Let's talk about............Wally World!

[OrdinaryMelkite]

Yep----good old fashioned Wally World. The one, the only…

The reason for this thread is that I just started working at Wally World (Wal Mart) two days ago. Wanted to go for the stockrooms but ended up as a cashier. Passed the necessary tests and am now beeping groceries across a scanner for all types of people. Beieve it or not, it is not bad and the “reality” of working at Wally World is not congruent with the stereotype that the media likes to give out-----so FAR, of course.
I actually (gasp!) like working here so far.

Anybody want to either a) share a “wally world story” (whether positive or negative) or b)simply get your feelings out about the “world’s most sued and most hated company,” (as a former acquantance of mine put it) again whehther those feelings are negative or not.

Come on-------tell me how I’m going to burn in H–l for daring to work at “Satan’s factory”------or just congratulate me on finding a job I sincerely seem to be happy (so far) at----or rail at me for all the (imagined or otherwise) evils that Wally World has supposedly perpetrated on the world and which i am helping to perpetuate—come on, do not be shy!!!

Or just tell me I’m making the biggest mistake of my life and “I’ll be sorry” and they are SO anti-union and how dare they!!
Opinions of all stripes welcome-----I’ll be back in a day or two to see folk’s opinions here-----good night, for now.

 

[Catholic90]

My son’s Godfather has worked at Wally World for over 10 years. He loves it. He had to take some time off recently due to a family medical problem, and Wally World bent over backwards to accommodate the time he needed. He has been given regular raises and has great benefits.

I shop at Wally World and Sam’s Club regularly.

 

[Sharen]

Congratulations on your new job! I hope it goes well. I have never bought into all of the Wal Mart “hate” spewed forth from the media. WalMart employs a lot of people, has convenient hours, promotes “from within”, offers people products they want at reasonable prices. The fact that they aren’t unionized is a plus for me.

 

[Dale_M]

Congrats on your new job.

Working at Wal-Mart can be a challenge at times. When customers ask for directions to some item, often I had only the haziest idea of where it was. However, I (and all employees) were expected to set aside what we were doing and guide the customer to their desired item. If you couldn’t find it right away, the customers sometimes became angry. Often they were impatient when they first encountered you, so any additional delay merely added to their frustration.

Of course, working as a cashier, you won’t have that problem. After all, you can’t just leave your register unattended! Whether you experience the problems I heard cashiers complain about (slowness of getting relief for a potty break or favoritism by the supervisor) may depend upon your store and its employees. I worked at two Wal-Marts and the second one could not keep cashiers for more than a couple months… they kept quitting! The very high turnover concerned district management as well. Different strategies for cashier appreciation were tried, to limited success, until a new store manager was brought in. Then, magically, things seemed to change.

The worst that the cashiers had to endure was a nail salon whose toxic fumes vented directly into the store, and the cashiers were on the front line. It was a horrible smell. Finally, the store forced the nail salon (after much resistance) to install a vent to the outside. The salon owners were not at all happy about it, but it made a world of difference to the Wal-Mart workers.

Oh, and should you be still working as a cashier there next winter, beware the end registers. Often chilly air comes blasting through the entrance, despite the two sets of doors.

 

[OrdinaryMelkite]

Congrats on your new job.

Working at Wal-Mart can be a challenge at times. When customers ask for directions to some item, often I had only the haziest idea of where it was. However, I (and all employees) were expected to set aside what we were doing and guide the customer to their desired item. If you couldn’t find it right away, the customers sometimes became angry. Often they were impatient when they first encountered you, so any additional delay merely added to their frustration.

Of course, working as a cashier, you won’t have that problem. After all, you can’t just leave your register unattended! Whether you experience the problems I heard cashiers complain about (slowness of getting relief for a potty break or favoritism by the supervisor) may depend upon your store and its employees. I worked at two Wal-Marts and the second one could not keep cashiers for more than a couple months… they kept quitting! The very high turnover concerned district management as well. Different strategies for cashier appreciation were tried, to limited success, until a new store manager was brought in. Then, magically, things seemed to change.

The worst that the cashiers had to endure was a nail salon whose toxic fumes vented directly into the store, and the cashiers were on the front line. It was a horrible smell. Finally, the store forced the nail salon (after much resistance) to install a vent to the outside. The salon owners were not at all happy about it, but it made a world of difference to the Wal-Mart workers.

Oh, and should you be still working as a cashier there next winter, beware the end registers. Often chilly air comes blasting through the entrance, despite the two sets of doors.

