I’m a big fan of Home Depot, at least in general.

The one near my house is great, with a lot of product and helpful staff.

The one near where I work – a smaller Home Depot – is a different story.

The one near work is about a couple of hundred yards from where I work; it takes longer to walk from the parking lot to the store than it takes to drive to the store’s parking lot.

So I go there often.

And I think I’ve left there two-three times only with product. I once went looking for a white single light switch (you know, the wall mount to turn lights on and off).

No go. WTF? This isn’t esoteric stuff.

Last Thursday, however, I went over there looking for a masonry drill bit set. I had to do a project for my dad, and I really didn’t have a good set of masonry bits, just some oddball ones.

Good excuse to get a set.

The only set (of course…) they had was a Vermont American set (cheap brand), with no listed price. Whatever…it’ll work for my uses.

When I took it up to the counter, it scanned in for $0.01. The cashier called a manager over, and he said – basically – that if it scanned in for that, Home Depot has to sell it for same.

So I paid with a quarter (only change I had) and got 24 cents back for a 21-piece masonry drill bit set.

So I guess I have to tone down my complaints about this particular store….