"Nosy Electrical Inc"

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mark32

Senior Member
Location
Currently in NJ
So I'm assisting a homeowner at work (HD) with a project he's working on. I won't bore you with all the details, but at one point he had a metal FS box in his hand. As we're talking, a guy and girl walk up and stood there for about 10 seconds before the girl asked where a non electrical item was. After directing her, I returned my attention to the original customer and the second guy steps up to us, like he was part of the conversation, and says to the customer, "Hey what you working on, I can help you". The first guy replies that I was already helping him. The second guy then says, two feet directly in front of me, "This guy doesn't know anything, he's no electrician". "What the hell makes you say that", I said in a firm and pissed manner. "What did I say to this guy that you didn't like". The guys says, "Well that box only has 1/2" knock outs, how many wires you got going through it?" "Listen, five seconds before you showed up the customer changed his mind as to how he was going to wire this (Post light and switch), so now we're working out those details". The first guy says to me, "You know each other", "I never saw this guy in my life" I said. The guy finally says sorry, as he didn't think I knew anything because I worked at HD.

45 minutes later, I'm helping another homeowner that wants to make some space in his already full QO panel. He had a pic of it, and I could see by the cat # that it's not rated for twins, which he already had in his hand. I go on to explain to him why a twin won't fit in his panel (The panel was installed like 10 years ago) and he sees the "Non hooked" QO twins we sell for panels installed "Pre '67" as stated on the packaging. "No, you can't use those either, but what you could do is find two circuits that don't have many items on them and put them on the breaker". A moment prior to me getting to that last point with the customer, a guy walked up and is now waiting to ask me a question. "Yeah, but I would wire nut those (Circuits) together and jump to the breaker", "Right, typically" I said, "But these are Square D breakers, they're rated for two conductors". "Blah, a home inspector would fail that". "Why, if he gives you a hard time just pull the breaker out and show him the picture right here on the side, it shows two conductors on the same terminal" I said in a firm and mildly pissed manner. He kind of shrugged and asked me his question.

What's with these guys that feel it's necessary to put their two cents in when it's not needed? The second guy wasn't too bad, but the first guy was a complete jackass! Can you imagine talking like that to someone you've just met seconds before!
 

cad99

Member
Location
ND
"Nosy Electrical Inc"

I hear you I always bring a change of clothes if I have to go to Menard's,blowes or home repo. I have a lot of good help in some I always give a person a chance. Also a lot of guys who I just screw with.menards is my retirement plan just to screw with folks. I had a bunch of service calls at one of above stores while wearing my blah blah electric shirt and driving blah blah electric scissor lift. I was asked countless times If I work there. Do you have more of this and where's the rebar.


Living the dream one nightmare at a time.
 

mark32

Senior Member
Location
Currently in NJ
You can not judge a book by its cover. Be it orange or blue, others have knowledge, too.


I hear you I always bring a change of clothes if I have to go to Menard's,blowes or home repo. I have a lot of good help in some I always give a person a chance. Also a lot of guys who I just screw with.menards is my retirement plan just to screw with folks. I had a bunch of service calls at one of above stores while wearing my blah blah electric shirt and driving blah blah electric scissor lift. I was asked countless times If I work there. Do you have more of this and where's the rebar.


Living the dream one nightmare at a time.

Thanks guys, don't get me wrong though, it really depends on who you ask for help at these stores. In my store, only two of us have been in the field, the others only know what they've learned just from being there. They know what ground screws are but they couldn't tell someone how to hook up a 3 way.
 

gadfly56

Senior Member
Location
New Jersey
Occupation
Professional Engineer, Fire & Life Safety
Thanks guys, don't get me wrong though, it really depends on who you ask for help at these stores. In my store, only two of us have been in the field, the others only know what they've learned just from being there. They know what ground screws are but they couldn't tell someone how to hook up a 3 way.

I'm curious if HD has a policy on giving advice to homeowners about doing electrical work. It's one thing talking to someone about caulking the tub, but electrical work is regulated in most jurisdictions. If someone asks me a question, I tend to be helpful to a fault. I could see myself getting into trouble if I worked there.
 

hbiss

EC, Westchester, New York NEC: 2014
Location
Hawthorne, New York NEC: 2014
Occupation
EC
It just goes with working at HD. Like giving advice on one of those DIY boards, you can be a pro and be absolutely correct and ten idiots will make you look like a fool.

If you want to soar like an Eagle don't hang out with turkeys...

-Hal
 

mark32

Senior Member
Location
Currently in NJ
I'm curious if HD has a policy on giving advice to homeowners about doing electrical work. It's one thing talking to someone about caulking the tub, but electrical work is regulated in most jurisdictions. If someone asks me a question, I tend to be helpful to a fault. I could see myself getting into trouble if I worked there.

I had the same concerns when I started there, it was actually the first thing I asked about. Let's say I tell someone how to do something but they shock themselves, fry their appliance, etc. That was almost eight years ago and nothing of the sort has come along. I try to feel out the folks that have an idea as to what they're doing vs someone that knows nothing about electrical work. A number of times I've told customers that they may want to contact a pro instead of doing such a task when I feel they are in over their heads. Ultimately it's up to them though, of course.
 
I'm curious if HD has a policy on giving advice to homeowners about doing electrical work. It's one thing talking to someone about caulking the tub, but electrical work is regulated in most jurisdictions. If someone asks me a question, I tend to be helpful to a fault. I could see myself getting into trouble if I worked there.

Hey, unless they can show a piece of paper where they got that advice in writing, or have a video recording of an HD worker telling them to grab both service lugs with bare hands at the same time, they can't prove what advice they got, or that they got one at all..
Just my take on it..
 
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