Do you hate shopping and the lack of etiquette from people? I journeyed to Walmart.

I read your OP with interest and am amazed how “trained” you have become.

Every issue you offer from your shopping experience is a DIRECT result from the Wal-Mart business plan.

Wal-Mart intentionally clogs the center isles with merchandise to create blockages in order to slow customer’s movement through the store. It is Wal-Mart’s belief that if they have you stop every couple of feet you will spontaneously purchase more.

Most of Wal-Mart center isle merchandise can be found on the shelves. Wal-Mart stores are large enough to handle all merchandise on the shelves. They also set the width of the remainder of the isles so that only 1.5 persons can pass, again this is a marketing ploy to slow the customer’s movement down each isle.

Like most shoppers you blame the inability to freely move about the store on the other shoppers, never occurring to you that Wal-Mart has purposely designed this effect.

This equals “Trained”

Let’s tackle the Shopping Cart problem in the parking lot.
Again, this is a direct result from business decisions that Wal-Mart has purposely made.

Wal-Mart’s profit margin is large enough to hire several persons to monitor the parking lot to secure loose carts, but they choose not to.

They have “Trained” their customers to return the carts to a central location so now they just have to have a couple of guys on the payroll to transport the carts back into the store.

So, if you are one who falls victim to becoming a un-paid Wal-Mart employee, picking up carts in the parking lot for them, it is your fault.

If the carts in the parking lot are a problem, the store refuses to hire enough help to get the job done…Don’t shop there.
Case in point is Publix Food Stores, no shopping cart problem there, the bag boy still carries your purchase out for you. Imagine that !

While we are on the subject lets focus on the “Un-Manned Checkout Lanes”

Never, ever use these lanes, all you are doing is making yourself an Un-Paid employee, and you are cutting someone else off the payroll.

Bottom-line is Don’t fall victim of becoming an Un-Paid employee, and recognize that some establishments are treating you like a rat in a maze.

If you are going to allow yourself to be used in such away, don’t gripe, it is your own fault.

Never go into a Supermarket just before Christmas.

Sometimes you can't help it and have to, because you need some bits for that little party you're having or some extra bits for Christmas Day.

It's like Road Rage with Trollies...."Trolly Rage", or "Cart Rage" to the Americans.

I don't know if your Carts are the same as our Trollies here in the UK, but i would imgaine so. Big old welded metal things, that really hurt if you are whacked in the side, or the ankles, or get your foot run over.

Christmas time in Supermarkerts you need to plan your shopping trip with Military Precision. You need to get in and out as fast as possible without being hit and injured by foaming at the mouth, rude customers looking for the perfect value item to go into their 2-3 already full trollies.

All chivalry, etiquette and goodwill goes right out of the window. It's like a free for all. As if the world is coming to an end and this supermarkert is the last place anyone can get any food from.

oop's please delete..

reply to post by mugger


I like many people have a love hate relationship with Walmart. It's almost as if some people leave their manners at the entrance to the parking lot. Black Friday is the worst and in years past I have been one of those people. You know, one of the people that stand at a pallet of computers for 4 hours until the guy comes over and starts to cut it open. I have done whatever needed to be done to get my children what they want. I have never come home empty handed in my 15 years of BF madness. Now that my children are adults I will still be in the madness on BF to shop for myself....oh yeah and my husband. lol.

Originally posted by satron
Look at it like this, how would you feel if you were given a job with barely modest pay and ever so declining benefits, and being made to work Thanksgiving? Sounds like there's a porter position open, but when it gets filled, will their be another cut in benefits?

edit on 19-11-2011 by satron because: (no reason given)

Cry me a river. Better yet, get real!!!!

If all your education and work experience will only gain you employment at Walmart, that's not Walmart's fault. You do have some responsibility in the process.

An employer NEVER gives "you a job with barely modest pay and ever declining benefits". A new employee get's the job because of education, experience in the position being applied for, and how he/she presents themselves at the interview. In other words, that person earned their new position and excepted the terms of employment.

Nobody "gave" them jack diddlely.

Employment at places like Walmart allows you the time to think about what you can do to better yourself. I know times are tough but a job is a job right now, but you can still go to school at night, take on-line courses. On the job, show up every day, give more than the average employee, and always volunteer when asked. Be the person that management knows they can depend on no matter what. Not the slacker always found in the break room.

