Wal-Mart's Hostility Towards Customers
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Shopping In Wal-Mart Stores Can Be A Very Stressful Experience
Almost everyone who has ever shopped at a Wal-Mart store can name a time when they were treated rudely, given poor service or just outright ignored until you went away. As mad as you are at the people who gave you the bad service, unfortunately it's not usually their fault. The problem goes far deeper, as a former manager I have had a lot of experience dealing with these situations, and often the problem is traced back to low morale, bad training and accountability.
Bad Training
Of course I say bad training optimistically, many associates at Wal-Mart receive no training many are just supposed to pick it up as they go by monitoring others who received the same "training". When it comes to customer service there is no actual training, for a company that prides itself on service you'd think everyone received some sort of training dealing with customers, but no. The only ones who receive any sort of training in service is the people who work at the service desks and even that's not about helping the customer. When associates are training at the service desk they are given a long list of policies and every circumstance where they can say no, they are trained to say no whenever possible and suspect everyone without a receipt is a thief.
Morale
This is one of Wal-Mart's biggest problems, with cut hours, under staffing, and being subjected to an unfair work environment many associates really have bigger things to worry about than helping you. Many of the areas of the store are monitored to insure everyone goes to break at certain times and they reach a certain level of productivity, they can't really be bothered helping you. Sales are down so bonuses are less likely, their hours are cut, they're overloaded with work and telling someone you were helping a customer sounds more like an excuse to a manager than a valid reason for something not getting done. Another factor to low morale is customer compliments and complaints, yes compliments too. Whenever you make a compliment to a manager about an associate they get the standard pat on the back but when review time comes it plays no factor in them receiving a raise. While they were busy helping people they weren't getting things done and that loss in productivity often makes the most customer friendly associates labeled as unproductive. The complaint system is often abused as well by people looking to defraud Wal-Mart and savvy enough to call 1-800-Walmart. When customers call this number whether right or wrong they always get their way and this often leads to associates getting in trouble for things that weren't their fault, which leads to my next point.
Accountability
When it comes to associates actually getting in trouble for doing something wrong you are faced with a rather subjective system. "Favorites" don't normally receive any discipline without an act of god and worker's who aren't favorites are often penalized for things they didn't even do wrong. Sadly these "non favorites" are often the hardest working and best with customers but because they won't kiss the manager's butt they receive substandard treatment. While this also effects morale it also leads to poor service, while the favorites can get away with murder the rest are constantly watching their backs knowing any second they can get called in the office for something they didn't do wrong.
They Hate Customers Not People
Many associates are friendly, nice people you'd get along with in normal situations but when they're at Wal-Mart they are more or less taught to hate you. Associates are taught that customers are a dime a dozen and that there is a million more where they came from. Also they are constantly bombarded with the fact they need to watch out for one scam or another leading them to suspect everyone is trying to defraud the store in some way. That's why when you point out a pricing error they often start treating you differently. Customer's often are thought of as obstacles, constantly preventing associates from getting any work done and they will do anything to get rid of you as quickly as possible.
Overall
While many of these situations are not unique to any company, what is unique is them all being present in one place. Like they often say Wal-Mart has everything, but I guess you didn't think this was included in that. With associates taught to always say no and managers taught to say always yes there is constant internal conflict as associates feel constantly betrayed by managers often right in front of customers with no explanation why managers overrode them. So yes, they don't like you, the managers or their jobs, they are stuck hoping things will get better. Last year associates thought things would get better with the implementation of a new management structure but that only compounded the problem further. The old saying goes "The customer is always right!" but at Wal-Mart you get a unique experience, customers are often are found to be wrong, whether true or not.
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I worked at Walmart in the Jewelry Department for one and a half weeks. It was the worst experience of my life. The training sucked...a bunch of computer courses that I had to read on my own. I was expected to know how to pierce people's ears from watching a computer course. Also, I always had to jump through hoops to go on a break. The first time I was left in the department on my own, which also happened to be the first time I had to pierce someone's ears, a lady came in with her one year old daughter and wanted her ears pierced. I was a nervous wreck. I managed my way through it, and after that, decided that Walmart was not a place that I wanted to work, no matter how much I needed money at the time.
I have had no such bad experiences at WalMart. Like most big stores it is sometimes hard to find a store employee to ask a question of. however, at least in our town, they have always been courteous and friendly.
