…because I finally went grocery shopping tonight and apparently I’d forgotten…
Us Customers Aren’t All That Bad
So quit acting like we’re this huge inconvenience when we squeeze our way around the pallet that you’re unloading to try to grab a measley tub of yogurt! Either convince your manager to close the store for two hours so that you can restock the shelves without interference from all of us pesky customers or simply come to terms with the fact that if we didn’t keep buying all of this crap, there’d be no need for you to restock it in the first place.
Why Stock ‘Em High?
I can only imagine what goes through the heads of the employees who created the latest product display in housewares. The idea was to display plastic hangers, like you would hang clothes on, so someone had taken two of those gigantic ladders that extend all the way to the ceiling and done exactly that, then hung said hangers across poles between the two ladders all the way to the ceiling. Problem is, I didn’t really see too many shoppers around that were twenty feet tall, so I’m still a bit confused as to how they expect to actually sell any of those things!
Hide Behind a Rock
…or a pole, in the case of leaving the store to see where the “door greeter” was hanging out to avoid doing his job. Apparently this dude had pulled up a stool from the nearby Subway and setup his shop behind one of the poles to the restaurant so that he could lean on a garbage can for all the support that he would need greeting shoppers to Wal-Mart at 11:00pm at night. Way to earn that $7.25, buddy…
Watch for Missing Items
Now either I just happened to miss a bag or the cashier that checked me out made out with some of my stuff! It’d normally be rude to accuse someone of such things, but I guess if I got better service from Wal-Mart’s cashiers this wouldn’t be the first thing to cross my mind. Lines are always so ridiculously long as it is because they don’t staff enough people that these folks are typically so angry that they really couldn’t care less about the quality of service that they give. And even if I did just forget to grab a bag, isn’t it the cashier’s responsibility to make sure that I grab all of my newly purchased items before she begins begrudgingly checking out the next person in line?
Now I have to decide if it’s worth an hour of my time tomorrow standing in lines and arguing with people to try to get the bottles of body wash and conditioner that I rightfully paid for this evening, but didn’t get to bring home with me… 🙁
…
My Mom and I spent a little bit while I was shopping this evening going on about Wal-Mart and she commented about people being afraid to buy toys at Wal-Mart now because of the whole lead paint thing with products from China, but all I can do is laugh because point blank, Wal-Mart wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the low, low production costs of China. We want toys for $0.97 but then somehow expect them not to be made out of poison?! Mom remembered how Wal-Mart’s commercials used to boast Made in the USA and all sorts of positive things from their employees, but I couldn’t even tell you when the last time I remember seeing one of those smiley faced ads on TV anymore. I think it’s a conglomeration of all of this and more as to why I find myself shopping pretty much anywhere but Wal-Mart if at all possible. I don’t even mind paying a couple bucks more for groceries – mediocre customer service is better than absolutely none at all.
inre: your first item.
As a merchandiser, I find that 99% (and I’m not using hyperbole here; I’m sure it’s that high) of Walmart customers are so self-centered and assholish that they can’t possibly be bothered to look left, or right, or look behind them to see if anyone/anything is around them. I’m pretty sure that, were people to drive like they walk in Walmart, there would be hundreds of thousands of more accidents on the roads, and most of them would be much more fatal because people would be driving at 10,000 mph. They delight in leaving items that obviously don’t belong on a pop shelf… on a pop shelf. They’ll pick up one flavor and then decide they don’t want it and put it somewhere other than where they found it WITHOUT STEPPING FIVE FEET.
I try, and try, and try to be observant and watch out for those around me, but they show such a blatant and constant disregard for the people putting items on the shelf so they could buy them that it’s near impossible to not want to murder them with a full pallet of Mountain Dew.
And no matter how many times I hear from people that it’s unfair that I’m working on Labor Day, I know it is. I’M WORKING ON IT. PEOPLE ARE IDIOTS.
Also, I can assure you it takes much more than two hours to restock a Walmart. Especially a Super Walmart. We had a guy in the Fargo Walmart from 5:30am until 3:00pm, and I assure you that our merchandisers are much better and faster than Walmart stockmen/stockpeople.
Personally, I’d avoid it like the plague, too, but I can’t because I’m poor and they’re cheaper than everywhere else. The biggest reason I hate it, though, is because it’s ALWAYS busy, and they treat their employees (well, those that aren’t management or corporate) like SHIT. And that irritates me a lot more than bad customer service. I’d be cranky too if I couldn’t afford to go shopping in my own store.