Back in 1984, while being laid off from my regular job, I worked at a Builders Square for about 8 months. They had recently come to our area and had the practice of hiring retired trades people to staff their various departments. A newly retired co-worker of mine John, was the electrical department manager of this particular store and hired me in his department. One of the other "associates" was Mike, an older (about 65 at the time) retired electrician from Chicago. John happened to overhear a customer explaining an electrical project he was in the process of doing at his home. John turned white as a ghost when he heard Mike loudly say to the customer "Waddayou F****n nuts! Your gonna burn your house down!"
Not wanting to believe what he just heard John walked away knowing that he was probably going to have to dicipline Mike for what he said to the customer. About 10 minutes later John was called to see the Store Manager who wanted to know what Mike had said to the customer. John said he wasn't sure, why? The SM said a customer came up to him and told him that the old guy Mike in electical was the best salesman he ever saw. The customer couldn't get over how helpful and knowlegable Mike was and he really straightened him out on his project. Mike wound up getting one of those weekly corporate "atta boys" for being so helpful to the customer.
I guess the moral of the story is that there can be some good people at the big boxes, just make sure you look for the old gray-haired guy with the knarled hands covered with scars.