I was sad to get this from a reader. I wish her well and if there are more of you out there, I would love to hear from you.

"Mr. Laljee,When you said that things couldn't possibly get any worse with HD, I think there is still more trouble down the road. I work in a store and you are assuming that Mr. Blake is going to do what he has said in the press. I can tell you there have been no increase in employees(in fact they are still cutting), no new systems and equipment or improvements in logistics to stop the rampant out of stocks, no reduction in time consuming stupid six-sigma paperwork and micromanaging from Atlanta by people with ZERO retail experience. They are only concerned with buying back stock to artificially increase the earnings pershare. Mr. Blake may be a kinder, genteler ceo, but he has no clue how to satisfy customers, and the company is still full of Bob's GE yes-men. Employees are losing patience, and the best ones are giving up on the company caring about us or the customers. They are leaving all the while are hours are being slashed even further which reduces sales, and it's a visicious circle. Lowes is taking market share and nothing is being done to stop it. We try our best, and work our butts off, but we have to fight the company tooth and nail to do this. To me this is not a sign of a prosperous company. "