I currently work retail but one of my regulars works at home depot and told me I should apply because they’re offering more hours/pay. TL;DR I have never gone through a more unprofessional onboarding process to the point where I’m no longer interested in working for this company in the slightest. If you want more details keep reading:
After my first interview I was told I would be contacted within 1-2 business days but instead they took over 2 weeks to schedule the 2nd interview. Then the 2nd interviewer didn’t show up to the webx call and when he eventually reached out to reschedule he missed the rescheduled one too, then said he was having tech issues and just offered me the job over the phone.
After I did some online training I got an email telling me to come to the store for a 5hr training shift. When I arrived the manager for my dept wasn’t in. I was asked if I had any login credentials which I was never given so I had to wait for 1 hour to get my credentials.
Then I do more computer training which is completely irrelevant to the actual job. At the end of the shift they just tell me to “come back whenever you want” to finish the training. The next time I go in my manager isn’t in again, I finish the computer training and then they ask if I did “learning locker” which again, no one told me about so I stay an extra hour and do that. Then I'm told just to come back on a certain day at 10am to shadow (no mention of how long the shift will be).
The day I come to shadow my manager has called in sick so despite coming to the store 3 times, I never once met my dept manager. I'm told to shadow some lumber associates and I ask how long the shift will be and the guy says “I was thinking a full 8 hours” really? 8 hours to shadow someone? I told them I just got my bivalent shot (which was true) and asked if I could do 10-4 which they said was fine.
During the shadow shift I saw some of the most insane stuff I have ever seen in a retail store. Employees were throwing knifes to each other, one of them actually slide a knife on the ground with the blade out and another employee used the side of his foot to catch the blade, in the middle of the store with customers around, on camera etc. lumber associates were cutting wood and just tossing it / letting the pieces fall to the floor without even looking.
I also noticed huge games being played by managers because I was told to shadow a lumber associate but yet I was asked to move fridges and toilets by the kitchen and bath manager. That's how you make your first impression? You see someone on their first shadow shift and you ask them to move fridges and toilets for your dept? You dont get any of your own dept staff or lot boys or do it yourself? They were even talking in a nasty passive aggressive manner saying things like “so yeah when you get back from lunch these toilets will be waiting you ok?” and doing a fake smile. on the first day? this is how you plan to retain new hires?
At some point I open the workforce app to see if I have a schedule yet and I don't have one for the following week but I am in the system for the weeks after however they have me scheduled on days I specifically put not available on the form and I also specifically mentioned this to every person I interviewed with.
By the end of the shift I get asked “so when are you in next?” and once again I tell them I don't know because no one has told me anything. Instead of giving me another day to come in, I'm told to just email someone about it. So I send an email and I also mention the availability issue and as if it's almost a joke at this point the email I get sent back says I would have to submit an availability change request “through the system” and I'm told “we can go over it on monday” which is one of the days I am not available.
So I am not replying to that email (and I'm never going back) because it's genuinely insulting at this point. It is mind boggling to me how a company can seem so desperate for workers yet this is how they treat new hires? you completely disregard their availability on a form you provided? you provide no notice to when you have to work? you make the worker jump through hoops just to find out when their working? just what the actual hell is going on here lmao.