Stupid b*tch at Wal-Mart

[erik316wttn]

Anyway, a Lutheran residential home for the mentally disabled is headquartered in my hometown. There are about seven other locations in the country. Seeing as my town has the headquarters, we have a lot of assisted living and special needs homes. There are always groups of the mentally disabled in my store. Today as I was in there picking up assorted household goods, there were probably 3 or 4 groups in there at one time.

Might I say that these groups are almost always very well behaved and tend to keep to themselves. Occasionally they'll interact with other customers, but it's never been anything too bad.

However, one woman in the store today notices this and says to her friend "What is this, national "Take a Retard to Wal-Mart Day?"

I sincerely hope karma gets her.

[Azalea]

You should have looked her dead in the eye and said, "Obviously."

Never mind, she wouldn't have gotten it, and probably would have smirked as though you were agreeing with her.

[Der Cute]

High Five to the people working with the Semi-Functionals!

Teach them good manners, good behavior and the works!! And I hope Ms. SmartAss slips into a puddle of mud when she's wearing her white suit for an interview.

<insert pineapple>

Cutenoob

[ReadyToRetire]

However, one woman in the store today notices this and says to her friend "What is this, national "Take a Retard to Wal-Mart Day?"

You should have said

"Why, yes it is. Isn't that why your friend brought you?"

[Lace Neil Singer]

Oh, to see the look on her face after that. What a cow!

[chainedbarista]

we get a small group of 'mentally disabled' who regularly come in; they are the best behaved customers we have! people like that woman need to take note of this and follow suit.

[ShoresKoC]

I had this happen to me CONSTANTLY when I worked direct care for the mentally disabled. I worked in a group home like the one described and about once a week would take a couple of the residents to Walmart to spend their weekly allowance. I would always leave SHAKING with anger at the attitudes we encountered. Unfortunately, it was always the EMPLOYEES who would be downright evil to my residents.

I had one resident who was just learning how to count money. Yes, he was in his 40s, but still, its impressive when a mentally disabled person can learn at any age. One day we went and the store was empty enough that I decided to let him pay for his own purchase (I think it was a firemans hat). We went to a cashier and she gave him the total. He started to count out his money. Was he slow? yes, of course he was. He was also OBVIOUSLY disabled. THere was no one in line and if someone HAD walked up behind us, I'd have taken over. The whole transaction couldnt have taken more than 2 minutes longer than a normal one would have, but the entire time, the cashier was hemming and hawwing like we were making her wait for hours. When he finished counting, she slammed the receipt down on the counter, practically threw the bag and him and muttered under her breath "retards like you shouldnt be allowed out in public". Um.... what part of mentally disabled = deaf? He was in tears. I went straight to management and filed a complaint.

I wish I could say that was the only incident, but it was CONSTANT with those employees. They would shove past the residents, roll their eyes if they saw them in line, talk to them in the most sarcastic tones. I filed more complaints in the year I worked there than ever in my life. It really made me sad when I saw the depth of meaness in some people.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

"I went straight to management and filed a complaint. "

I'm glad you did that. And I'm also glad you are a bigger person than me. Because I probably would have gone straight to her throat and beat the living shit out of her.

HOW can people treat disabled people like this????????? What the hell kinda conversation is going on their tiny pea brains that they think treating anyone like this is okay? Do these people go home thinking they are a decent person? Would the thought that they are an insufferable fleck of human fecal material bother them?

GAAAAAH!!!!!!

[Boozy]

When he finished counting, she slammed the receipt down on the counter, practically threw the bag and him and muttered under her breath "retards like you shouldnt be allowed out in public". Um.... what part of mentally disabled = deaf? He was in tears. I went straight to management and filed a complaint.

Oh man. That just about breaks my heart.
An even better question might be: What part of mentally disabled = not a real person with real feelings?

[Kogarashi]

The only time I've been even remotely miffed at a mentally disabled customer at Wal-Mart was the time recently when one of them drank the door-greeter's soda.

It was Black Friday, and the store had generously unlocked the WM-brand soda machine in the breakroom so that it became, essentially, a large fridge for the associates. We could just go back there, open up the front, and pull out any soda we wanted. (That's the only time I've been able to get a root beer out of that blasted machine, but I digress.)

