I used to work at Home Depot, which I'm sure is basically the worst place to work in North America. Any time I become disenchanted with my job or life in general, I think back on those days and reflect on how much better I have it now. I was a cashier for a few months, and I was probably treated best when I was there, now that I think upon it, though customers were relentless. Then I moved on to home decor, which was not bad as I had a very nice manager, but the training was abysmal and I'd probably have had a better chance of really grasping the intricacies of custom ordering blinds if I'd cared at all or was being paid more than $9 an hour.

A couple months later I moved into the paint department, which I would have enjoyed a lot more if I hadn't been working completely alone most times, usually without breaks and covering the phones for at least one other department while I was at it. Or if my manager hadn't been completely useless and one of the rudest people on earth. I was constantly in trouble with her. The reason was this: I was a part-time worker and was supposed to be scheduled around my school schedule (I was 19 and a full time student) but Maria just didn't care that I had school most days and scheduled me whenever worked for her, and when I mentioned it to her and asked her to change it, she just ignored me, so every single week I had to go above her head to have my schedule changed. So she hated me and made me work alone. In the busiest department in the store.

Luckily I managed to get moved to millworks where I had an awesome manager and some really great coworkers, but both customers and vendors treated me like I was some sort of idiot because, clearly, a girl doesn't know anything about windows and doors. It was irritating on a daily basis.

But the worst part of working for the Depot was the appaling way the staff was treated by most upper management, and the way they didn't seem to quite see us as people. After I'd been working there about a year (I stayed two and a half years total), upper management decided that closing shifts would no longer end whenever you were done cleaning your department. Instead, everyone was forced to stay until 11pm, despite the fact that most people were finished all their cleaning by 10:15 or so. Since many people just ignored this new rule, upper management decided to begin locking us all in until 11. Even when confronted with the fact that it was a safety hazard in case of a fire, we were told to shut up. I think someone must have made a call to get that straightened out, but when the exit doors were finally left unlocked, management began simply standing guard there, doing nothing until 11.

The night after my grandmother died, I had a lot of trouble sleeping. I'd been at the Depot a long time and had never once called in sick, but I was simply incapable of going to work that day and called in a few hours before my shift. The assistant store manager who took my call accused me of lying about my grandmother. I just hung up on her.

On another occasion, when I was working in millwork, a customer in a wheelchair asked me on a date. I respectfully declined. Apparently he didn't take that well because he told an assistant store manager named Tasha that I randomly walked up to him, grabbed him by the collar and shook him and shouted "are you retarded" in his face. I personally think it's a little far-fetched that anyone would do that, but she wrote me up for it.

So my advise to you, to anyone, is to NEVER work at a Home Depot. Don't even shop there, if you can avoid it. It's better to shop at Rona and support the Canadian economy anway. Home Depot sees its employees as its least valuable resource. They really should be stopped.