BikeForums member ReachHigher stripped down to her sports bra and spandex after Walmart refused to let her enter the store with her $600 bike. A manager explained that since Walmart sold bikes, bringing in an outside bike would obviously be too confusing to handle. ReachHigher asked if they also sold shirts. “She said yes so I took off my jersey and said well then I’d better not bring this in either…”
…She got kind of flustered and said that it was a different situation but couldn’t explain why. So I said that if they also sold shorts in the store that I’d better not wear those in either and I took off my shorts. Same goes for the shoes and sunglasses. Now I’m standing there in my spandex and a sports bra and I ask here if I can leave my things behind the customer service counter where they will be safe until I finish making my purchases and she said that I couldn’t come into the store without shoes on, to which i responded “but I certainly can’t wear shoes into the store because you sell those here and someone might think I’ve stolen them.” She threatened to call security if I didn’t leave so I told her that I would never be coming back to that store again and that I was glad I hadn’t driven there since the gas to go four miles was probably more expensive than what her underpaid employees make in an hour.
Her expression when the shirt came off was absolutely priceless…I was pretty tempted to take off the spandex too but I wasn’t sure what constitutes indecent exposure in Virginia so I figured I’d err on the side of caution. Still I had a decent sized crowd gathered before the end of the discussion.
Wal Mart is Evil so I took off my clothes [Bike Forums]
(Photo: Getty)
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My $1200 road bike is my primary mode of transportation during the summer. I’ve never tried to bring it into a store … nor have I seen people pull that stunt in Boston, which has a fairly large biking population.
@mavrick67: …to have $600 to buy a bike, maintain it, and still have money for everything else? I’m not a bike rider, but just not shopping at Walmart would halve the amount that I can save each month (which typically has to end up going into my car after a few months of that).
If I were considering become an elitism bike rider
, I’d be saving, and get a nice bike that could be further modded for better riding. Not paying as much for car maintenance (assuming she also has a car), and not paying as much for gasoline, would likely offset the cost of the bike rather quickly. I’m sure the side effects of getting a decent workout as you travel has economic benefits, too.
I do think this is a case where a store should be able to dictate what happens, and she went overboard. OTOH, Walmart’s reasoning was idiotic. If you don’t have a real reason, don’t make one up!
@Jabberkaty: she wasn’t nude. Not that it’s a bad idea, just that it’s not what happened.
That. Is. AWESOME.
I want to buy this woman a beer!
@nealb: Um, by law, they do have as much right to the road as everybody else. Sure, they’re inconvenient for car drivers, but so are: oversized vehicles, dump trucks, school buses, tractors, old men in hats driving buicks, etc….. There is no right to drive at the speed limit.
@RamV10: If you put me in danger or anyone else, I will yell, honk, and generally be an asshole to you.
Sooo … if you put somebody in danger, you will honk (which is quite dangerous, as it can easily make a bicyclist wreck) or open a door in a cyclist’s path.
Guess you’re right … you’re an asshole. Better keep the road rage in check … it’s good for the heart.
@RamV10: Oooh, wait … I see why bicyclists make you pissy … RamV10 … you’re one of those guys who identifies with pickup trucks, seeing them as a substitute for, well, you know–something you don’t have. Carry on.
I don’t get it. So you got a $600 bike, lock it up! You don’t see me bitching about leaving me $15,000 car in the parking lot, why, because I lock it up. Although, I would like to see more girls in sports bras walking around the store.
@RamV10:
You might want to find out if this activity is indeed illegal in your city before you continue committing the crime of assault as a form of revenge.
Just substitute the phrase DOG SLED everywhere you see bike in her post and you can see how lame this little tantrum was.
The stated rationale for leaving the bike outside was stupid, but really – there should be no expectations of taking a bike into any retail store. Gotten away with it before? Good on you. Some people get away with parking in handicapped zones.
Where does this overwhelming self-importance come from? Suddenly Jesus, Thomas Jefferson and the natural law demand that you get a bike rack or you’re entitled to act out? It must have make our biker feel so superior to grind this lady down with her extreme cleverness.
Welcome moral behavior in America’ 08 – where witless twenty somethings can assert moral cred. for avoiding shopping at Wal-Mart but unrelentingly crap on everyone around them for failing to adhere to some entitled idea of how life on this plant should revolve around their every whim.
I have news – how you treat the people you meet (and obviously take for granted every day) is far more important than where you shop. Put that on your $600 bike and see if you can’t ride it to adulthood. Shirt and shoes optional.
@MDT: Shit, they’re banning dogsleds in Walmart?