I spent 30 years in transportation/distribution as a manager/supervisor. I did not rise up through the organizations by waiting for the opportunities to come to me, I went after them. I reported to work everyday, early, performed every dirty job their was, never refused a request, did the little things, now forgotten, to keep our trucks rolling to maintain satisfied customers. I went the extra mile to keep my employer satisfied and our customers even more so. I was the man whose word the company could "bank on".

Oh and you have to work Thanksgiving, oh the humanity.....

I cannot remember how many holidays, vacations, days off, I give up over those 30 years. It just went along with the job. Like the 50-60 hour, 6 day weeks, It was expected of me.

And I worked many a Christmas day so trucks could roll the next day a 6:00AM. for which I did for "free".

I was a salaried employee and NEVER received a dime of overtime. Ever!!!!

So pardon me if I don't show utter contempt for stores like Walmart. They are hiring and everyone has to start somewhere.

i agree with you on the unintentional anger part, some people are simply having a bad day and do not mean to direct anything to anyone specific, they just lash out sometimes.

'm sure you would agree ha no one is perfect. look at all he ways that people can destroy things for others by nitpicking their mistakes and adding amplification. a lot of this is not even important stuff but it is tactics used. People must learn that they cannot judge others by the clothes they wear, a joke they might have cracked, a moment when they became upset even if no one really knows the reason for hem being upset... but they do it all the time. i promise you that. I am currently sitting inside of a neat little box of facts, figures and files that was meant to discredit me from the time I was very small... and I'm telling you, they damn near won.

i do not feel i should have to 'make it' among others that I want to be nothing like.

let me give you a example. i had been abused by a friend and i was deeply confused about it because he had some people on his side. this gave me the one option of internalizing it. I tried telling others but he was ahead of me in discrediting me. after having to swallow this, i tried going about my business and got upset about it to the point where i was hospitalized. i was very upset and angry at a few members of my family for taking his side. i LIVED with these people... i had nowhere else to go and did not know how to survive on the streets. This made me want to die. I felt i had no reason in this world to live because i could not access any hope. everyone was against me.. even strangers thought I had surely brought this onto myself by being a stupid girl, by being a shallow girl, by being a careless girl, by being a girl who does not know what is good for her.... NONE of these people can show me a better way than to suck p and compromise... even if it means laying down for an unworthy man.

seeing how upset i was and having no understanding because he was a doctor with no real time to spend with his patient, he insisted that I remain in a cold sterile environment that was in no way trying to get to the root of my issues but was only trying to convince me that the problem was MINE... and that i needed to fix it.

i need to fix NOTHING.

I need to adjust NOTHING.

...but that doctor told me i wasn't going anywhere until i stated taking his meds... so i did and started puking my guts up. thanks doc!... fortunately i didn't die from the allergic reaction.

i will not compromise when people are doing very wrong at the very root and causing all these other things to transpire... i will confront it head on because there is no game to win. I'm here... that means I already made it.
they try to change me but I want to be nothing like them in their misery because i was fine until the put their claws in me.

maybe I could be more creative with my lashing out, but until some get ahead of this game that others cast upon them from birth the moment they become a number in this system... people are going to have to understand that sometimes you don't have time to think it out when someone gets up in your business without warrant to do so, you have to grab a hold of their attention and make them smell what's on the breeze.

i agree that you can block it in positive ways... absolutely. Sometimes you just don't have time to back off your own energy they PUT IN YOU... you just have to bounce it right back in their face. if you don't think fast enough and just have to walk away... it gets inside of you... it's a living energy, it can do damage inside of you. it can convince you to be just like them. that is why so many now that the whole system is screwed up but they remain loyal to it.... it's programming. i am more afraid of that programming than "not making it" ... i don't want to make it if that's what it means... to subscribe to their mindset.
broken promises... if you don't make people see your side and are meek... they will walk all over you.

they will make you work, they will enslave you for several decades pacifying you, making and breaking promises to keep you subdued.

On the other hand, if i have done nothing wrong compared to a conglomeration that is responsible for COUNTLESS mistakes because they have taken responsibility and control unto themselves.(like trying to overcome the system by becoming a part of it) then that system would have to change *for me* I'm afraid. My spirit is just fine, my methods are not far reaching and invasive like some. I need make no compromise for the sake of winning because that is just selfishness from my perspective. It's subscribing to the lie for the sake of gaining, when in fact- nothing truly belongs to you in the first place. Not one bit of it.

You shop with trash you get treated like trash next time go to Tiffanies, if you can afford it that is.

