Matt at Work: The Walmart Weeks

Day 269

After I "quit" my job at Dutro I had to quickly find another job. I was newly married and had a trailer payment to make.

So I got a job at Walmart. Yes, I actually worked for the evil empire.

Kristy was working at Walmart at the time and told me that they were hiring so I put my application in and was pretty much hired on the spot. My hiring was controversial. I was hired into the Toys Department (right before Christmas) and I was fine with that. But not everyone was happy that I took the Toys job. There was one lady, I think her name was Jane that worked in Housewares that was VERY unhappy that the job was given to me and not to her.

During my training, which by the way consisted of me watching these long videos (eight hours worth) of how to provide good customer service (which is obvious) and answering quizzes at the end, Jane would come in and visit me and try to sell her job so she could have mine. I had the choice between Toys and her department but when I met my new boss in Toys, he begged me to come to his department. Personally, I would rather work in Toys so I took that job. Jane was obviously not happy with me and seemed like she was stalking me. Even when I was working in the floor she would come over into my department and tell me what I should be doing.

After a week of working on the floor, my cool supervisor asked if I would work the midnight to 8:00 AM shift. They were re hauling the whole Toys department and he needed a crew to work overnight to get it all setup and it was for the whole week. I jumped at the chance, I would rather work late at night with no customers and to be away from Jane. That week was a lot of fun, I worked with a neat crew and it seemed like we played more than we worked. I remember one night we got a shipment of Hot Wheels and much to my surprise I had 2-3 customers come in and watch me open the boxes so they could see the new cars. At 3 in the morning!

Go Walmart! Kill Mom and Pop!

I had worked retail before when I worked at ShopKo but Walmart was a completely different world. I learned that there is no overstock at Walmart. Everything that was shipped in went right to the floor. I also learned that there was no security at Walmart. So when you hear those announcements that go "Please direct cameras to section 12" is just a bunch of baloney. They have no security cameras and we were told to let people get away with shoplifting. If you see it happening you had to get a manager and that was like trying to find a 4-leaf clover. Only managers could confront shoplifters. And what is up with that freaky Walmart chant? I luckily never had to do it since I worked late hours. It was also a rule to ask customers if they needed help if they were closer than 10 feet away, no matter what you were doing.

I only worked at Walmart for about three weeks. I got a job at Convergys that paid a lot more money. When I quit Walmart they were very unhappy with me. I had two exit interviews and during my last one, the manager told me that I would NEVER be hired at any Walmart. I had burned the Walmart Bridge.

What I really needed to burn was my working clothes. Walmart has a strange scent to it and it would stick to my clothes. I try not to shop at Walmart but when I do and I get a whiff of that smell, it totally takes me back to the short time I was a Walmart Associate.