Oh man, but where will my dog take a crap then? (poor comparison)
The reason the Wal-Mart employee gave was stupid. And the cyclist pointed that out very dramatically. As a cyclist, I do understand her concern. A bike lock isn’t always sufficient (remember the Kryponite locks that could be unlocked with a Bic pen?) especially in some areas. But it does remind me of the saying that all bikes weight 50 lbs:
A 20lb bike needs a 30lb lock
A 35lb bike needs a 15lb lock
A 50lb bike needs no lock
And yes, as a cyclist, I’ve seen lots jackass cyclists (rude, drive recklessly, etc). I don’t like those idiots any more than you do.
I’m sorry, but this seems over the top. Yeah, Walmart’s reasoning is stupid (especially since most if not all things of high value in the place has the tags that set off the door sensors). Even so, this woman was way out of line. I’m all for people thinking for themsleves (and this woman clearly does that), but she should pick her battles. This one was not worthing raising a stink over in such a way.
Cheers!
I think this is awesome. Hilarious. This woman gets an A+ from me.
We’re all so concerned with our personal space, god forbid we’re slightly inconvenienced for a few minutes. She made a point, she called out the managers dumb rule in a pretty witty way. Not a drama queen, just being a fed up customer and making light of a dumb rule.
@PHX602: Ha! My thought exactly. Get over yourself and your over-priced bike.
@bria:
True, but it seems to me, though, that is much easier to get into a car than a bike. All it takes is a brick at a window. 5 seconds and your done.
Cheers!
You know, not all cyclist are like the lady listed above. In fact she is a major minority.
I cycle to lose weight and notice the benifits of cycling to the store for small things instead of getting into a car which wastes gas and adds polution to the environment.
I am a strong advocate of stopping at stop signs, stop lights, and waiting my turn. When I ride, I try to pick less congested roads and roads that have dual lanes so I am not backing up traffic.
Yes, there are jerks out there that are causing traffic congestion, not knowing the rules of the road, endangering lives, and giving everyone else a bad name. And you know something, those jerks are both drivers and cyclist.
If your going to get mad, get mad at them, and don’t generalize them with all the other drivers and cyclist who are on the road that do obey the laws and can share it in harmony.
@nealb: Luckily I live in LA, and the City of Los Angeles says I can ride my bike on either the street or the sidewalk, so long as I don’t disregard the safety of others using the sidewalk. 99% of the time I’ll ride on the street, but if the sidewalk is open and I can’t filter through traffic next to the curb at a stop light (also legal in CA), I’ve got no issues hopping up.
@MyPetFly: I had an SUV try and run my into a guardrail, I think his sub sustained a decent amount of damage from my fist. Too bad a few jerks have made me anti-car.
There is a vicious cycle going on I have noticed, more drivers are seeing aggressive/violent bikers which became that way after automobiles showed aggression/violence toward them….etc. Then I see things like taxis and police (yes, they drive the same) doing u-turns and cutting in front of bicycles. You can’t blame everyone for a few’s mistakes, but a lot of motorists and bicyclists feel that they are justified. Don’t get me wrong, I will react if someone purposefully tries to run me off the road and they will receive a nice modification to their car from my bike lock, but I also wave unsure drivers through their left turns so they don’t have to wait for me. It is just a dangerous game being played, motorists don’t realize that by running a biker off the road they could potentially kill him and cyclists don’t realize if they don’t stop behaving stupid then motorists will feel malcontent with them.
So does Wal-mart NOT sell sports bras? I thought they did…
So wait… If Wal-Mart doesn’t allow bikes in the store, how do they sell the bikes that are… in the store?
If you’re buying a bike at Wal-Mart (and don’t they all come pre-assembled anymore?), it’s reasonable that you’d have to create the same supposedly massive disruption of walking with the bike on your way to the cash register that this woman would of created walking her own bike around the store.
You know, when I was a kid, my mom gave me the same reason as to why you don’t bring in candy you are eating, or a toy you already bought into a store. Made perfect sense to me.
@xanax25mg:
I think you totally missed the point of my post.
If I have to leave my $600 car outside, she has to leave her $600 bike outside.
Check out the documentary “Walmart: the high cost of low prices”. You won’t want to shop there anymore.
@ChuckECheese:
What are you? 16?
The odd philosophy is called capitalism.
No one owes you or society anything.
Let me fix that quote for you.
Businesses DO exist solely for their own pleasure and profit; they have NO obligations to individuals and society.
To say otherwise is nothing more than feel good socialist horseshit.
We’ll all have pie in the sky in the sweet bye and bye.
I dunno, guys, I’ve never seen a Walmart with ANY place to chain my bike up to. And believe me, I’ve looked! I think it probably depends on the area you live in.