Originally posted by muzzleflash

Originally posted by satron
Look at it like this, how would you feel if you were given a job with barely modest pay and ever so declining benefits, and being made to work Thanksgiving? Sounds like there's a porter position open, but when it gets filled, will their be another cut in benefits?

edit on 19-11-2011 by satron because: (no reason given)

Just because someone's life sucks does not justify making it suck for others. This is unjustified and unacceptable behavior.

I will always treat random humans with dignity and respect no matter how crappy my life is.

I don't have barely any money, and I struggle daily. But you know what?
I will do what I can to accommodate others and aid them in having a reason to like people for a change.

It's high time we turn this ship around. Every little tiny effort helps.

Someone went home today (I was at the store today), and they are sitting there thinking "Everyone at the store today was a jerk, except that nice young couple I came across in the isle today, they were very nice and friendly and respectful".

I improved someone else's living conditions by merely being a cool person.
That is what life is Really About.

It would be nice if people really thought that way... Sadly, people are far more likely to remember the negativity that stood out to them over the day than the positivity. I'm not sure if that's nature or nurture, but it's true. I could lay out all kinds of supporting studies and whatnot... But it's not necessary. For some reason we hold on to the bad... It's so much easier to persuade with negativity and fear than praise and kindness. THAT is whT we need to change. It seems that the issue is deep seated psychologically and again, is that inherent or is that the lifetime of tv, radio, magazines, etc telling us we're not good enough, or religion telling us we're sinners and will always be sinners... Pretty negative right? Negativity is everywhere and it is constantly assaulting our senses in everyday shape and form.

I went to walmart yesterday and had the same experience. It's getting worse. People just look like zombies to me. Gotta buy this gotta buy that. Too many choices... Sensory overload... Drool. Meanwhile I'm just trying to get the hell out as quickly as possible. The hoards of people give me anxiety, and the thought of their consumption of goods they dont need creating waste that is destroying our planet...


Ugh... I think too much. It's both a blessing and a curse. I wonder where are the other thoughtful people like me. Why can't we all live together and forget the zombies? I'm not very optimistic that the hoards will wake up anytime soon...

In England we don't have walmart, but we do have ASDA (its actually owned by walmart). Anyway as a kid i used to hate the place... somehow developed an image of the evilness created by the workplace itself, such as the staff and the thought they tried to make the stores as horrible as possible.

It was only until i seen 'the other side' by getting a job there for a while (from 16-18 years). Only then did i realize that its the general public that make the place a complete crapper lol.

For instance, i would be working on the drinks aisle (lots of heavy stuff to put out), i'd be using a pump-truck pulley with a pallet full of soft drinks, typically had to pull them from the warehouse out onto the shop floor and stack them, quite a physical job. So i'd be going about my business to be confronted by a family with 2 or 3 shopping trolleys blocking the whole aisle... you'd assume they were all blind with the huge thing i was pulling around. They would just never move even when asked... most of the time we would have to go back around and go down the central aisle.

Literally like a maze of yapping ignorant people. Almost like it is some kind of ego-competition... they all look at each other and make rude faces when people try to "reach around each other" to simply take an object off the shelf. Its pretty hilarious, but really gets in the way of people trying to do their job. Alot of people typically say the staff in supermarkets can be angry sobs... while it might be true... its actually the customers that make them that way, you have to put up with cheesy music 24/7 being blasted down the store's sound system, whining/crying/screaming kids, you get the idea.

I thought i'd write this, because its interesting once you see things from a different angle... such as the random nuisance who seem to come to the store every-day and push around an empty trolley just for the sake of yapping with others and blocking the aisles, YES every single bloody day!. Its almost like they enjoy coming to the supermarkets in the same way that anyone else would visit their local pub...

Lots of strange people out there.

I do hate shopping, i've seen it all after working in a super-market previously. I would much rather buy things from a smaller store where i know i won't have to put up with a roadblock of yapping morons. It almost seems like it is fate for everyone to be a complete moaner when visiting a store such as ASDA.

at least the fit givers only really have to worry about being poisoned these days... in the dark ages if you pitched a fit over something you may very well have your head cut off just to keep you quiet.

some of these quiet people are the ones with the real issues. i mean you want to talk about crazy?? i have been called crazy but what have i done that is crazy? to me, raping people is crazy but people get away with hat all the time all depending on who they are. Being a manipulator, to me is crazy... but alas- no sanity points for not being a manipulator... destroying people's lives? CRAZY imo, but this in all in a days work for some.

