jimlongley wrote:
My Home Depot welcomes dogs, and we have even seen several pet parrots. My Chocolate Lab has her own HD apron and attends store meetings and we have a manager who insists on being called when there are "furry friends" in the store so she can come greet them.
My yellow lab loves to go to HD in Seguin. He knows a number of the employees there (especially the ones that carry dog biscuits in their aprons), as well as the manager.
When I first moved to Seguin, I took him there and asked if it was OK. One of the employees said fine, and we went regularly for a few months until a new intermediate manager came on scene. She saw me and wife and dog one crowded Sunday afternoon and told us no dogs allowed, HD policy, etc. I pointed out that we had already asked, had been coming for months, but no, she insisted he had to leave. Didn't feel like arguing about it right then, so decided to go and follow up later. On the way out, one of my lab's friends that worked a cash register saw us, and we told her what happened. She threw a fit and stormed around her station, saying she was going to do something about it.
A few days later I ran into her in another store in Seguin, and she was excited to see me. She had complained, gone up the management chain, got it straightened out...but they only knew my dog's name, not mine
, so they didn't know who to call. She got my number, and the store's assistant manager for PR stuff called me and apologized and said the lab was welcome.
All well and good for a couple months, then we run into the same busybody manager again, and once again she wants to chase us out. I asked her, "You didn't get the memo?" told her about being invited back, and told her to go check it out herself. She said she would and would be right back, but we didn't see her for the remaining 45 minutes we were in the store. Later I ran into Mike Walker, the store manager, introduced him to my dog, and thanked him for letting him visit. He said no problem, he had dogs himself and scratched his ears.
My dog and I ran into Mike enough that eventually I asked him if he could help out a non-profit I am on the board for. Since then Mike has come through with a substantial dollar amount worth of paint and material, and some HD employee volunteer organization they have has come out and done quite a bit of volunteer work for us.
All of which I attribute to my yellow lab.