Well, this day, we were also allowed to actually have our sodas up front, rather than the "clear liquid in a clear bottle" we're normally restricted to. The door-greeter had hers tucked away at register 2 (unused express lane, even that day, due to its poor placement; the door-greeters use it to hold their trash, the FTD book, the sticker gun, etc.). A group of these disabled folks came through, and while waiting for their ride in the front of the store, one wandered over to the register, picked up the door-greeter's soda, and drank it. And then spilled half of it on the counter setting it back down. The handlers with them didn't offer an apology, a replacement, or anything, and as far as I could tell, didn't even try to explain to the culprit what she'd done wrong. She even started wandering back to the register for another gulp later, but at least then the handlers showed some responsibility and distracted her.

The door-greeter was miffed, because door-greeters, like cashiers, don't get as much free time to head back to the breakroom, so it'd be difficult for her to grab a replacement soda anytime soon, and the handlers didn't offer any apologies or anything. I was a bit miffed on her behalf, but mostly because I don't think that anyone of any age should be allowed to do things like that without being told what they did wrong and being asked to try to rectify it in some sort of way. Even if they only have the mentality of a child, a child can say "sorry," and you don't let someone with the mentality of a child wander around unwatched. Children are not known for common sense (heck, neither are teenagers and some adults).

[flybye023]

What's even harder is if the person you are dealing with isn't obviously handicapped. I grew up with a girl (we'll call her Sue) who had one of those mysterious "learning disabilities". She had no concept of time or of money/numbers and in social interaction is probably always going to seem 12-14 years old. When you met her, unless you were in conversation with her for awhile, there was no way to tell there was anything wrong with her.

When we were teenagers, her parents went through this phase where they were desparately trying to teach her some living skills in preparation for adulthood. (She ended up in a halfway house so I don't think she was capable of learning how to manage time or money.)

Well, our church had an out-of-town activity for the girls in my age group, about 13 of us. I ended up being her keeper 'cause she was my next door neighbor and knew her and what her parents were trying to do. One incident stands out in my mind though.

We were at a zoo and it was really, really hot. We decided as a group (about 8 of us) to go to an ice cream/frozen treat stand. Me and my best friend were with "Sue" trying to get her to decide on the treat. Her problem was, she had $5 but was unable to tell if she could buy a $1.29 treat with that money. She kept mentioning treats well within her price range but backing out because she "couldn't afford it." My friend and I kept trying to direct her and assure her that each treat she looked at was affordable. We let others go ahead of us. We weren't holding up the line. Finally, "Sue" decides, trusts our assurances and places her order. The girl in the stand was giving us alot of attitude by that time and was really rude to "Sue", implying that she was being a punky teenager and trying to give her (the worker) a hard time.

[XCashier]

I went straight to management and filed a complaint.

I'm glad you did that. Sounds like the store employees could use some sensitivity training.

[ArenaBoy]

I have a friend who has an adopted sister with cerebral palsy. We'll call her R and my friend A. A sticks up for his sister no matter what and this is important for the story. In our junior year of high school homecoming was around the corner and they hold a dance for it. R got asked to homecoming by a guy who was adored by a lot of girls but hated by us guys. He then told her that he was joking about it. This upset her so much that she was in tears for days and A who is not a violent person to begin with, beat the living shit out of him. A's parents did not agree with the method he chose but they supported him for sticking up for his sister. To this day, it still makes my blood boil when I hear people insult mentally challenged people. Are people that sad and pathetic that they have to humuliate others just for kicks? Sadly yes.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Can you imagine how pathetic, useless, and worm-like a person has to be for him or her to get off hurting people who are disabled and vulnerable? What goes through their mind while they are doing this stuff??????

I simply cannot fathom it.

[Rapscallion]

she slammed the receipt down on the counter, practically threw the bag and him and muttered under her breath "retards like you shouldnt be allowed out in public". Um.... what part of mentally disabled = deaf? He was in tears. I went straight to management and filed a complaint.

One step from the concentration camps.

Well, this day, we were also allowed to actually have our sodas up front, rather than the "clear liquid in a clear bottle" we're normally restricted to.

How many went for vodka?

Rapscallion