what is crazy?...really. some people would want to keep you from lamenting... they would literally tape your mouth shut when you are in the process of crying out to god if they could... because they simply don't want to hear it.

reply to post by Fitch303


with the amount of money walmart rakes in their employees should be receiving at least 25,000 a year, i bet they arent even getting that. yay america is a monopoly board these days along with the rest of the world! all by design

I have noticed an unmistakeable pattern when I go into the city to shop. Whether it's a grocery store, a department store or a hardware store, it's always the same. The courtesy and respect for fellow shoppers is directly proportional to the income levels \ social stratification of the area.
Certain pockets of the city are inhabited by near sub-human types who have no respect for others. One can actually see it change by degrees as ones heads west. As you move out into the more affluent areas, where civilized people dwell, you'll see good manners at every turn.
There's a WalMart in a low income area of the city that people have actually created websites about. It's like "attack of the mutants."

The bleeding hearts can blame 'society" for this issue, but I'd argue that anyone with a functioning brain should understand the basics of courtesy and civility, whether they live in a castle or a cave. Someone who can't take a second to hold a door for an elderly person or give the right of way to a handicapped person is a piece of garbage.
It's sad, because as my sainted grandma used to say:
"Good manners don't cost a thing."

It doesn't end in the store though. You get in the car park, try to leave and it's like a bomb's ticking. People rushing, beeping, not giving way and acting like crazed animals behind the wheel of a car.
Pathetic.

In my local supermarket on the way out I always say to the missus, i'll let this guy out, then the person behind should let the next out and so on. Things would move smoother but lo and behold the majority can't handle the fact there is yet another car infront of them....

So yeah, people can be sooo ignorant in stores and out of them.

Just a vicious cycle.

(S&F OP)

Good manners don't cost a thing, which is why you should suspect something besides poor people being the culprit... right? how do you know the management there is not really bad and they simply won't hire enough people to make the place more customer friendly... and therefore the customers are unhappy.

that's part of the problem in walmart and you don't have to be in a certain part of town to experience that. Some will try to make you believe this though.

I was early forced into an apartment in 08 because they pulled he other rental unit we wanted out from under us. 9this real estate co is very underhanded and is working with authorities to conduct illegal investigations because it's more cost efficient to just go snoop then to investigate and hey work through real estate companies and through cleaning agencies... now hey are fudging on claims and are trying to sell their old debts to collection agencies... Illusionary debt, they are gaulging the system. they also have their own appraisers and have borrowed lots of debt against their own slums, many of which are condemnable and worth nowhere near what is on the appraisal....but anyway...

they switched hands with the management to one of their of shoot companies (to keep it seperate on the books while doing this) and moved in undercover hat were supposed to be looking for drugs. what they wound up doing was just trying to start a bunch of crap because these days, the DEA even suffers from the economy. We had to move because they were so caustic to that little complex it was beginning to incite violence, and it was a black community. this sends a bad message about minorities... when in fact THE MAN WAS PERPETRATING IT ALL.

people try to start racial and social divide issues and this statement is kind of loaded with that feel.

that is NOT RIGHT!...there are plenty of examples of low income places that do just fine and have a very good friendly rapport with all their customers. You should never uphold such a belief! you need to go find out for yourself by living the life and understand that much negative attention is given to those blocked into the inner cities and to blame them!... terrible... just terrible... yes, many of them are drinkers and whatnot but most of the problem are brought in from outside, from people wth enough resources to pull strings.

We were in our local ASDA the other day, and were just leaving after buying our shopping, having struggled around the aisles trying to get what we wanted.
We left the checkout, and some ignorant woman rammed her trolley into the back of my girlfriend's wheelchaair to try and force her out of the way! I said, "Watch where you're going!", but she ignored me and sailed off into the distance as if nothing had happened, I am astounded at the arrogant attitude of people to shoppers in wheelchairs, it is as if they do not exist in the eyes of some shoppers, and this is why I HATE supermarket shopping, every time I have to go there I end up coming out wanting to thump someone!

Sadly I live in a area where the only place to shop is Walmart and a Kmart and even in that its around
35 min's away from me so needless to say I have to shop there or choose to drive 2 hours to a mall.
I always hold the door for people I never get a polite response in either store...
sad. I am the first person to help someone if they look like they need it only for them to accept it
then turn away with out so much as a thank you.
In Walmart do you know how many times the check out person has forgotten to give me a bag of stuff off the spinner only to give it to the next person in line knowing it was mine!!!!!!
One time I confronted the check out person and she says "OH WELL" go find the person and get your bag back I did try and do that once and she threated to call the manager saying I was harassing her. She saw me in the lot and raised the bag with MY columbian coffee and a bunch of other stuff in it as she drove pass my car laughing!

