Wal-Mart Haters

[Dawnchaser]

The ones here in Eugene/Springfield are a lot cleaner and better organized, and both customers and employees seem a lot nicer. Whether that's a statement of the individual stores or the cities in which they're located, I can't say.

Never had a problem with the employees but I must be going at different times than you because I'm NOT impressed with 90% of the customers. Seems like I deal with a lot more rude people there than anywhere else except for Winco...which is truly from the pits of hell in my opinion. Now the employees there were always horrible to me, at least 9 years ago or so. Haven't been back recently.

[50 mission cap]

Walmart severely understaffs, but then again so do some other large chain stores.

Good prices but terrible service.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

However, one thing that irks me is when they do their WalMart Cheer. You can see the "oh no, not again" in the employees' eyes. I cringe seeing the overenthusiastic managers leading them into yet another humiliating silly cheer in front of smirking customers.

As desperate as I am to find a job, I really don't think I would consider WM for that very reason. You want me to be loyal to the job? Treat me with respect and common courtesy, adult to adult. Don't condescend me by acting like a combination Kindergarten teacher / dog trainer and coerce me into playing silly parlor games in front of the customers!!!

When I was searching for a job in high school, which led to my current job, I applied at Wally World and got a mini-interview.

A few days later I was in there to pick up something and got to witness the fabled Wal-Mart cheer. Complete with squiggle wiggles.

I'm sorry, I do not shake my ass in public like that unless I am completely shitfaced and/or having dollar bills stuffed in my undies by comely ladies. Right then and there I resolved to myself "If they call me back, I'm telling them I got hired someplace else."

They never did call me back. I guess I looked too normal to fit in.

[Mr Slugger]

I don't mention it much, but I worked for walmart for a brief bit between leaving one store and going to another store. It was a 4 month thing, but it was long enough for me to learn how walmart is. This was a store that was opening. My first day there they told us a truck was at the dock and we had 2 hours to unload it. If we didn't get it done the manager had applications for kmart because they were hiring. Most of the people they had were just unable to unload a truck. I'm talking people hired to be greater because of disabilities, etc. They were trying to force people to work 7 days a week, work through lunch breaks, etc. The manager would say horrible things to other managers about employees right in front of them. Told a 8 month pregnant lady that she had to work a 14 hour shift or they'd replace her, and seeing she couldn't survive on unemployment pay she did it. It was one of the worst things I've ever seen. While I do know some really good walmarts my experience with them really made me want to avoid them whenever possible.

Plus like others said. Around here they're all dirty, half stocked, no employees, etc. I was happy when the target opened near my house because I do all my shopping there now.

[Mr Slugger]

When I was searching for a job in high school, which led to my current job, I applied at Wally World and got a mini-interview.

A few days later I was in there to pick up something and got to witness the fabled Wal-Mart cheer. Complete with squiggle wiggles.

I'm sorry, I do not shake my ass in public like that unless I am completely shitfaced and/or having dollar bills stuffed in my undies by comely ladies.

As far as this I saw this my first day there. Let me tell you I never did any of it. No one really noticed until after the store opened and the meetings became smaller. The manager tried calling me out in a store meeting by saying. If you're getting paid by walmart then you need to do the cheer.

I made sure to mention this conversation he made the next time the higher ups were in and basically said a cheer should be something you feel like doing and when you've got a manager talking crap about the employees (along with some examples I had) it's kinda hard to cheer for a store that makes you know you're all disposable and you mean nothing to them.

He never bothered me again after that.

[Amethyst Hunter]

I have mixed feelings about Mall-Wart (as you can tell by my purposeful bastardizing of their name, heh).

On the one hand, I kinda have to shop there because hey, that's all I can afford. Not that I never patronize any other store but when it comes down to the wire, it's Wal-Mart. Beggars can't really be choosers, as they say. I've been in nice Wal-Marts, and I've been to ones where it's White Trash. Always. (the one in my former hometown is a perfect example of this)

Would I work there? HELL NO. I've heard the horror stories. I value what's left of my sanity.

I do love Targets, though I don't get to go there nearly as often. Without exception**, they are clean and offer a lot of great stuff that you can't get at Wally World.





** = YMMV, of course

[Giggle Goose]

There's a new Supercenter on my way home from work, and since it's so cheap I do about a month's worth of shopping there. I try to go at an "off" time to avoid all the trash (customers and employees alike), but every time I go, there's NEVER enough registers open. I understand that this might happen occasionally; like people calling in sick or something, but if it happens consistently it's a problem. I only go there if I have a really big shopping trip to do, because I honestly spend about half of what I would at another place; and that's not an exaggeration. That's the only good thing about it.

One thing that gets me is how morally upright they portray themselves to be when they do all this aforementioned crappy stuff behind the scenes. Like the commericials that talk about how much they care about their communities and donate to charity and crap. I used to work with a young man at another big chain department store who is disabled, after Wal Mart didn't even give him a second look after he applied. I know damn well that place was hiring at the time. But that's all I'll say because I'm risking the Fratch boot here.

XCashier makes a good point about location, though. I went to the Wal Mart in my college town and loved it, especially since I was pathetically poor back then! It was in a semi rural area where jobs were pretty sparse, so people took pride in their work. Wal Mart was one of the biggest employers, actually; and that store was always spotless and stocked. I also saw the most of the same friendly employees every time, instead of the revolving door of scumbuckets I see in my current, and much more urbanized location. So that's why I try to get my shopping done as quick as possible in that place, and god forbid if I ever have trouble finding something because I'm too scared to approach someone after getting snapped at several times.

[Becks]

I'm sorry, I do not shake my ass in public like that unless I am completely shitfaced and/or having dollar bills stuffed in my undies by comely ladies.

