At least half of the employees have apparently never had a day's training in customer-service or time-management. The people working check-out are nice enough and seem to really bang people through, but the rest? Not so good. In the tools dept, most of the older guys seem to know about tools, but half the time when I go in, they can't be bothered to wait on me. Instead, they are busy visiting with pals they've known since 3rd Grade - basically pretending to help someone while catching up on fishing stories.
But the crowning glory is the paint department. They have, perhaps, one guy that knows what he's doing - and I haven't seen him in a while. Instead there seems to be a constant stream of people in there who have some limited understanding of paint and color, but it's from rote memorization - not any working knowledge. Anything outside of that narrow knowledge? They stare at you like a deer caught in headlights.
And the crowning glory is time management. When they get a largish order and have two people working, instead of one person grinding through it while the other one helps other customers - they tend to focus on that one order while other customers stand around.
I was on the receiving end of that recently. I needed them to match white. That's right. WHITE! I had pics of the old can that I bought from them last summer. It had the numbers on it etc. When I bought it they didn't have to mix anything, match anything etc. It was white from the factory.
The numbering system has apparently changed as the person I manages to wave up to the counter didn't know if the new "ultra white" was the same color. "Let me check on something" And with that she dove back into the big order with her pal for the next 20-25 minutes. All so she could come back (never once looking on the computer, a manual etc so at NO TIME did she actually check on ANYthing related to my question) and say "Well...do you have picture of the top of the old can? Then I can match the formula." I was familiar with the old can having used it for many hours of touch-up around my house - something I do every year and was trying to do again without repainting every single foot of trim.
"There is no sticker. There is not formula. This is off the shelf. Direct from the factory and there is the number of the color which should be in a book or on your computer."
"No. I need the formula." She then attempted to explain what a paint color formula was despite me repeatedly telling her "Yes, I know." (I painted houses as a way to work my way through school).
So, this morning I am researching the color on the can and trying to determine if it matches the new color, Ultra-white.
I'll probably buy it from this terrible Lowe's only because it's close to my house, but in no way will I ever bother to go in without researching my purchase as completely as possible. From microwaves to paint, their staff is less than useless. It's fortunate I've had good luck with their products because their staff (aside from the cashiers) might as well not be there.
They should hire a cleaning crew and someone to stock their shelves, cut their prices and bill themselves as self-service.
