The Home Depot

No two days are ever the same. Working with the public on fun and interesting projects. Some flexibility on work schedule.

Pay bands keep shrinking, and employees are overworked and always understaffed. There is not usually a clear line of management. Everyone who walks through the door proposes a new and better system, which is undone by the next VP who walks in two weeks later. Cashiers are not treated very well. There is almost no chance of becoming full-time unless you are hired in that way.

Everyone is concerned with shrink. We hear it every day, yet we are paying our new cashiers near minimum wage now. These are the people at the "front line." They often have the most interaction customers have with us.

When someone is making $7.50 an hour and they are not allowed to work more than 28 hours a week, they aren't as worried about losing their job when a weekend party sounds more fun. They can leave and get a job at Wendy's making the same amount.

When I started with the company, the cashiers were paid $9-$10 to start, and they were often a lot better at their jobs.

Also, if someone really wants to know what the stores look like, why do they ALWAYS announce their visits in advance? I can't tell you how frustrating it is to work every night struggling to balance four customers, but at 10 AM that day, the store had aprons tripping over each other because someone "big whig" was in.

The slice of the pie under shareholder value has begun to get bigger and bigger, against doing the right thing and respecting all people.

None of us want to go the way of Circuit City and other retailers who didn't change with the times, but you also don't want to become the next Walmart either.

As the economy gets better, I am seeing so many people leaving the company.