Walmart offers rain checks. Not everyone is aware of this, including people who work at and manage Walmart stores. The mega-retailer has few advertised specials that would require rain checks, you see. That’s how a disabled Florida senior citizen ended up having the police called in and being banned for life from Walmart after he tried to get a rain check for a pint of blueberries.

Granted, according to the St. Petersburg Times, the man did sort of stand at the entrance, trying to “warn” prospective customers about Walmart’s policies. But you’d be frustrated too if store employees looked at an advertising circular stating Walmart’s rain check policy, yet insisted that this did not constitute proof that Walmart offers rain checks.

Maurer quit arguing. Instead, he began stopping shoppers and telling them of Walmart’s “fraud” and “false advertising.” For making a fuss, Maurer faced the police after Walmart called them. They threatened Maurer with a trespassing arrest if he didn’t leave the store. They then talked with him in the parking lot.

“It was ridiculous,” said Maurer, who tried another Walmart in Hudson, which also echoed the “no rain check” mantra. “I was right. But they bullied, then humiliated me in public for 45 minutes in the parking lot.”

The rarity of people looking for rain checks at Walmart meant that employees had no idea that such a thing existed. Which is no excuse to bully people into leaving a store. But at least Walmart has taken this as an opportunity to educate managers, and is (of course) taking it very seriously.

“We screwed up,” said Dan Fogleman, spokesman for the world’s largest retailer. “We are taking this very seriously.”

Walmart offers rain checks, but a lot of stores didn’t know it [St. Petersburg Times] (Thanks, WebGuy!)

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