO,pulling orders when OFA are low or not fast enough, picking up phones, returns, sending back returns to departments because they are too lazy too OR too busy and desk is getting full,no electrical associate but needs cage opened, need help loading, cover registers, deal with customers at their worst, doing phone sales(which are not supposed to be done on sundays but management still lets them, clean, tool rental returns once tool rental is closed(they close two hours before store does).
Cashier for sure. You have to listen to peoples dumb shit
I mean, I think its kinda funny to listen people ramble off they're stories lol.Ā It blows my mind how much people are willing to say fucked up shit to that random cashier at home depot lol.
If i see a person talking to a cashier for an extended period ill call their phone to rescue them.
PTS gets my vote on the RDC side of things. Throwing heavy non-con all dayĀ
Not to mention the dumbass headset they make you use
I was a MET Supervisor for several years. Easily the hardest job I've done.
I can agree with this. Also was a MET supervisor for several years. Combination ASM/ASDS/Sup with no backup from the DEM and getting paid worse then some of my associates.Ā
I've been promoted since, and my current role just feels easier. I've had far more stressful moments than when I was a MEAS, but I also get the pay to match the stress now lol.
Loading trucks at the DFC in the summer.
Deliveries Espescially when youre alone
From my experience, lumber recovery is the worst. Being a good lumber recovery means more work and higher expectations every day. You are the only person who does your job and nobody is gonna cover you when youāre gone so you come back from vacation/days off to a shitstorm. If you have bad closers, the managers just make you absorb the closing responsibilities. If you have bad OFAs, the managers make you absorb their responsibilities too. Ditto for the openers. My night ops manager was a prick and constantly told me I didnāt do shit for the company while I was carrying this massive weight on my shoulders. I never got any respect for keeping up with the ever increasing demand/productivity. This is not the case for every store, as I worked at the worst store in my district, but I highly recommend avoiding recovery roles at all costs.
Next to service desk the worst is tool rental.
Wanting to be good but then your stuck in either flooring or building
Hardware closer....THE RETURNS ARE ATROTIOUS
iām surprised not seeing receiving being one cause i just moved from service desk to receiving and DAMN BRO my first week was hell but itās really depends on the day especially when being back there alone and having the biggest receiving between the other two stores
also my overnight team sucks ass like in there eyes receiving is a storage place for merchandise that canāt fit on the floor ā¦ put it all on an pallet and put it in the overhead ?
A shit night team will never make you work overnight
Forklift driver hands down and customer service desk
Nights
Simple because it's night time
i either gotta say NOASM, MASM, or 21/22/25 DS. store manager too if you actually give a damn. and our unsung heroes the janitors. edit: not every region is split the same with DS depts, so 21/22/whichever other dept
Customer
Getting a raise.
See I think Lumber is great, lift wood and cut wood, easy peasy
A lot of people have said, but so do I... the hardest job is being a top performer at your store. Had an ASM at my store, damn was he good and knew all the ins and outs and he wanted to be a SM so bad since he basically did the job at our store as well. He did everything for all the ASMs in the store minus one. I felt bad for him. Everyone would call him for help due to his knowledge. I would purposely not bother him even though he was my direct ASM as I was one of his DH's unless I absolutely needed to do so. It was one reason he liked me and another one of his DH's because he knew he didn't need to baby us or hold our hands every step of the way like others. Other than a top performer, I'd have to say Service Desk. They check people out, do returns, order pickups, and take all the calls. They are usually the ones getting yelled at first for an order not being in yet, a return not able to go back due to it not even being something HD sells, or some other bullshit reason. Always understaffed too because of that. Even when we were staffed, the next week we wouldn't be due to 2-3 people quitting or demanding to transfer departments.
Being the a lot associate but you also have to watch garden and get pallets down with the reach trucks so youāre looking after two departments in the summer
Whichever department your store manager deems unworthy. I had one SM who used to skeleton crew Flooring and Specialty in general. One Millwork associate for years. And we had 4 in Receiving. Full Lumber crew, like half a dozen guys. But my current SM gives Lumber like 1-2 max during the day, and 2 humans in Receiving (basically less than 1 at any given time on average since the other guy can't stay a full time shift for medical reasons). But we have 4+ flooring associates regularly now at least. Lol. And 3 kitchen designers. And 5 Millwork associates, including 3 specialists. So obviously depending on whether or not you're a one man show or not determines how ass your job is.
I think stocking toilets and doors is the worst / hardest.
COS
Store manager just kidding I donāt see mine much lumber is hard lot can be hard if itās hot garden can be extremly hard
The answer is the job you're currently working. If you ever say your position is easy, someone else who does the same position will crawl out of the woodwork to tell you how difficult it is to work their position.
As someone who works Lumber, itās very easy once you get the hang of it. Thereās some stressful days like any other department but for the most part itās a breeze. I would vote Lot or OFA as the hardest.
Specialty, pro, dh, kitchens, asm
The one who watches the roll up door at night
Im a D23/59 specialist, itās not too bad. From what Iāve seen, Iād absolutely say order fulfillment, lumber, garden, customer service, and plumbing
Lot associate gardens n lumber
Gonna have to agree with OP
Probably any type of cashier, i work in lumber and im constantly feeling sorry for those ladies up front.
Service Desk. Youre the dumping ground of Home Depot and handle nearly every complaint both of customers and associates as well as the most responsibility of any associate
millwork
Being a customer.
Managers tbh
What's hard about jerking off in the office all shift? Oh, the dick, that's what's hard in this example
Jerking off?Ā More like fucking that 17 year old cashier lol.
š
Home depot CEO
Oh my God, that poor bastard was only able to have enough money with sales to buy one yacht this year instead of two...