I’m going to have to agree with the cyclist here. If there is no bike rack it can be difficult to find something to lock a bike to if you have an adequately safe U type lock. A cable lock may be able to go around a light post or something similar, but it takes seconds to steal a bike locked with that type of lock. Not to mention that some places will cut your lock if you lock it just anywhere…. She just wanted to keep her bike safe and she’d been allowed in the store with it before. *And* the excuse the manager gave was ridiculous to say the least…. The manager could have come up with something more plausible and the cyclist may have left without an argument, but because the manager just made up the first lame excuse she could think of she left herself open.
@TinyBug: Quibbling is good, and more constructive than name-calling. But actually I agree with your point completely. I didn’t want to spend any more time on my post because it was becoming a thesis.
People support authoritarianism because they want the benefits of being on the side of the authoritarians, and they fear what might happen to them if they find themselves outside the authoritarians.
Attacking somebody who challenges authoritarians is a way of saying what side you’re on. I’m afraid when America hits the skids, that these same haters will line up to vote for the first corn-pone Nazi who promises them they won’t lose their piece of the fried pie.
I’m sorry to have a good at the OP, but who in the name of holy-tap-dancing-christ takes a bike into a store with them to shop?? I’ve never seen that in any country and I’ve lived in Denmark where every single person owns or uses a bike and they leave them outside. Like normal people.
Another pro-ReachHigher reader here, marveling at the deeply ingrained anti-cyclist sentiment even on such an enlightened site as this. (It’s even worse out on the roads!)
Still, the whole thing could have been easily avoided by following one basic, common-sense rule: Never go to Wal-Mart, ever.
If you follow the link, you’ll see the OP describe her experience like this (*****emphasis mine****):
“So the manager comes out and says I can’t bring the bike into the store, so I explain to her that there are safe places for people who drive to lock their cars but there is no safe place for me to lock my mode of transportation. *********She says that I should have driven there*********** I told her that I didn’t own a car and that my bike was my only form of transportation and I couldn’t risk having it stolen.”
I think the situation began to escalate when the manager of Walmart believes that they have the right to tell you how you should have arrived at the store, especially when mode of transportation very often *is* a political choice today.
As a non-driver (neither hubby nor I have licenses) who has faced discrimination because I have a *passport* for ID instead of a driver’s license, this kind of statement would be enough to set me off.
We once had to get a manager because a local video rental store cashier refused to issue us a Rogers Video card because their policy is to require a credit card and driver’s license for ID. Not “photo ID” . . . specifically a driver’s license.
I can’t say I wouldn’t lose it, too, after hearing that statement – not over the policy as much as the sheer inability and unwillingness to comprehend people might choose not to drive.
@RamV10: If I see someone speeding, I drift out in front of them and brake check them.
Filtering is actually legal in many states. Sorry.
It would have shown a great deal of awareness for the manager to consider that they SHOULD have a bike rack. Duh!
Slap a tag on the women’s bike and go to the right people to have one installed ASAP.
Wallmart has the resources to have a fricken everyday bike rack installed and it would be good PR for ALL the stores to follow through with having one installed.
It is unreasonable for the women to need to lock up to a tree or fence and it might have been removed by the store for all we know.
Good for her. She has more balls than I.
No comment on most of this, but I feel the need to respond to the other posters. If you chain up a $600 bike outside walmart you are an idiot. Don’t cry to me when someone steals it. Don’t worry though, the neighborhood kids who don’t carry the high dollar bolt cutters won’t steal it. They don’t know a $600 bike from a $50 one. It’s okay though, the guy who steals only high end bikes to resell has his bolt cutters on him.
Maybe you’re filthy rich and $600 is nothing to you, but I wouldn’t waste any dollar I didn’t have to.
last i checked, it’s not walmart’s responsibility to provide a place to lock up one’s bicycle.
@MikeToole:
Maybe she just wanted to ride around the store a little. I think it would be kind of fun zooming around the aisles trying not to crash into people (not like that’s possible in the Walmart Zoo near here).
@xanax25mg:
Why do you need an ‘*” for twit? Oh…OH! You meant a naughty word!
No bike racks? Too bad. If she didn’t want to leave her precious bike outside, she shouldn’t have biked there. Maybe it would have meant walking four miles or wasting money on gas — so what? Quit complaining.
Walmart’s reason for not letting her bring her bike in is irrelevant. Even if it really was unfair, they are the company, and that is their policy. She can take it or leave it. For the sake of the Walmart employees and poor customers who had to witness that childishness, I hope she never returns.
The issue of her having the bike in the store being a safety hazard is nullified by the fact that WALMART SELLS BIKES! If I were to go to the back of my local Wallyworld and buy a bike, I’d wheel the damn thing through the store, just as she would have with her own bike.
And what about customers in wheelchairs and with walkers? Aren’t those just as big a hazard, if not bigger, than a normally-abled woman pushing around her bicycle?