Thanks for the heads up, Dale_M!!!

 

[Kielbasi]

I never worked for Wal-mart, but I sort of had an inkling that the complaints about the way they treat their associates was a bit over stated just from the statistics.

WMT has a million and a half employees and a decent amount of turnover.

Probably at least 10 million Americans have worked for the firm

You can’t leave a bad taste with that many people and still be successful- even if someone is fired from Wal-mart, I think the company would still want to have them as a customer. There would be little point in Wal-mart treating its workers badly.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

I actually thought we were going to talk about the “real” Wally World from Chevy Chase’s “Vacation” movie. Now THAT is something I’d post about!

 

[1ke]

Yep----good old fashioned Wally World. The one, the only…

The reason for this thread is that I just started working at Wally World (Wal Mart) two days ago. Wanted to go for the stockrooms but ended up as a cashier. Passed the necessary tests and am now beeping groceries across a scanner for all types of people. Beieve it or not, it is not bad and the “reality” of working at Wally World is not congruent with the stereotype that the media likes to give out-----so FAR, of course.
I actually (gasp!) like working here so far.

Anybody want to either a) share a “wally world story” (whether positive or negative) or b)simply get your feelings out about the “world’s most sued and most hated company,” (as a former acquantance of mine put it) again whehther those feelings are negative or not.

Come on-------tell me how I’m going to burn in H–l for daring to work at “Satan’s factory”------or just congratulate me on finding a job I sincerely seem to be happy (so far) at----or rail at me for all the (imagined or otherwise) evils that Wally World has supposedly perpetrated on the world and which i am helping to perpetuate—come on, do not be shy!!!

Or just tell me I’m making the biggest mistake of my life and “I’ll be sorry” and they are SO anti-union and how dare they!!
Opinions of all stripes welcome-----I’ll be back in a day or two to see folk’s opinions here-----good night, for now.

Why do you care what people you don’t know on an internet forum think of where you work or what you do?

 

[TEPO]

Yep----good old fashioned Wally World. The one, the only…

The reason for this thread is that I just started working at Wally World (Wal Mart) two days ago. Wanted to go for the stockrooms but ended up as a cashier. Passed the necessary tests and am now beeping groceries across a scanner for all types of people. Beieve it or not, it is not bad and the “reality” of working at Wally World is not congruent with the stereotype that the media likes to give out-----so FAR, of course.
I actually (gasp!) like working here so far.

Anybody want to either a) share a “wally world story” (whether positive or negative) or b)simply get your feelings out about the “world’s most sued and most hated company,” (as a former acquantance of mine put it) again whehther those feelings are negative or not.

Come on-------tell me how I’m going to burn in H–l for daring to work at “Satan’s factory”------or just congratulate me on finding a job I sincerely seem to be happy (so far) at----or rail at me for all the (imagined or otherwise) evils that Wally World has supposedly perpetrated on the world and which i am helping to perpetuate—come on, do not be shy!!!

Or just tell me I’m making the biggest mistake of my life and “I’ll be sorry” and they are SO anti-union and how dare they!!
Opinions of all stripes welcome-----I’ll be back in a day or two to see folk’s opinions here-----good night, for now.

I really don’t care for wal-mart at all, and am thankful that where I live the nearest walmart is about 35-40 miles away; so I don’t have to worry about my wife dragging me along with her anymore… :coolinoff:

Whenever I enter a walmart supercenter store, it only takes about 5 minures before I start feeling a little hot under the collar… It’s like being hit by a chlostrophobic panic attack… I think I just don’t like being confined in a building with hundreds of bargain-conscious consumers who all seem to be in a rush. I also don’t like anyone to step within a 3-foot radius of me either and at walmart people always seem to cross that line…

But congradulations on your new job.

 

[OrdinaryMelkite]

Why do you care what people you don’t know on an internet forum think of where you work or what you do?

I’m back after a lull after my computer went down. I’ll be on and off while I get it repaired.

I was simply trying to gauge opinions as to what folks truly felt about one of the most “hated” and also “misunderstood” insitutions on Earth. I’m not really here to have folks validate my employment. Simply wanted to folk’s opinions as to whether Wally wolrd really is as hated and reviled as its made out tobe in the media and popular culture.

Question, though…

If you personally don’t care about my employment and my posting about it, why do you feel the need to answer it at all?

 

[manualman]

I shop Walmart on an irregular basis. Can’t beat 'em for oil filters and Coleman camping fuel prices.

