Poor treatment in Home Depot

[Mearaina]

I'm not sure if this should be in this forum - but I'm not sure where else it should go. A quick overview:

Last week my dh, myself, and our 4 children were shopping at Home Depot. The baby (5 1/2 months) started fussing and knawing on his hand, so I knew he wanted to eat. I looked around for a place to sit, and finding no chairs in that part of the huge store I asked an employee if there was a chair or some place to sit in the store to nurse the baby. She took me up to the customer service desk and this is where it went bad. First of all, my dh and I, with our carts, could not fit up to the area where this worker went to speak to two other workers (I am assuming they were customer service but I don't know for sure). So they are huddled in a conference maybe 15-20 feet away from us. Like I said, we couldn't get to where they were with our carts. The lady who I initially approached says something like, "they can't help you, sorry" and practically runs away. I am looking at the empty chair (yes there is an empty chair right at customer service, 3 feet away from where we are standing) as the one employee who was in the huddle makes motions to me (yes he won't even walk over to me) to ask if I drove there. He mimics turning a steering wheel and asks if we brought our car. At this point, I realize they will not let me use a chair to nurse and if I want to nurse in the store I have to sit on the floor. Now I knew E was going to start getting quite worked up so I gave the worker a dirty look and went to the van. It was pouring rain, I might add (we are in Pennsylvania, so not overly warm either). After I left dh brought our older children out to the van and we left without making our purchases. I will never set a toenail in any Home Depot ever again, I know that much. I wish I would have done more but I didn't want E to get too upset. After he ate I could have gone in and spoke my piece but I was too upset. Now I want to write a letter or something to convey my displeasure at this poor customer service but am not sure the best way to go about it. Should I write to the store itself, or Home Depot headquarters, or both? Where will the biggest impact be felt? We are in the process of fixing up our place to sell it and moving, at which point we'd likely need appliances and things to fix up the new place, so they are losing a lot of business from us. This is my fourth child and I was never treated like this before. I am still stunned.

[St. Margaret]

I would send the letter to both the store manager and the headquarters. I agree a written letter is a strong place to start. I hope you get a good response!

[Mama~Love]

Wow, that is awful! 's to you! I would've just sat in the empty chair right there & heck with them.

I don't know where would be best to write to. Maybe someone else has that info.

[Chandar]

Oh mama how infuriating! Nursing in a cold van in the parking lot in the rain is not a choice you shouls have had to make. Those employees were obviously untrained on how to treat nursing moms!

Check out www.FirstRight.org

Fill out a discrimination report. They can walk ou through any avenue of action you wish to take, they are also compiling a database of all of these incidents nationwide.

[MommytoTwo]

Wow I am sorry to hear you were treated so badly. I would definitely send a letter. I nursed DS at a home depot - I sat in a chair in the patio furniture section and no one said anything.

[MiamiMami]

Oh heck no! Please contact management and headqarters asap!

And for future reference, Home Depot has great patio furniture displays Lots of comfy chairs there.

[turtlewomyn]

I would definitely write to the store. First look up all your state's rules about bfing in public and make sure to make them aware of that.

Now, I suppose technically they could get away with saying they aren't obligated to provide a chair for you to nurse on, so they weren't necessarily telling you that you couldn't nurse in the store. (and what is with the steering wheel thing to tell you to go to your car, did they assume that since you were breastfeeding you didn't speak english??) I guess I would have just gone to the garden dept. with the patio furniture and sat there, or sat on the riding lawnmowers if necessary. I also used to just sling DD, and nurse her while walking around, but if your baby is 5.5 months, they may already be too heavy to do that.

I hate home depot, I have had such rude treatment there by the sales staff. I think they believe that women aren't supposed to be in there. My masters thesis advisor always told me to go to Lowe's. I know here there is a Lowe's across from every home depot now. Or, I would try using my locally owned hardware store as much as possible.

[MyBoysBlue]

Originally Posted by MiamiMami

Oh heck no! Please contact management and headqarters asap!

And for future reference, Home Depot has great patio furniture displays Lots of comfy chairs there.

I nursed there before no problems. It is usually the workers not store policy. Though they should train their employees better.

[SeekingSerenity]

Originally Posted by MommytoTwo

Wow I am sorry to hear you were treated so badly. I would definitely send a letter. I nursed DS at a home depot - I sat in a chair in the patio furniture section and no one said anything.

I sat on a patio swing in the garden area. No one said anything to me.

Now, I realize you are in PA, in winter, and it was raining, so that probably wasn't an option, but here's a thought if you are ever in a store like that again (though not necessarily a HD) - once I actually sat on the floorboard of a forklift. Did not feel safe climbing up with the baby into the seat of the thing, but I did plop right down on the floorboard. There was nowhere else to sit. I've also sat down on the bottom shelf of their large displays. And once I sat in a chair behind a register in the power-tools section. (We were managers for a complex of duplex homes, and were only allowed by the owner to use Home Depot because of his credit line there, so we were, at times, in that store two or three times a week.) It's been my experience that most of the time, no one will say anything if you don't come right out and ask - just sit down like you have every right to be there and usually no one says anything.

