Today and yesterday New England is having the first big snowstorm of the year, and when I went to buy shovels two days ago my local Home Depot was literally sold out of snowblowers, including all display models outside.
When I finally gave up on shoveling and we decided to try to get a snowblower, I noticed that after all day of saying “none available” a store about 40 minutes north of us suddenly had three in stock, so I ordered one.
Home Depot story 3/3
When I arrived this was being explained to an angry customer who had driven about the same distance as me, and both people working the customer service desk were picking up the phone every time it rang—literally every time—and immediately saying “no, we have no snowblowers,” and hanging up. They told me 60% of the staff had also called out.
Amazingly the miracle truck had arrived right as I did and, because mine didn’t require assembly, I made it out with my order.