Walmart Employee Hates New Trash Cans, Will Throw Yours If You Set It Near Him
Ricky had a bizarre run-in with "Larry" at his local Walmart, where he was shopping recently with his mother, who needed a new trash can. While Ricky browsed the automotive accessories counter, his mom did mom things in the silk flower department, and she left her new trash can next to Ricky's leg while she wandered off. It turns out, you do not leave trash cans anywhere in Larry's line of sight if you know what's good for you.
She didn't want to tote it back across to the floral section when she replaced the scented oil. I was standing there looking when all of a sudden a man named Larry (who worked in the automotive section I assume) grabbed the trash can that I could feel touching my leg, yanked it up, and did a half slide/half throw toward the hardware side of the store. Well, that made the empty trash fly and crash in a loud kinda empty trash can sound way, very loud, almost 2 1/2 to 3 aisles down from where I was standing. As if my embarrassment wasn't enough, he left it in the middle of the aisle and started to return to the Automotive counter.
Surely you didn't expect him to go retrieve it, Ricky? Crazy and manners don't often go together.
Ricky, who incidentally worked for twelve years in a big box retail environment, writes:
I walked past him and said, "Thanks Larry for throwing my trash can," while 10 to 15 people just stared in amazement... It was very embarrassing. I hurried to where the can was lying in the middle of the floor and tried to pick it up without being looked at like a three-armed sideshow freak.
Larry was also trying to beat me to the trash can, the whole time saying that an "old woman" just left it there. I then politely said that "old woman" was my mother, and it was right beside me the whole time within 2 inches of my leg. He then ran back to the automotive sales counter where they change the oil, but never apologized as if he did nothing wrong. By that time I was so mad my head was throbbing, I was so embarrassed by how I was treated that I took the 2 wire items I needed and replaced the trash can back on the counter and said Wal-Mart will not get a trash can sell from me today.
Ricky went out to the parking lot to cool off, then called the store phone number that was printed on a receipt.
I was like, "I can't let this pass." I phoned and asked for the Store Manager, and the operator said she was on vacation. I then asked for the co-manager, [and the operator] said he was not there. I then politely asked, "Can I speak to whoever is in charge of the circus there?" She transferred me to Assistant Manager Mike.
Well, I told him my complaint and he never really said too much, said he would be mad too if it happened to him. [I felt] I was given the ole' "I don't have time to speak to you because I have to get back to setting the Christmas department planogram" song and dance--he was very rushed and short.
Ricky told the assistant manager the approximate time it happened and suggested he check the store security tapes for confirmation, and he left his number and asked that the store manager call him back upon her return from vacation. We hope at the very least Ricky receives an apology for how he and his mother were treated, and that Larry is "retrained" (to use a recently popular corporate term) to not throw the merchandise until after it's paid for.
(On a related note: Ricky, learn to write in paragraphs! With punctuation! Yes, I am wagging my finger at you now! It took me three days to figure out how to edit your story down to a readable level. This isn't just me being a jackass—you'll be taken far more seriously by companies if you can make a concise, well-written argument on your own behalf. Maybe not by Walmart, which has a reputation for ignoring customer complaints, but there are certainly other companies out there who actually respond to customer feedback on occasion.)
(Photo: Getty Images)
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Comments:
Well, Wal-mart doesn't really have the highest standards for employees.
There's an important omission here.
Ricky had just told Larry that Walmart was out of Snickers.
Thank goodness I'm not the only one who thought the OP's writing was a bit off...I can't imagine what the original was like!
Consumerist: Now We Blame the OP So You Don't Have To!
I keed, I keed!
"Larry went out to the parking lot to cool off, then called the store manager's name that was printed on a receipt."
You have your hero and villian confused here.
Which I can understand.
That's an odd story. Wal-Mart employees can be so random!
@Chris - Looks like that was a real treat to fix! I just finished editing a 160 page technical doc, so I feel your pain! :)
@Phydeaux: No, it's true this time.
We actually get a *lot* of tips every week that we can't follow up on or post because of the writing quality--either it will take too long to edit into something presentable, or the narrator comes across as too unreliable to make the story convincing (even when you suspect he's telling the truth).
It's so important to write a concise, clear complaint.
Meh. You know what I'd do? Not shop at that store again, and then leave it at that.
@rpm773: Er, I mean I'd skip the part about going back in and trying to raise the issue with the manager. What is he going to do? Give some canned, meaningless apology for Larry's behavior? A voucher for free nachos from the food stand?
@The Falcon Cheerleader Jean Tassle Intern: FTW. That commercial gets me every time. NOOOOOOOOOOOO! *crash*
@The Falcon Cheerleader Jean Tassle Intern: LOL.. then he gave him a Dark snickers and he threw someone else's trash can!
Maybe he thought it was one of those new 'hover-cans' I've been reading about.
Maybe he moonlights as a garbage collector and momentarily confused his jobs.
Maybe he was traumatized by an Oscar the Grouch toy when he was a baby.
See, there are plenty of rational explanations.
Wal*mart cares NOTHING for "customer service" all they care about is getting the merchandise out, so people can buy it, and then getting your money from you. PERIOD.
They don't care if they tick you off, they don't care if they REALLY tick you off. They don't care if you vow never to shop there again, cause they know you will.
they care about nothing other than the all might dollar.
Do not expect the manager to do anything for you either.
Really, if he's shopping in Walmart then obviously he is not very bright. He should have gone to Targé or Jauke Penné's instead. Where the sophisticated people go.
It's Wal-Mart. Duh!
