Aug

8

So I Was At The Walmart…

August 8, 2006 |

innocently buying a bag of cat food when I stepped into line. The wrong line. You know the line at the store that has the bitchy woman screaming over $1.50? Yeah I was in that line today.

“Did those jeans ring up on sale?”

“Yes ma’am they rang in at $3.00.”

“No that’s not the sale price. They are 50% off the lowest price, the sign says so. I even asked the clerks over there and one of them told me I was right. Ma, hey Ma didn’t that girl over there with no arms (I’m serious - I did not make this part up) tell us that the jeans were 50% off the lowest price.”

“She most certainly did.”

“Let me have someone go check.”

Here we go. The endless wait for $1.50. I could have gotten into another line but it was lunch time so they only had 2 registers open to address the 150 customers in line at the time. You know, cause Walmart’s efficient like that. I decided to stay and enjoy the show.

Customer service manager comes back and says “I’m sorry those are not the pants that are 50% off. It’s clearly marked.”

Mama starts in on both of them. “Well we asked and asked people over there until we found a girl that told us we were right. She told us you cashiers don’t know what you’re doing and that you’re always wrong.”

“Ma’am the pants are $3.00. Would you like them or wouldn’t you.”

“I want them for $1.50. And you’re going to give them to me for $1.50 or I’m going to get the manager.”

Please insert here the audible groan going up from everyone else in line.

“Well I’m sorry, but she’s trying to rip us off and she’s being incredibly rude to me.”

Huh? Did I fall asleep in line? Cause last I saw this lady was badgering this clerk and trying to bully her into taking a discount on the pants. Apparently the rude thing was telling her the pants were $3.00.

“Would you like the pants or would you like me to put them back.”

Both mama and daughter this time “I want them for the sale price of 50% off the lowest price.”

Again the clerk with the explanation. Again mama and daughter with their argument. The mama walks off presumably to the service desk and the daughter starts on the clerk again.

And the clerk, bless her, says “You know what? I’ve had enough. Just stop.”

YEAH!!!! A cheer rises from the crowd. In reality we were smiling, chuckling a bit perhaps and the daughter storms off saying “I hope you don’t like your job too much cause now I’m going to get you fired.”

Are you kidding me? Fired? That’s ridiculous. So the clerk, who is now visibly shaken, has the CSM that checked the price before, void out the sale and rings my cat food through. She’s apologizing to me and the other customers and she’s almost in tears. And I became angry.

I’ve held the crappy sales clerk job in my working career and it sucks. Most people are so rude and treat you like you’re an imbecile. So I took my Meow Mix and marched over to the customer service desk and asked to see the manager myself. I told her who I was in relation to the other people, I pointed at the women standing on the other side of the counter, told her how rude and belligerent they were, how they had made it clear that they had searched the store looking for someone to tell them what they wanted to hear and when the clerk wouldn’t buckle they badgered and bullied her. And I told her to write it down and put it in the clerk’s file and when she looked at me, I stared right back. And she grabbed a piece of paper.

The clerk will probably still get written up and made to apologize because “the customer is always right” but at least she’ll have another version, I hope, in her file come review time. I hate bullies like that and if I have to, I’ll take them on - one Walmart at a time.


Comments

11 Comments so far

  1. cassie-b on August 8, 2006 6:13 am

    I hope your comments made a difference.
    Rude people are the work.

    Cas

  2. Autumn on August 8, 2006 9:33 am

    I hated when I was a cashier and people would yell at me. Nothing ruined your day faster.

    Good for you for sticking up for her. You rock!

  3. Northern Girl on August 8, 2006 9:50 am

    I’ve watched that same scene play out many many times before. Recently, I handed 72 cents to a cashier so the person in line in front of me would shut up already, take their bargains, and leave. I won’t tell you what I muttered under my breath about that customer. Cashier work sucks.

  4. mrs. diamond on August 8, 2006 1:31 pm

    Good for you!! I hope it made a difference too……..though I was a bit confused at the end….WHO glared at you? The manager?
    Interesting.

  5. Amy on August 8, 2006 2:34 pm

    yay - good for you!

  6. Jules on August 9, 2006 8:31 am

    Yes Mrs. Diamond, the manager just stared at me when I told her to write it down. This customer is supposed to be right too, no? ;)

  7. Philip on August 9, 2006 2:10 pm

    I don’t like rude people.

    I’m glad you took some positive action.

  8. Bev on August 10, 2006 4:06 am

    Good for you! My hubby manages a very large grocery store here, and goes through this shit all the time!

  9. mrs. diamond on August 10, 2006 7:16 pm

    Yeah the customer is sposed to be right, but I would think he would be glad to stick up for his employee! I mean, they KNOW that customers are sometimes full of poop, and MUST be tired of it too!

    When I worked at Sears, the manager would listen and try to soothe angry customers, of course, but she was always fair to the employees too…….and fully able to recognize an unreasonably irate customer when she saw one! We knew some of them by name. LOL. When you are ridiculous and complain too many times and want everything to be free…., the staff don’t even take you seriously anymore. They laugh at you behind your back.

  10. Joan on August 14, 2006 10:53 pm

    Stopping by to see how you are doing and girl you are doing great. I am so happy for you that the job is going so well. We are all fine here and getting ready for the one year anniversary of Katrina…it’s been such a tough year for all. There is still so much devastation here…it just breaks your heart. Hugs!

  11. Becky on August 17, 2006 10:42 am

    Oh Lordy! I have been in the same line! :) And, I even went to the service desk and rooted for the clerk (just like yourself). People like that should just be smacked!

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