There will be times, though... and at those times you must be prepared and know your rights.

Definitely be writing that letter. There's no excuse for how you were treated. They did not HAVE to provide you a place to sit, but they had no right to suggest you leave the store to feed your child. Certainly they would not have done so if you had been bottle feeding.

[MyBoyAramis]

I used to work at Home Depot and just recently went there to resign. I had nursed my son with no problems. (Although this may be because I used to be an employee??)

Either way, Hubby still works there. I can ask him to get the Regional Manager's number (we're in NY) so that you can call and tell him your situation if you would like.

Sorry you were treated that way.

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

Our local Home Depo has a bench in the hall near the restrooms. It not ideal but at leat it's not in the restrooms. I've nursed there several times with no problems.

I'm guessing it has more to do with the ignorance of the individuals you encountered than Home Depo's corporate policy but I agree that they should train their employies better.

A letter to both the store manager and headquarters would be the best place to start. If that doesn't get a responce than maybe a letter to a local newspaper.

[EdnaMarie]

I agree that you should write to the headquarters and to the manager- one letter that says "To Whom It May Concern at Home Depot Headquarters and the [location here] Home Depot in [city, state]:" so that it is clear to both parties that you have contacted the other.

I also think that it's best to just sit down and nurse in most cases. People won't even notice.

[nataliebassoon]

Write that letter, girl. . . maybe you should write a letter to the editor to the local paper too!

[Mearaina]

I usually do just find a quiet place to nurse...what stumped me was the total lack of chairs or benches other then directly supervised chairs, like at the customer service desk. There used to be benches and such scattered through out the store, and when I asked the employee, I was thinking she'd just direct me to the nearest bench. I had no idea that the only seating was in the areas where they sell things (credit cards, carpet, cabinets, etc.) for people to sit and look at what they want to buy. If I had known that, I would have just sat in one without saying anything. But these chairs were all seriously guarded by salespeople. What happened to the regular old courtesy bench?

My 5 yo said they were a bunch of "bottom heads" when she found out they wouldn't let me use the chair to nurse

[texmati]

I would write a letter. Our home depot is very friendly, and while I don't have children, I've noticed that they do have places for people to sit. It's to their advantage to keep poeple in the store longer!

I can't belive they would send you outside.

[mamallama]

I nurse at Home Depot all the time. They have awesome furniture & the store is full of little ledges and those portable steps and stuff. I've never had the first issue there.

I bet the employees thought you were asking for a special place to nurse--like a private room or something. Of course they're not going to provide you with that.

Honestly, I would chalk it up to poor communication and let it go.

[Marsupialmom]

I would talk to the manager first because it isn't Home Depot's policy. I use to work there. It isn't really a nursing friendly area by the nature of design/business. It is a warehouse. There isn't a lot of benches around for many reasons one big one is cost. They would get demolished by the reach trucks and fork lifts. Talking to the manager he will be better able to talk to the employees plus give you a discount on the next purchase. I would also write a letter to corporate but from working there you were dealing with ignorant people not corporate ignorance.

Many stores don't have chairs scattered about. I don't understand why this would be expected at a hardware store?.

Different sections of the ware house has different types of customers. The lumber department people are in and out. The only were people "hang out" is places were their is chairs. People don't hang out in plumbing and buy more. They do take time to look at carpets, decors, et. You need to remember they need aisle open for equipment to move in an out of. YOU ARE IN A WAREHOUSE that is why there is no curiosty benches. Plus sitting anyware isn't always safe in that enviorment.

DO NOT SIT ON THE EQUIPMENT TO nurse. They could need that piece of equipment. You can also cause OSHA issues.

I would next time just ask for were there is a chair. Why does anyone need to know what you are doing? People take it as for asking permission to do something.

[Doodadsmom]

Originally Posted by mamallama

I bet the employees thought you were asking for a special place to nurse--like a private room or something. Of course they're not going to provide you with that.

Honestly, I would chalk it up to poor communication and let it go.

I agree - though they could certainly have made more of an effort. At a minimum they should have gotten up, come over, and actually talked to you.

[mran]

I nursed in Home Depot the other day in the painting department. I just sat cross legged on the floor and went to it. It's probably the 10th time in 2008 that I've just sat wherever and did my thing. Never had a problem.

[KristyDi]

Originally Posted by mamallama

Honestly, I would chalk it up to poor communication and let it go.

Yea, communication is difficult when you don't deign to speak to the customer.

I think this is less a BF issue than a basic customer service issue. If customer service is using hand motions to "help" customers then there is a problem.

I would imagine the the nature of Home Depot does make it a difficult place to nurse. I wouldn't expect them to go out of their way to make it nursing friendly. I would expect the basic courtesy of answering my question with words.