Masters Home Improvement has employed security guards to protect its staff from obnoxious customers who have lashed out and trashed stores as the fire sale heats up.

In scenes reminiscent of the ugly drama of the Dick Smith closing down sale, Masters sales staff are reporting a slew of bad behaviour from verbal abuse to taunts about losing their jobs, tampering with price tags and even theft.

One worker said her team met every morning to discuss how to cope with the daily barrage of abuse from customers.

She said the people criticising the Masters sale on social media forums were probably the same customers who "came in expecting everything for nothing".