I went to Walmart to pick up a few things for Thanksgiving and decided to buy my self a pair of bum around boots so I picked them out and sat down to try them on an noticed a women dressed well trying boots on also but she didn't take them off just threw her own shoes back in the box on the shelf and walked out with the new ones on her feet... walking right past me and stared me straight in the face then continued to shop.... I didn't bother to tell anyone cause I figured "OH WELL"

I also bring my cart back and place it where its supposed to go and I still will hold a door or help
someone if they need it thats just me.

I journeyed to walmart my-self last night at around 8pm, after not being there for over a year. I was looking for shirt stays and OMG i wish i had never gone. First the people move at a snail pace as if they needed to annoy the people behind them. As I tried to go around them then they would move to the direction i was going to cross them at. Second costumer service was awful, no one knew what a shirt stay was! and I was given attitude because of it. Third I felt just wrong shopping there for some reason. All in all there was only 1 worker there that was actually Human, Nice dude. But the chances of me returning to another walmart will be in a long long time.

One thing i admit I do not do is always take the cart back. i will usually put it in he thing if it's not too far but i will not take it all the way back or even up on the sidewalk all the time. I have had some roll off the sidewalk after putting it there and you have to adust it and everything and keep looking back at it...blah, blah... plus, you might have to halt the store traffic to go put it all the way back up.... plus, if i was working at walmart, I'd like to be outside the building for as long as possible unless it is high noon in the summer or way too cold....so i figure there ar so many out here already and this parking lot is SLAMMED.... imma get outta here and let the dude get it, cause he's wearing the flashy # and everything he's gotta do it anyway.... cause this place is a mad house. that's often my decision about the cart.... but I will usually take it as far as i can until something gets in the way or it becomes more trouble than it's worth.

i also seldom let others out in traffic because it's very important to follow traffic rules and if an accident happens, those liabilities can make "at fault" very difficult. i wll do it if it is so bad that the person might have to turn their car off or something but if it's just a matter of waiting turn... I'm looking in he other direction hoping that my drift is taken... traffic rules must be followed and easily comprehensible to everyone involved and signaling and implied permission is not always going to be clear and confirmed. Rigid traffic rules are a must.

speaking of traffic rules, i was rushed by a cop recently. I do not speed in general (I usually follow to a ridiculous extent) but i have been known to accelerate and what not and get angry with other drivers, have felt plenty of road rage in my day but it has been pretty uneventful so far... nothing serious ever happens and I'm a very cautious and observant driver and all i can say about motor vehicle rudeness is be careful because cars can also be used as weapons for the desperate and insane.... i have no idea why people be walking out in traffic like they own it and stuff like they don't know anything about all the crazy people out there. that's just pure foolishness in my opinion. no, actually... everyone should slow down and get out of high traffic areas imo but the police need to learn how to drive sometimes. If i have to follow the rules, why can't everybody else?

reply to post by brokedown


Maybe I am trained in my manners, maybe more people should have been also,.The aisles at my Walmart were fine. I do occasionally shop for certain products, cleaning supplies, paper products, garbage bags, bath supplies. It is much cheaper than my grocery store. So yeah, I will utilize the store according to my needs.

I do not go out of my way to return others carts, but when entering, will take one for myself, that is free floating in the lot instead of getting one at the entrance.Ever have your vehicle get smashed by a cart,especially a new vehicle, then you find a problem with the carts also. I return my cart out of respect to others property(car), not because I am trained.
Some interesting replies.

reply to post by mugger


I know you say that nothing against Walmart but it is the caliber of the clientele. I will be happy if these people simply covered their bulbous forms with clothing. I don't expect niceties but I don't want to be subject to the screaming at children, the miles of cellulite or the smell of the unwashed and I will hold my own darn door.

I hold the door for people even if they look like they are a real a hole.
I do this so maybe they will pick up the habit one day but like a donation or a gift, if you are giving it with the expectation of a return it doesn't really mean as much.

I have nothing against civility but I have learned not to expect it in certain areas of society any longer. Civility and concern for others.... went out with charity and empathy. You are living in a dream world of the past or a sheltered world of the privileged.