In fact I can't think of any store in town that isn't.
I am a dept manager at a Wal-Mart in PA and it sucks!! We are used as the slaves! They cut everyones hours then we have to do are jobs and everyone else's jobs to. My assent Manager walks away when you try to talk to him. They hardly let you work in your own Department but bitch if your stuff isnt done!! I hate my job and hate going to work!!! Other Dapt. Managers have complained to home office about the way we have been treated and they have ended up getting a bull crap D-Day weeks later.
I always thought Wal Mart was the best store around. Well, now when ever i go to shop there are very few items on the shelves and the vegtables an d fruits are not the best. grapes are Very soft ready for the garbage. veggies are weak and frail looking. You cannot find what you want cause there is never much of stock on the shelves. I have complained and even sent a letter and an e mail to no avail. I was told to complain to a store manager. Did that. Thats why I went higher up to be told to get back down.At night more so in the summer during the very early hours after midnight, you can find at least 5,6,or some times as many as 7 overnight stock persons outside from the time I would go in to shop to the time I would come out STILL there, smoking and conversing. Am I WRONG? Shouldnt they be doing a job that they are being paid for??
I work at Walmart presently and everything in this article is unfortunately right on. I always loved shopping at our local walmart and I still do, but the People at the top have made so many changes in the last 6 months, most of the associates can't even keep up with the changes in policy or procedure. Add to that the HQ at bentonville has put most areas on a scorecard and the shifts don't allow for coverage 100% of the time-it's crazy. The poor guy covering sporting goods has to run over and catch a fish, run back to automotive to cut a key and then try to get all the freight worked before mgmt gets mad and accuses him of "standing around". I do the scheduling at the front end and sometimes have 11 people at 10am and 2 cashiers at 5:30 (rush hour for stopping in after work) Hello? what's wrong with the picture? WE CAN'T CHANGE THE SHIFTS CAUSE IT MAKES THE SCORECARD GO DOWN AND HEAVEN FORBID WE HAVE A BAD SCORE! All of the associates and most of the mgmt is very frustrated with the bad changes the corp. has made. If you are reading this and go to a walmart and have a polite associate that is able to put on a smile and give knowledgeable service-please take the time to thank them-it really goes a long way and that associate will most likely remember you the next time your in. Please be patient with associates that you see trying hard and for Joann above: remember that people do take a lunch hour-perhaps those 6 or 7 were on their lunch hour?
Walmart owns the world now. I honestly hope people do start realizing that they are shooting themselves in the foot when they shop at walmart. Soon they will put the world out of business.... you know how they get such good prices? They refuse to buy from companies until they meet their price. These companies can not afford to tick off the big bad walmart so they search for other ways to cut prices.... which means outsourcing. Not only are we losing our jobs to overseas manufactures we are killing are small businesses.
I was hired with no retail experience as a C0-Manager (it was well below the level I held in the real business world). I worked there for 10 of the longest months of my life. It was BY FAR the worst company I worked for. They showed no respect for their employees. I was given almost no direction without a threat attached to it. The sad part is we did have a good store manager. The market management team was the most under-qualified group of people I have ever seen in my entire life. With no real stake in the individual stores, they constantly gave direction that conflicted with that of the store manager. I seldom shopped at Wal-Mart prior to working for them and none since I voluntarily left their employ. They will get no more of my money.I pity those who are left and the managers that have as many as 11 meetings in a day. Hard to fix stupid.
I have not worked for Wal-Mart but the store I went to was ridiculous! I brought my children into the store after a school concert. My daughter had kicked off her shoes and walked through the store with her long dress hiding her feet.
At the checkout counter, the cashier had the nerve to grab my 15 year old daughter by the arm (that's assault) and told her she could not be in the store with no shoes on. I was livid and threatened the woman with a huge law suit if she did not take her hands off my minor child. She just glared at me when she let go and told me there was a sign posted.
I left the store with my very unhappy daughter and looked everywhere for a sign that said shoes required. There was not one. A couple saw my crying daughter and asked if they could help. They also saw me looking at the store walls.
I told them what happened and the man pulled off his shirt and walked into the store. There was no sign posted.
I went back into the store to complain, but heard nothing more from the woman. She was no longer at her post, I don't know what happened to her, but I told them where I was and the receipt indicated the cashier.
