I usually try to frequent mom-and-pop, local hardware stores not run by evil companies, but alas, I work blocks away from a Home Depot, so I wind up going there for most of my commodity stuff.
I went there today to pick up the $5 worth of stuff I need for my latest project. As I was walking in, in encountered the greeter. I smiled and nodded, said 'hi' like I do to, you know, humans. Before I could even get out 'hi', the greeter launched into "No payments, no interest for 10 months with the new Home Depot(tm) credit card!" Of course, I said no thanks, and started shopping, but was quite unsettled by this.
I mean, I'm used to people trying to sell me stuff and all, but the way the greeter launched into the sales pitch, robotically almost, with no pretense of providing human contact. It was almost as impersonal as a spam, or a poorly-written 'bot, except we were there, face-to-face. And the face... uninterested, until I came into view, then fake-smile, sales pitch. It reminded me of the scene from the "Stepford Wives" trailer where the robot wife opens its (her?) eyes... It was as if the greeter had checked her soul at the door, and became a human billboard.
I'm sure somebody thought that having human greeters advertising the store credit card was a good idea, but really, a paper billboard would have been more effective, and cost less than minimum wage.