If you want stuff for next to free, expect the service to suck. Can it be more simple?
If you want better service, show where you've heard the service is better.
I'm sorry, just who is it that is under the impression that service at Wal-Mart is average or above?
This behavior would cause me to become puzzled, shocked, confused, and maybe even a bit amused.
But I doubt I'd get headache-inducing-can't-let-it-pass mad about it.
"Larry went out to the parking lot to cool off, then called the store manager's name that was printed on a receipt."
Wait, so Larry's out in the parking lot after throwing a trash can, he finds a receipt with his manager's name on it, and he just screams it out?
Or do you mean that Ricky (not Larry) called the store manager, WHOSE name was printed on the receipt?
Having been a department manager at Wal-Mart, I can attest...crazy people work there.
I would have just been like "wtf?", and gone and gotten a trashcan that wasn't damaged from someone tossing it around.
I'd also write The Consumerist as it's a funny story, but I wouldn't complain to the store manager. Seriously, what retraining needs to take place? A review of the chapter "Don't throw things"?
I would make a habit of leaving random large items around the Automotive dept anytime I noticed that this character was working.
Maybe he was showing everyone his hilarious Bobby Knight impersonation?
I don't understand how the OP could feel embarrassed or humiliated by Larry's temper tantrum. I deal with social anxiety myself and am uncomfortable in busy public settings. However, if something like that happened to me, I would be feeling "WTF is your major malfunction?" rather than embarrassment.
I'm also unclear as to the size of the trash can and what it was made of. A plastic kitchen-type trash can wouldn't make *that* much noise. A 55 gallon aluminum or metal garbage can would make a terrible racket.
@Murph1908: exactly what I was thinking. This is a story to tell in the lunchroom or bar, basically.
@IrvCrapper: that's not expecting good customer service, that's expecting some random crazy employee to not run up and throw your intended purchases, I really don't think that's too much to ask even from Wally-World
@S-the-K: I was going to the same thing. Why did the OP get embarrassed. I would have left the trash can where the guy threw it and maybe start talking in a loud voice. "what's this trash can doing in the middle of the aisle?"
Or have more fun and start yelling that the employee hurt you with his can throwing tantrum.
But this can be good fun for future Walmart trips for everyone.
Get a trash can, set it in the aisle, and start putting store items in it. then just leave it there. Will the employees think it is all real trash and dump it?
@Chris Walters: That's crazy because so many of the ones you do post are hard to read--the ones you don't post must be really, really bad.
@ideagirl: Sophisticated people don't need sarcasm tags. We're smart enough to tell when someone's being sarcastic.
@IrvCrapper: The service being incompetent, unhelpful and/or nonexistent is one thing. The service being crazy and deliberately causing problems when the customer was minding his own business is something entirely different.
He hates those cans!
I want to take a step back. It sounds like Larry might have mental issues. I know a few walmarts who hire mentally challenged people to help them integrate into society.
Was this the case? If not, then it's a different story.
I never feel sorry for people who have a complaint about shopping at Wal*Mart. If you shop there, you kinda get what you pay for.
That is all.
@Murph1908: Ditto from me too. That's not to say it wasn't a stressful situation, just that I tend to deal with stress and pressure by openly laughing at it.
A situation like this would have me bent over in hysterics.
Children.
Children work for Walmart.
Is this news?
With stories like this and my own experience at retailers, there's no point in going in to a store. It's a waste of your time and money. Have you tried calling a store to save gas? Don't bother: if anyone answers the phone they won't actually go out of their way to look for something. They will make up an answer. They are mostly rude. The economy will have to get much worse for this to change, I'm afraid.
@TheCheez: This would be an excellent video for "Improv Everywhere" to make: setting this guy up to explode on camera.
@S-the-K: I agree. Why would someone become embarrassed because some employee threw a trashcan that you were next to? And why would something like this make him "so mad [his] head was throbbing"? I would have felt embarrassed for the employee. And the OP seems to think that people dropping things in a Walmart is as rare as a "three-armed sideshow freak". I drop stuff, I've seen people drop stuff, and no one has stared and begun whispering behind their hands about it.
It was probably more of a people-looking-to-see-if-there's-a-fight-or-need-to-run look, and not a people-looking-to-see-the-guy-who-dropped-or-threw-a-trashcan-to-laugh-at-him look.
@AlteredBeast: Uh, if you have an employee that THROWS things randomly around the store when he's ticked off, then yes! Yes, yes you do need to retrain that individual not to throw things like a two year old having a temper tantrum (although my two year old wouldn't be that irrational and destructive, so perhaps my statement is a disservice to the preschool set.)
If your efforts to remind the individual that throwing items around the sales floor, especially items that are TOUCHING one of your customers, is beyond-the-pale insane, then they should be trained in the route to the nearest unemployment office and then advised to use it.
@baristabrawl:
Exactly. In the same way I never feel bad for people shopping at the Bay (or any other expensive store!) I figure if you have that much money, the stereotype says you must be doing something wrong to have it. Everyone should just shop at Sears and be done with it, like every good stereotypical middle-aged person.
We are talking about stereotypes, right?
@Chris Walters: That's why "notalwaysright.com" creates their own dialogues - can you imagine if they just posted what was sent to them? No one would ever know what happened.
@The Falcon Cheerleader Jean Tassle Intern: ROFL! I hereby nominate you for Commenter of the Day! You're gonna get me in trouble for laughing at the "spreadsheet" on my screen at work...
"Larry went out to the parking lot to cool off . . ."
You mean "Ricky?"