I'd picked up the stain and a brush (I think, my brain's a little fuzzy on the exact sequence), I saw something fall... and hit the floor just inches from my feet. I have a snapshot in my head of two things in flight, and one on the floor, and that I was moving in what happened to be the right direction... away.
All three boxes fell from high up. You've been to Home Depot, you know how high those shelves are. The top ones often have nets across them to prevent this kind of thing happening. Not this time.
The paint-mixing guy either saw what happened or a customer told him, came and moved the boxes to the side, asked if I saw where they had fallen from. All I could say was, "up there!" because all I saw was them in flight, aiming for my head.
I wandered around the store for a few minutes, avoiding aisle 11, went round another way to pick up my paint. Another customer tracked me down to tell me how lucky I was. I know, I said, I'm still here.
Took pictures of the boxes with my cell phone. The aisle was still open. Collected paint and went down another aisle to find Customer Service to make sure they were aware. Nice lady offered me a chair (I just wanted to make sure nothing was going to fall on anyone else) and went to check but I had zero confidence that anything was being done.
And yes, that does say "corrosive".
Surely, safety regulations should have dictated immediately closing off the aisle from customers until employees had checked that nothing else could fall?
A few inches to the north, and I would not be here today. I am happy I went south.
Home Depot did contact me: Customer Service, and the manager of the store, both to reassure that they do have safety processes in place, and that they have twice checked the aisle to make sure that nothing else is going to topple on unsuspecting customers. I hope they are right!
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