I tend not to buy a lot of things there. I guess I have a problem with the concept of coercive bulk discount wholesale prices. Walmart routinely gets suppliers hooked on their volume, then slowly demands more and more discounts until the supplier makes no profit margin and has to cut quality or quit the contract. Snapper lawn mowers is a great case in point (probably googleable).

In the short term, it makes for low prices for consumers, but in the long term degrades the quality of products available on the market.

But I’m somewhat suspicious of big corporations in all cases. Bigger they are, the less human morality they display in their behavior.

 

[YankeeRC]

I actually thought we were going to talk about the “real” Wally World from Chevy Chase’s “Vacation” movie. Now THAT is something I’d post about!

Bam! lol. And here’s hoping you get better than a years membership to Jam of the Month club as a Christmas bonus from Wal Mart

I actually (gasp!) like working here so far.

Anybody want to either a) share a “wally world story” (whether positive or negative) or b)simply get your feelings out about the “world’s most sued and most hated company,” (as a former acquantance of mine put it) again whehther those feelings are negative or not.

OK. Their sneakers seem to be made out of the same material as my plastic patio furniture.

And once I asked an employee if they sold American Flags and he gave me a look followed by a “Tsk…what would someone want an American Flag for?”

And the employees in the electronics department stand around and text on their phones while people stand their desperately try to get their attention for help.

Other than that, nice place

 

[SwizzleStick]

I actually thought we were going to talk about the “real” Wally World from Chevy Chase’s “Vacation” movie. Now THAT is something I’d post about!

That was my first thought too.

"…
Clark Griswald: Roy; can I call you Roy? Have you even driven cross-country?
Roy Walley: Oh, hell yes. Drove the whole family to Florida. Worst 2 weeks I ever spent in my life. The smell from the back seat was terrible.
Clark Griswald: Ooooh. Ooooh, I know that smell. Roy, could you imagine if you had driven all the way to Florida and it was closed?
Roy Walley: Closed? Uh, they don’t close Florida. "…

Blue excerpted from: imdb.com/title/tt0085995/quotes

 

[AshJade]

I have been a cashier at Walmart for over 3 years. I am actually planning on leaving as soon as I find another job. I feel like the company is not family or student friendly enough for me, since I am a married mother of 4 and also attend college. They haven’t been willing to work with my availability as much as I would like and their attendance policy is very difficult to live by if you have kids or any health problems.

While I was pregnant, they refused to let me have a stool or chair, so I would end up standing for up to 3 hours at a time the week before I delivered.

The worst part about working as a cashier at Wally World, is that I have found myself becoming more cynical and judgmental of others. I have a hard time trusting customers, because a lot of them will lie about add matches or will use their food stamps to buy unhealthy food. I witness quite a bit of bad parenting, sometimes bordering on child abuse. I have also had to deal with shoplifters on almost a daily basis.

That being said, Walmart can be a good job for people that want to move up in the company. I have no interest being promoted, and only want to work part-time, so it can be frustrating. They consider part-time 32 hours a week or less.

Good luck.

 

[puzzleannie]

Cong

Oh, and should you be still working as a cashier there next winter, beware the end registers. Often chilly air comes blasting through the entrance, despite the two sets of doors.

to me the biggest danger would be the incessant Christmas music, which would surely drive me mad long before the holiday.

I think a lot of what we gripe about has more to do with individual store mgmt than corporate policy. Remember the original, no more than 3 people waiting in line? a distant memory. Somebody working on a graduate degree should do their thesis on how StuffMart has changed the face of retail as an industry.

 

[Dale_M]

Somebody working on a graduate degree should do their thesis on how StuffMart has changed the face of retail as an industry.

I think that topic has been studied to death. Its possible a grad student might come up with a unique angle, but a quick search of Google Scholar shows a lot of articles.

 

[vz71]

This is going to be a fun thread…

My experience has been that it is a great general store.
If you need something, and quality is not a real issue, it is the place to go.

If you need something and require the item to last, go to a specialty shop.

I have discovered that the experience with the store depends as much upon the store as the individual.
There is one supercenter in town that I am amazed stays in business.
The staff is rude, the managers do not care, and they do not honor their money back rules as posted on the receipts. The worst incident I had seen was blatant racism on the part of the staff that I am really suprised did not result in a law suit.
I walked through the detectors to go through the exit, and a black man was following a few seconds behind me. The detectors went off, and it was very obvious from the timing that the detectors pinged off of me. The greeter looked at me and said something to the effect that they know I didn’t take anything…and then the staff (plural) descended upon the black man following me that had not set off anything.
I stuck around long enough to be the witness for whatever law suit came of it, but nothing ever did…

And that is one store.

