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"We're not allowed to be nice anymore"

Kathy and I were shopping at Evil Big Box Store(tm) #1812 late this afternoon. Kathy now is wearing a "boot" on her right foot as her injury was not a chip fracture but a fracture of the foot. She was using an electric cart and when we went to check out. The customer ahead of us, an employee off the clock, was assisting in putting our merchandise on the belt. This person was told by the cashier that she wasn't allowed to do this. Kathy thought the cashier was being rude, I thought she was kidding.

As we were being checked out, the cashier apologized for her demeanor and told us that they can get into trouble for things like that. She told us that they aren't allowed to be nice anymore.

So I guess when you are the number one retailer, you can forget about the things that the founder did to help the company get into that position.

Comments

Mike Golch said…
Yep he's rolling in his grave.
July 31, 2010 12:26 AM
Minerva said…
So many things wrong with this scenario. Pretty soon "Mr Roll-back" will have to change his name to "Mr Nasty".

Hope Kathy is feeling better with the boot, and won't have to wear it much longer.
July 31, 2010 11:11 PM
YEKIMI said…
Sounds like what happened when "Large Beagle" came to Wadsworth. {the old store on the north end of town, not the new one}. Shortly after they opened they had an " efficiency expert" evaluating the employees. Had a friend who was working there as a cashier and someone she knew came through the line. As she was ringing up the purchases, she was chatting with her friend. The "expert" came over and proceeded to rip the cashier a new one telling her "your job is to ring up the groceries as fast as possible and NOT to chit-chat with the customers". The cashier turned to the "expert" and said, "If that's how you expect customers to be treated in this store, it's not going to last too long" The customer went one better, called for the store manager and proceeded to tear into him about the so called " efficiency expert" and told him that to show her displeasure she wanted a "total refund of EVERYTHING I just purchased and I will take my business across the street to Buehlers". The next day the " efficiency expert" and all the rest of that company's employees were gone from the store. My friend quit after her shift was over that night.
August 03, 2010 3:13 AM
Cliff said…
Once when I was working at Monkey Ward, a manager came up to me and yelled at me in front of 2 customers. There were bets being taken on the floor, whether or not I was going to meet this manager in the parking lot after the store closed. I never did, but did do a slow burn for the next few days.
August 03, 2010 1:39 PM
Syd said…
Best to boycott Walmart. It has helped create the mess that we are in today with regard to jobless numbers. With so much outsourcing going on, nothing is made in the US anymore.
August 04, 2010 12:27 PM
Michelle said…
Good grief... not allowed to be nice anymore??? :-| I'd boycott. I already do avoid two supermarkets here where the staff are miserable and super fast.

I'm not super fast so it just stresses me when they zoom my groceries through and what's the point in shopping if you can't smile and chat?

Pathetic modern world!
September 06, 2010 3:38 AM
Amel said…
HUUUHHH??? That's insane! Not allowed to be nice anymore? Gee...
September 06, 2010 6:45 AM
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