I work at Wal Mart. From time to time, I notice things that I think some customers may or may not be aware of. I figured I would share some of them that I can think of off the top of my head. I guess it might look like a rant, and I don't intend it to look that way. Just that I see or hear stuff sometimes that just gets me riled up bigtime.
*If you need help, asking the nearest associate might not help you much at all. I used to work in Department 7 - Toys. Now I work in Department 91, Frozen. That means there are around 100 different departments in an average Supercenter Wal Mart. When customers come up and ask me where something is that is not in my department, I most likely wont know unless it is something that I myself have seen while shopping at the store, or in going up and down the isles. WM's associates usually know their own department best and then have some knowlege about other departments. When I worked in toys...I would have customers asking me where things were in various parts of the store. Sometimes I would know...sometimes I wouldnt. Tonight, I worked in Frozen and a customer asked me about poker games which were on the complete opposite side of the store. Another thing that customers don't know is that sometimes, things are located in a couple of different spots. We have poker stuff in Toys and Sporting Goods. We also have trash bags in both the grocery side and General merghandise side (each side carries the same as well as different bags from other side). Your best bet for finding something? If you need help....find the nearest associate who isnt walking around. Since there are so many departments and all, lots of associates are walking around from one area to another; but if you see an associate working by a pallet or a cart or something in that area where you are, then most likely they work in or near that department and can help you out. Also...keep in mind that they simply don't know where you could look for an item.
* Just because WM carries something in Bobsville, that doesnt mean every WM carries it. Wal Mart carries so much stuff, that each store carries mostly the same products. But, from time to time, there are products at one store that are not at another. ie...my store doesnt carry frozen Okra. If you can't find product x at one store and can't find an empty spot for it, then most likely, the store you are shopping doesnt carry it at the moment. Wal Mart tells us what to stock so they send us what they want and we just stock it. As far as I know, we can't specially order something, so if what you are looking for isnt there, it could mean that we are just out of it at the moment (usually you can tell if you see an empty spot and the products name on the tag; but if you dont see any spot at all, then that store is either not planning on getting any for a long time, or they simply dont carry it in the first place). Also...not all WM's carry alcohol, as strange as that may sound. Wal Marts in MN do not sell alcohol. Since we are close to the Iowa border, we get people from time to time traveling through and they stop in and ask where it is. They have a hard time comprehending that. You have to go to a liquor store or a gas station. Personally, Im glad we dont sell that crap.
*At most, if not all Wal Marts (at least the supercenters), the associates are REQUIRED to ask you for ID if you are buying smokes. I dont know...maybe they arent required. For the love of God, don't complain if you are carded...just show your ID; and if you arent responsible enough to bring one, dont chew the person who is being responsible and doing their job by asking you. If they dont ask, they very well could get fired on the first offense. WM does not take that stuff lightly.
*best time to buy stuff? Early morning. I say that because the overnight stockers get more accomplished than the stockers during the day (ie...Im helping customers and doing lots of other stuff...sometimes I don't get as much stocked as I would like...etc). More stuff is likely to be on the shelves in the morning.
*worst time to shop? Yeah...lol. Youd really be surprised how often Im pulled up to cashier and hear customers complain about there not being enough registers open. They fail to realize that they are there along with everyone else during the busiest time of day / week. Don't shop right after church on Sundays, around holidays, or the 5 days before Christmas! Our store has 15 registers, plus 4 self-pays. BUT, we DO NOT HAVE 15 Cashier associates manning the registers at all times. What I mean is that...we have associates all over the store. The ones that ring you out at the register are the associates that, most often, are solely Cashiers - they specifically cashier. I think we can agree that having 15 cashier associates come in on Sunday for the same 9 hour shift is pointless because it wont be that busy to have all 15 registers open during that 9 hour period...so for the store it is a waste of resources. Now, granted, they do know when it will be busy (generally) and plan accordingly; so they will try to get more cashiers in on Sundays and around the certain times when they know they will be busier. What they do is train other associates to cashier as well. Yours truley can cashier for example and I sometimes do...but on days when it is busier than snot...I simply would refuse to cashier as I needed to keep my department up to snuff. WM isnt going to pull other associates up to cashier, if those associates need to work in that department fairly badly. Dont shop during the few days close to the holidays. During Easter, I was running all over the place. I dont know how many boxes of Cool Whip I stocked. IF you must shop during the holdays....go in the very early morning, during the overnight, late at night...or basically any time that most other people DONT shop.
*All Wm stores have cleaning schedules. If they are doing their job right, there should be a sign on each bathroom door, or nearby, stating when it was cleaned last. They are checked frequently by the maintenance crews (at least every two hours) as well as by the associates who use them. So, when you come in and find that someone managed to completely miss the urinal or toilet and crap is all over the place, don't think we are ignoring it. Case in point, a month or so ago, I went to the bathroom in the front of the store and the mens bathroom just smelled like crap...like someone was changing a really sick baby or something. I went and looked in the handicapped stall and that was fine...so I checked the smaller stall and lo and behold, someone had totally missed the toilet in their adventures of #2. They tried to clean (I hope, unless they deliberately did this) the mess by picking it up as there were smear marks all over the floor and toilet. I ended up tracking down the maintenace guy on staff tonight and told him. He had a surprised look on his face because he just cleaned that room not more than 20 minutes prior. A week or so ago, I went into a bathroom and looked on the floor and I saw a slight color of yellow. It wasnt near the toilet at all. This jackass purposely pissed on the wall of the stall, all over the floor, and onto the disposable toilet seat covers. This is why Im for security cameras (violation of privacy, who cares)...piss all over the place...we catch ya and make you clean it up you sick bastard.
*Prices. We have almost always the lowest prices. That said, people really try to pull off some amazing crap. They see a watermelon sitting with the grapes and then freak out when they arent charged the grapes price. Our policy (and I think this applies to most other stores) is that you are charged what the sticker on the shelf says for that particular product. Ie..if you buy a 14oz box of Cheerios...you are charged the price that is on the 14oz cheerios sticker on the shelf. If there is a difference between what you are CHARGED and the sticker that has that SAME PRODUCT AND SIZE labeled on it, then thats another matter.
*If there is a section of the store that looks really bad...well, I don't know what to tell you there. It could be a number of reasons. They could be revaming that section for a sale or something; they could be short handed, someone called in sick, they had that worker work somewhere else...etc. This weekend, I worked most of Saturday as a cashier or outside pushing carts. Today (sunday), I was pushing carts for half of the day. During the weekend, there is only me and the overnight gal working, so its hard to keep up with the weekend crowds, especially when everybody does their shopping during that time. Tonight, one of the assitant managers asked me to push carts, I asked him if he saw my department because it looked like crap and was very low. He said he didnt care and wanted me outside.
*If you take something and don't want it...put it back where it belongs! Now, I know people make changes at the last minute at the register, and this doesn't bug me if people come up and change their mind in line...as long as they give the product that needs to be returned to the cashier. BUT, all the time, I see stuff that is completely out of place. Many times, I will find something like a frozen pizza in the dairy section, or a gallon of milk in the freezer. Yesterday, I found a loaf of our deli garlic bread where it was not supposed to be. I returned it to the deli where they had to throw it away. Other times, I will see a pound of meat next to the candies at the checkout lanes or cheese on the grocery shelves...etc.
Well thats all I can think of at the moment. I know there is more, but Ive been working on this for a while already as it is. Its not meant to be a rant so Im sorry if it is taken that way. Just trying to show some people what happens on my side of the fence and how I see things.