There are several others in the area, and in at least one other, the staff is knowledgable and honest. They are very helpful, professional, and the store is kept very clean.

There it is, two radically divergent experiences from Wal Mart, from two stores…less then 5 miles apart.

Enjoy your job.
Sometimes Wal Mart is a great place.

 

[Prophesy]

Yep----good old fashioned Wally World. The one, the only…

The reason for this thread is that I just started working at Wally World (Wal Mart) two days ago. Wanted to go for the stockrooms but ended up as a cashier. Passed the necessary tests and am now beeping groceries across a scanner for all types of people. Beieve it or not, it is not bad and the “reality” of working at Wally World is not congruent with the stereotype that the media likes to give out-----so FAR, of course.
I actually (gasp!) like working here so far.

Anybody want to either a) share a “wally world story” (whether positive or negative) or b)simply get your feelings out about the “world’s most sued and most hated company,” (as a former acquantance of mine put it) again whehther those feelings are negative or not.

Come on-------tell me how I’m going to burn in H–l for daring to work at “Satan’s factory”------or just congratulate me on finding a job I sincerely seem to be happy (so far) at----or rail at me for all the (imagined or otherwise) evils that Wally World has supposedly perpetrated on the world and which i am helping to perpetuate—come on, do not be shy!!!

Or just tell me I’m making the biggest mistake of my life and “I’ll be sorry” and they are SO anti-union and how dare they!!
Opinions of all stripes welcome-----I’ll be back in a day or two to see folk’s opinions here-----good night, for now.

My friend who recently converted to Catholicism has kept his job at Coca-Cola. I feel bad that his baptism won’t avail him.

Just kidding.

Wal-Mart’s always an interesting discussion. Financially speaking it’s great. A larger corporation will provide more jobs in the area and will create cheaper goods that are more accessible to people of lower income. That said, I’m not a Wal-Mart expert or anything, so I don’t have facts beyond basic economic trends.

-Prophesy

 

[Prophesy]

to me the biggest danger would be the incessant Christmas music, which would surely drive me mad long before the holiday.

I think a lot of what we gripe about has more to do with individual store mgmt than corporate policy. Remember the original, no more than 3 people waiting in line? a distant memory. Somebody working on a graduate degree should do their thesis on how StuffMart has changed the face of retail as an industry.

Guaranteed my store has the worst Christmas music setlist (the fact that there’s also only like 8 Christmas songs on repeat adds to the problem).

-Prophesy

 

[Shannon9791]

I worked at Wal Mart for a little under a year in the Garden Center. It was my last semester of college and I was allowed to be off whenever I needed for exams and graduation and what not. Since there were about 6 or 7 of us guys who worked in that department, the security would always try to herd the shoplifters toward us. I’m not normally a violent person, but when you can form tackle someone in a parking lot as your supervisor and the store manager nod approvingly, that’s a good day. This one time, a guy thought he was going to walk out of the store with a computer in the basket, but he got caught. As he was running out, he took a swing at the old guy who was the greeter for the Garden Center. Now this guy was pushing 80 and didn’t really need the job, but did it to pass the time, and the shoplifter was in his mid-30’s or so. What the shoplifter didn’t realize was that as soon as he crossed the gate, there was me, a scrawny 135 pounder who could bench press over 225lbs and my three co-workers, all starting varsity high school football players, and mean as the day is long. I can’t officially say we beat the guy up, b/c you can’t do that, but unofficially I can tell you he was more than a little bloody when he rode off in the police car.

As a cashier, you won’t have to worry about that, but you gotta watch, b/c people will try to confuse you to get more change back and short your register. They think they’re just taking a little from Wal Mart, but in reality, they are totally messing with your job. I think the goodness/badness of Wal Mart jobs depend on 3 things:
1). Your immediate supervisor-Wal Mart seems to attract people who like power, and if your immediate supervisor is one of those people, watch out.
2). The area in which you work-When there wasn’t much work to do and a truck to unload, the guys from the Garden Center would help out. I hated that. I also hated the toy section, and as punishment some of the guys in my section had to organize the “pad wall” in the personal hygiene section
3). The Store Manager-If your store manager is cool and understands that Wal Mart in and of itself is kind of a living organism that’s going to ebb and flow and that the people are what make it what it is, you’ll have an OK time there. If the SM is all about bottom line, it will be a nightmare.

Congrats on your job and be thankful you have one in these tough times, no matter where it is.