I was so angry at that woman. I really should have sued but I don't have the time for such trivialities. Maybe if I had Wal-Mart would have improved instead of whatever they've turned into now.
To the person above-yes it was very wrong for that lady to grab your daughter, but I can't help but wonder what kind of mother would not care about her daughter walking around barefoot in a store, especially one as filthy as Wal-mart. That is just nasty. It's not like you're at home. I work there and I can tell you first-hand just how disgusting those floors are. Food and liquid gets spilled everyday, glass bottles get shattered, people can get injured and blood ends up on the floor, some truly sick people even stoop as low as to relieve themselves on the floor(it happens more than you would think). And the maintainance people don't do the best job of cleaning.
I'm not sure why you would need a sign to tell you that shoes are supposed to be worn, I would think that it's common sense. You mentioned suing the store because the lady grabbed your daughter-yet I bet you'd do the same thing if your daughter had cut herself on a piece of glass that the maintainance person overlooked.
I agree with anonymous. It's easy to sit there and blame someone else for your idiocy. Why would a decent mother allow her young daughter to walk on a bare cement floor without shoes on? No, that cashier should not have grabbed your daughter and should have been punished for it. But you should have your children taken away from you for subjecting them to possible injury or disease. There are some truly disgusting people in this world and the things they do to floors at walmart are atrocious. Most of the time when something is spilled, it is wiped up with papertowels and the glass is rarely all cleaned up.
No shirt, no shoes, no service is shopping 101. It's the same rule for anyplace that serves food. If you don't know that, then you have no business being out in public, especially not with your innocent daughter who looks for an ignorant fool for a mother to protect her.
I must disagree. My 13yo daughter often goes barefoot when I take her with me shopping on short notice. She went barefoot from when she was born to when she started school and her shoes/socks would come off as soon as she got home. My point is she has tough soles from going barefoot so much that it would be very hard for her to get hurt from not wearing shoes. She often wears pants or jeans that are long enough to cover her bare feet. She has been going barefoot for 13 years except when at school. We live in a warm climate so no need to worry about snow. She has yet to get cut on something. Yes, she also walks across highways, parking lots and yes her feet get dirty, but easy to wash.
Wendy, just.... wow. Really? It's just freaking mind boggling that someone would let their kid go into a store without shoes. I mean, is it that hard to tell your kid "no, you have to wear shoes, going into a store barefoot just looks trashy"? Or are you just part of the wave of white trash that wanders in wearing pajama bottoms around the first of the month, buys a bunch or fatty food with money they take out of my paycheck, and then scurries off to your rusted out minivan to go back to their section 8 apartments in time to listen in to the folks next door's baby mama drama?
It's so sad that such a huge company has these faults. I'm surprised at the fact that there are no customer service training for some employees there. Without proper training how can the company expect to employees to handle customers properly?
I have been employed at Walmart for almost 5 years now, and at my store THIS ARTICLE IS SPOT ON. My customers are very important to me. That being said, I find myself more and more getting annoyed with the company and being overlooked as a hard worker, and taking out frustration on customers at times. It's sad to say, but Walmart is good at reeling you in with promises of great opportunities and then youre stuck in a company where you can't move up...unless you are really good at butt kissing. Sad but true. I just recently was made full time after 4 years of working full time hours with no benefits. What's even more upsetting, is overall we have a great crew at our store with a lot of really hard workers, but our upper management is terrible. Always putting the blame on someone else, who then puts it on someone else, and then it ends up being blamed on the workers. If you shop at Walmart and get an associate who helps you with awesome customer service, let em know... Because usually no one else does.
Anonymous, since when it is it YOUR place to tell ANYONE how to raise their kids? I've got 3 younger siblings, and only one of the, enjoys wearing shoes more than going bare-foot. He actually prefers wearing shoes even inside. So for you to have the audacity to call someone white trash over something as trivial as a mom letting her kid do something that isn't gonna hurt anyone, shame on you. Go get a life and quit worrying about someone else's kids.
Contrice 20 months ago
I am one of the thousands of people in the world that are begining to hate shopping a Wal-Mart. I'll admit, it's great to have a one stop shop, but like you mentioned the customer service is awful. Sure the prices are lower...but I'm getting to the point that I would rather pay a few cents more at Harris Teeter where my money is more appreciated and the associates are more helpful (plus I'm couponing more which helps).