OfficeMax — Local services in Key West

Came down for my honeymoon and not one of the televisions in the three rooms we stayed in had HDMI connections. Not the end of the world, not the first time we've encountered this issue, but my wife and I dragged 20 lbs. of gaming gear down with us in hopes of maybe streaming a bit as a surprise to the people of Twitch.tv. So I contact the store to ask if they have some connectors to aid in this venture.

If non-commital customer service via phone is what you're looking for, you've come to the right place! Not only did the first person who answered the phone have no idea what an "electronics department" might be (regardless of how it's named in their store), this man then proceeded to inform me that he needed to know "what [I'm] looking for in the store". I assume the word "electronics" may have been outside of his vocabulary, so I stated that I needed help with audio/visual cables.

I was promptly rerouted to the one person who might have actually SEEN a computer or an electronic device that wasn't a "personal massager". Upon receiving the most unflattering greeting I've heard in a while ("yeah, how can I help you?", in a tone best described as "the f* you want?"), I informed the next gentleman that I was looking for an S-Video cable. The prompt response was "Naw, we don't have those in store, only online", to which I responded, "Well, that takes care of the second part of my question as well!" in a jovial tone. This must have been the cue I was unaware of to immediately hang up the phone without any follow-up or other questions regarding how this person could assist me, thus ending our conversation.

It's the holiday season. People are stressed out, demanding, sometimes even outright rude or nasty. Having been none of the above, I thoroughly expected to have someone in the store at least make an ernest attempt to address my concerns. Instead I was greeted with a level of dismissal I thought was only capable at the DMV or maybe a fast food restaurant. I'll never set foot in the store for fear of being beaten with a surge protector (provided they're actually in the store and not just available online), but this must be the most wonderful time of the year to be a customer service representative on an island where a single electronics store can actually hold you by the short and curlies without any worry of corporate oversight or managerial repercussions. 5 out of 5 stars for the lowest common denominator of "service" I could have ever expected short of being shot by the police for helping an old lady across the street in rural Mississippi. Excellent work and a great memory to share over egg nog this Christmas! ...

I enjoy working with efficient, capable & knowledgeable people and that’s exactly what I encountered today while being assisted by Dani and watching her help others.

She was the only Associate behind the service counter with a row of people waiting, so I settled in for a long wait. Yet moments later - after managing customers like a traffic cop does drivers through an intersection - she was helping me.

Just looking at me and the bin I was holding she didn’t waste any time asking what I needed, saying in a joyful tone... “You’re here for shredding” and jumped right into it.

I threw her a curve, upon presenting a old lithium battery for recycling. She wasn’t sure what to do with it, but in the blink of an eye she happily took it from my hands setting it aside saying she’ll figure it out later and proceed on to the main task at hand.

What I anticipated as a 30-minute task was over with in about ten.

When I returned to the office a co-worker was researching costs on Amazon for 24 pieces of a single item. When I explained why I’d returned so soon from Office Depot, we decided to check for the same item on OfficeDepot.acom and discovered them same item on Amazon that was $12 each was only $7 on OfficeDepot and it was in-stock at the local store.

Win, Win... Win. Doesn’t get much...

They sold me a laptop with a bad monitor cable so I took it to them only for the guy with short guy syndrome to tell me everything was fine only for me to point out the issue because he wasnt exactly paying attention. And the employees they fired that were super helpful were being told by a few guys that don't know anything about repairing any of their products just the basics that "he returns everything he buys" yeah when they pull that "if you dont see it its not in the store" they told me that when I was looking for a pc with a pentium 4 in attempt to sell me something with a garbage cpu for the same price, etc and a guy that no longer works there found what I needed in the back after they swore that their inventory was in that broom closet.

They must think that everyone in that town is on some mind altering drugs probably why they speak of this as a solution during an argument. Unless that closet has an anime pocket dimension or a basement inventory is in the back like...