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I work second shift, and on Friday night I had to stay late at my job to finish an order so it could be packed and shipped Monday. I was on my way home, and approaching the W4LM4RT when I realized I needed to go grocery shopping the next day and I could save myself a trip and a buttload of time if I just did it NOW. And, with the store being nearly empty, I could probably get everything I needed in record time.
So, I pulled into the W4LM4RT, went inside, and turbo-shopped. But, there was a serious flaw in my ingenious plan – and that is, late at night, Wally World closes all but one, maybe two registers. And even though there might only be ten customers in the store, they have the remarkable capability to converge on the one or two open registers AT THE SAME TIME.
So, although I’d gotten all my stuff in only about 25 minutes, I had to spend the next fifteen waiting, and watching the astounding display of idiocy I shall now describe.
The guy at the front of the line is trying to return a flat-panel TELEVISION. According to him, he’d bought the thing at W4LM4RT’s web site, since this particular model wasn’t available in stores. He’d gotten it Wednesday only to discover that it lacked a certain feature (I cannot recall exactly what this feature was). And he wanted to return it.
There are several problems with his plan:
1. He has NO documentation. No receipt, no invoice, NOTHING. An item that costs several hundred dollars and no paperwork? Seems a bit odd to me.
2. The service desk is closed at night, so they have no way of going into their ordering system to determine if W4LM4RT even SOLD the item in question, much less if he’d actually purchased it.
3. Did I mention it was 2am? He waited until the MIDDLE OF THE FLIPPING NIGHT to load this thing into his car and make the (alleged) 17-mile journey to the store to make a return. Even though he’d had the thing for at least two days. And it would only take two, perhaps three active brain cells to realize that it’s really, REALLY stupid to want to return a big-ticket item in the middle of the night.
And yeah, he was a full-bore jackass about it, too. On several occasions the manager on duty suggested he return in the morning, when the customer service desk could help him. But this was utterly, completely unacceptable to the guy.
Then he popped off with this gem:
“There MUST be some way to resolve this problem.”
The MOD looked him right in the eye and gave the exact answer:
“There IS. You can come back in the morning, when the service desk is open.”
It’s refreshing to see someone in management with some stones.
Thinking back on it now, something about the whole scene seems….’off’ to me, though. It was really, REALLY strange the way that the more the guy was told that the simplest way to handle the problem would be to go to the service desk during normal hours, the more adamant the guy became about returning it RIGHT THIS MOMENT. And he fully expected them to take his word for it that he’d paid $XXX.XX for it. And who tries to return a major purchase in the middle of the night anyway?
I’m not entirely sure, but I think I witnessed an attempt at a scam – possibly even an attempt to ‘liquidate’ stolen merchandise. The situation certainly had plenty of ‘red flags’ about it, for sure.
Eventually, the guy DID leave, WITHOUT his refund.
A standing, thunderous, and prolonged ovation, please, for the manager-on-duty. I know Walmart has a liberal return policy, but this whole situation was way over the top and just REEKED of illegitimacy.
So, I pulled into the W4LM4RT, went inside, and turbo-shopped. But, there was a serious flaw in my ingenious plan – and that is, late at night, Wally World closes all but one, maybe two registers. And even though there might only be ten customers in the store, they have the remarkable capability to converge on the one or two open registers AT THE SAME TIME.
So, although I’d gotten all my stuff in only about 25 minutes, I had to spend the next fifteen waiting, and watching the astounding display of idiocy I shall now describe.
The guy at the front of the line is trying to return a flat-panel TELEVISION. According to him, he’d bought the thing at W4LM4RT’s web site, since this particular model wasn’t available in stores. He’d gotten it Wednesday only to discover that it lacked a certain feature (I cannot recall exactly what this feature was). And he wanted to return it.
There are several problems with his plan:
1. He has NO documentation. No receipt, no invoice, NOTHING. An item that costs several hundred dollars and no paperwork? Seems a bit odd to me.
2. The service desk is closed at night, so they have no way of going into their ordering system to determine if W4LM4RT even SOLD the item in question, much less if he’d actually purchased it.
3. Did I mention it was 2am? He waited until the MIDDLE OF THE FLIPPING NIGHT to load this thing into his car and make the (alleged) 17-mile journey to the store to make a return. Even though he’d had the thing for at least two days. And it would only take two, perhaps three active brain cells to realize that it’s really, REALLY stupid to want to return a big-ticket item in the middle of the night.
And yeah, he was a full-bore jackass about it, too. On several occasions the manager on duty suggested he return in the morning, when the customer service desk could help him. But this was utterly, completely unacceptable to the guy.
Then he popped off with this gem:
“There MUST be some way to resolve this problem.”
The MOD looked him right in the eye and gave the exact answer:
“There IS. You can come back in the morning, when the service desk is open.”
It’s refreshing to see someone in management with some stones.
Thinking back on it now, something about the whole scene seems….’off’ to me, though. It was really, REALLY strange the way that the more the guy was told that the simplest way to handle the problem would be to go to the service desk during normal hours, the more adamant the guy became about returning it RIGHT THIS MOMENT. And he fully expected them to take his word for it that he’d paid $XXX.XX for it. And who tries to return a major purchase in the middle of the night anyway?
I’m not entirely sure, but I think I witnessed an attempt at a scam – possibly even an attempt to ‘liquidate’ stolen merchandise. The situation certainly had plenty of ‘red flags’ about it, for sure.
Eventually, the guy DID leave, WITHOUT his refund.
A standing, thunderous, and prolonged ovation, please, for the manager-on-duty. I know Walmart has a liberal return policy, but this whole situation was way over the top and just REEKED of illegitimacy.
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