Attention Walmart Customers

The Christmas season is over and the time has came and went for me as a temporary employee at Walmart. I agonized over my temporary status ever since I was hired. I desperately needed some type of job after the first of this year and I didnt want to find myself in the boat of jobless people. Well, I found out yesterday that I am no longer temporary at Walmart--I am a permanent part time employee.

I gotta say that in all my years of working I have never thought I would be so relieved to find out that I was a part time employee at Walmart. But I am. At least I have something and it can work into more. I dont plan to stay part time and I dont plan to stay in the same position. It is going to take a lot of work but I will do it.

I have had many different types of jobs throughout my life. My favorite job was as an insurance adjuster for the now bankrupt Vesta Insurance Company. I handled homeowners claims throughout the northeast. I loved it and at one time during my employment was a supervisor of claims for the company. But all good things come to an end and that job did.

I am a pretty smart girl. But I have found out since working at Walmart that even a job that seems to be easy is not always so easy. Dealing with customers on a daily basis is fun and challenging. Customers can be very pleasant and very unpleasant. A cash register can cause me to have more brain farts on a given day than I have had in a lifetime. Putting up stock always causes brain farts for me too. I can put the same DVD's up every day and there are always a handful that I know where they go but I cant seem to find it. I can be looking right at the spot where they go and I wont see it. What I cant wrap my brain around is why this seems so hard and handling a half million dollar total fire loss on a house was elementary to me. What I have come to realize is that every job no matter how large or small it seems has it own unique challenges.

Challenge came knocking in my department Sunday in the form of angry customers. For some reason when this conversation occurred we were extremely busy--so I had an audience standing around.

Me: Yes, how may I help you?

Customer: I am here to buy the 32" LCD Vizio TV you have on sale for $397.00.


Me: I am sorry sir, but we are sold out.

Customer: (leaning into my personal space) So--what should I do now? Just LEAVE?!?!?!

Me: (smiling but warning bells going off in my head) No sir, you dont have to leave. I - um, um, I will see if the Chelsea store may have some of those. One moment.

I make a phone call to Chelsea Walmart and they also are sold out.

(Before I go any further, I want to say that no Walmarts in the area had these TV's because none came on the trucks. I was not even going there with this customer because no rain checks were being offered and I just new I didnt want to deal with that can of worms with this guy who was in my personal space.)

Me: I am sorry, but Chelsea doesnt have any left either.

Customer: No sound, only the up and down movement of his chest and fire coming from his eyes. Like a devil. - Finally - "So----let me get this straight, you have it on sale but you DONT HAVE IT?"

Me: Yes sir--that is correct.

Customer: pause--Well--do you think you could at least give me a listing of the telephone numbers of all the Walmarts around so I can call them and see if they have the TV? I mean since you dont want to call them?

Me: Im sorry sir, we dont keep a listing back here, but there is one in customer service at the front of the store. (In my mind I am thinking - I hate you)

Customer: I guess you expect me to use the yellow pages perhaps?

Me: That would be a good idea also.

Customer: Well--I can see that you just dont want to help me. I seem to bother you. Maybe I should just GO!

Me: Yes sir, have a nice day sir.

Turns out this guy had been in the store the night before and wanted to buy the TV at the sale price, but since the sale didnt start until Sunday, the associate could not sell it to him and he was angry about that. Little did the sales person know that the TV's wouldnt come in and the guy would come back and well, you know the rest of the story. I got him when he was really mad. It was a terrible domino effect.


Then there is the foot thing. My feet have gotten better since I found the new shoes. They still hurt but at least I can actually walk to the car after a shift. I dont think my feet will ever not hurt, there are just too many issues. Since I started wearing the new shoes I have developed another problem. It is a sensitive issue and one that I have never had to deal with until now. The shoes are causing my feet to stink. I mean REALLY stink! I have tried using various odor stopping techniques but nothing seems to work. It is very embarrassing. The stink is much worse than even your the smell of your pits after a long day of yard work in 90 degree weather. I am baffled. Totally. I guess the old saying of "If it isnt one thing, it is another" holds true.

Just call me "stinky."