I have a couple singles and some fives...

[Ree]

Just a reminder that we do have members who work at Wal-Mart and don't feel the same hatred for the company as some of our members.

It puts food on their table and helps them pay their bills.

Please keep that in mind before posting.

As with any company, I'm sure there are just as many good stores as bad, but it's the bad that gets the most attention.

[smileyeagle1021]

I know why I don't shop at wal-mart... it has little to do with politics or how they treat their workers.
It's about price and convenience. About the only shopping I do is for groceries, which I can get for cheaper through Reams than I can from Wal-Mart and Reams is much easier and more convenient for me to get to than Wal-Mart. If I'm buying pet supplies I can get a better price at petsco and I can get in and out quicker, if I'm buying clothes I go to the thrift store (cheaper, more convenient, and it feeds starving people in some country I can't pronounce the name of ), for electronics it's best buy, not really a better price, but much more convenient for me to get to, and for everything else, K-Mart is comparable in price and is much easier for me to get to and from.
Yeah, I know most of the places I shop can have the same complaints as what people make against wal-mart (underpaid employees, selling foreign goods, not always the best customer service, etc)... and yeah, that kinda bothers me, but let's be honest... those are only things that support my reasons for not shopping at wal-mart... they aren't the reason I don't shop there.

[SG15Z]

Just a reminder that we do have members who work at Wal-Mart and don't feel the same hatred for the company as some of our members.

It puts food on their table and helps them pay their bills.

Please keep that in mind before posting.

As with any company, I'm sure there are just as many good stores as bad, but it's the bad that gets the most attention.

I did Ree. And so far (in my area and a couple of small town stores across the state at least) the bad way out number the good. I've been to more Wal Marts than I can count, and only 2 maybe 3 were good.

And to those saying location probably is a factor. Yeah maybe, but I've run into some really bad small town stores and one really nice urban store. So really who knows. All I know is the 5 stores near my house all suck and I don't feel like driving the 30 mins to the somewhat-tolerable one up the highway.

[Gravekeeper]

The inherent problem is they really are the shining example of what unbridled corporate greed gets you. Having one dropped in your town is basically like an economic bomb going off to every other small business there.

The prices are low, yes. But they're low because A) They can afford it. All they need to do is wait till it drives competition out of business and B) Once there is no competition, they can begin squeezing producers who are now left with no one else to sell their product too so they have to sell it for dirt cheap to Wal-mart. Who in turn passes these..savings...on to you.

On top of that, most of them seem to pay the employees dirt and under staff their store at all times and viola, $$$.

Eventually you're left with no competitors to shop at ( Unless another corporate chain is present ) and no where else to get a job. So you end up going there anyway.

Sadly, good Walmarts are the minority. I've honestly never seen a good one. =/

If I must go to a big boxer, I perfer Sears. They're always incredibly helpful staff wise and they have more than 2 people manning the 16 registers in a 3 floor superstore at 5pm.

Zellers on the other hand....I've never seen a Zellers store that didn't look like someone had pitched a grenade in it earlier that morning. You can never find a soul in Zellers except for the poor cashiers.

[Aethian]

We had one built about 10 min from my house.

This one is actually really nice. It's very clean,well stocked, and the employees are very friendly.

The one we used to go to in the town to the north,in WI, is the stereotypical dirty and unfriendly Walmart.

I always go to the newer one. I never really liked WM until this one.

Same here...we have a newer one here that is bright, fully stocked, and plenty of people. And yet thirty minuets away is the original and it's dark, less people, and sometimes the items are so jumbled on the shelves that one never knows what they are going to find.

That and when I do grocery shopping at the new super I can get everything I need, the dogs/cats need...for the same I was paying just in food for me for two weeks at another grocery store here. I sometimes feel bad for doing it but my penny only goes so many ways.

[JLG]

I try to avoid Wal-Mart because I can't stand the design of the stores. Just to much stock jam packed into every aisle. For me it is not a comfortable place to shop. When I go to Target it is so much easier to push my cart and not worry about other people running me down.

[PepperElf]

I don't specifically hate walmart but I do have a couple of issues...

1) Driving out other companies.
Some might call it competition, but it's not always good to have one company driving out all the others.

Where I live we thankfully already had Wegmans so Walmart isn't as strong as they are in other areas. And frankly, even if Walmart ends up cheaper, I find Wegmans has an overall better shopping experience. Plus the Wegmans I go to is just down the road from Target so I can kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

2) Lines.
Whenever I go to Walmart the lines are insane. Granted I understand they can't afford to run the 50 lines they have... but yikes. That is one of the factors I consider when shopping.

The last time I was at Walmart the cashier tried to apologize for the insanely long wait. I don't think she realized... I wasn't mad or complaining - besides it's not her fault. Next time I go, however I'm bringing a book to read.

3) Employee Rights
This one... is based in fact... back before Walmart went 247, they would lock the employees in at night. Then they'd drill into them over and over that "if you use the emergency exit you WILL be fired".

From what I read it sounded pretty much like they were intimidating employees to NOT use that exit, even if they were injured. ... that way of course, if it came to a lawsuit, they could just say, "I don't know why he didn't use the emergency exit" etc.

From what I've read though, the law started leaning against Walmart in those cases... I'm not sure if they changed the policy however... I just know they're 247 now so it's kinda moot.

4) And on a personal side of things, Wegmans & Target are closer. And frankly they're cleaner too.
Actually being clean is a big thing for me. There's another Wegmans closer to me but... it's a bit more run down, not bad but a tad less clean than the one I go to... so I only go to the close one if I'm getting a single item, or if I'm in a big hurry.