Found this gem today. Possibly Photoshopped, and certainly a stereotype, but I like to say: stereotypes work in stereo, just not in mono.
https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...loyee_meme.jpg
Our closest Home Depot has a mix of young kids and a couple of extremely knowledgeable older guys. I've mastered the art of looking extremely busy so that the younger people don't ask me for help, and as soon as an older guy is free, I dodge the younger employees and make a beeline for him.
Home Depot was actually founded (around 1978) on the notion that its employees should be deeply experienced retired tradespeople. For a while it was a great gig for semi-retired and highly-experienced folks. Then the former CEO of General Electric, Robert Nardelli, took over in 2000, with an aggressive cost-cutting agenda, which led to the shortage of expertise among its employees. Nardelli resigned in 2007, amid complaints over his management style and his $124 million pay (plus $210 million severance package!).
There's an interesting homemade tool connection here. Michael Powell was a Home Depot employee who noticed that employees were injuring their hands using Home Depot's radial saws. Home Depot was paying out about $1 million per year to settle injury claims related to the radial saws. So Powell invented a "Safe Hands" radial saw safety guard add-on, and was awarded this US patent for it. Home Depot then asked one of its suppliers to manufacture the Safe Hands adaptation, and installed it in over 2,000 of its stores, after which radial saw injury claims dropped significantly. In 2007, Powell sued Home Depot for patent infringement, and won $24.5 million.
Here's one of Powell's patent drawings, plus the brief description:
https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...afe_hands1.jpg
More:Quote:
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages and shortcomings in the art by adapting a radial arm saw with a safety top configured with a cutting box enclosure for containing and collecting substantially all of the sawdust generated when in use. The safety top further includes spring biased push blocks that function to hold the work piece in place during the sawing process while maintaining the user's hands safely away from the saw blade. In accordance with the present invention, a radial arm saw is adapted with a safety top providing an improved work surface, a fully integrated structure that contains and captures substantially all of the sawdust and particles generated by the saw, and integrated push blocks that are mechanically biased to secure the workpiece in engagement with the fence.
https://www.google.com/patents/US7044039
https://dockets.justia.com/docket/fl...v61862/325644/
Previously:
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...fication-58350
