Working at Walmart Has Made Me Hate People

I've worked a few customer service jobs before working at Walmart, and I always thought that people exaggerated about how crappy people really are. Over the last year I've learned just how much people really can suck. They're stupid, inconsiderate, and just outright rude. Below is a list of just a few things that customers have done to make me hate them:

• Parents have yelled at me because the toy they "needed" the day before their child's birthday was out of stock in every store in our market. 
• Parents have walked right by me and neglected to inform me that their child just vomited down three of my aisles. 
• Teenagers have taken displays down from high-rise shelves for the sole purpose of destroying them. 
• Kids have played kickball in my department while I was on break and knocked merchandise all over the floors of every single aisle in my department.
• Customers have yelled at me because another associate from a different store gave them inaccurate information about my on-hand quantities. 
• Parents frequently drop their kids off in my department to entertain them while they do their grocery shopping. For some kids this isn't a problem because the kids are well-mannered and respectful. However, in most cases the kids think that it's a free-for-all and throw toys at each other and make a huge mess. 

I understand that working with the public usually has its down sides, but I feel like at when you're working at Walmart these down sides and unfortunate occurrences are multiplied. I will say though, that working in retail has made me a more conscience shopper. I always make sure to put things back where they belong. 

Being a more conscience shopper has its negative sides too though. This weekend I was out shopping with my parents and in more than one store they noticed me picking merchandise up off of the floor and placing it back nicely on the shelves. I didn't even realize that I was doing it; it has become second nature to tidy aisles up a bit while I'm in them. 

Rude Customers

When you work with the public it is inevitable that you'll deal with a few customers that are less than ideal. Normally I'm able to resolve customer issues or at least better explain a situation to them. However, the other night I experienced a customer that really got under my skin.

I was in the backroom binning some overstock when another sales associate came and got me because there was a frustrated customer in my department. So I made my way back to the sales floor and introduced myself to the customer. After introducing myself, I asked her to explain the situation to me. In her high-pitched squeaky voice, she yelled "All of you guys are just incompetent fools. I hate shopping here, I don't know why they only hire high school drop outs. The shelf tag says this item is $13 but then when I went to the price checker it rang up as $34.99"!. My first thought was that the overnight stockers had stuffed this item in an incorrect home. However, after scanning the item I noticed that the item was in the correct home.

After digging a little bit deeper I found out that the item had gone on rollback about two weeks ago and when the rollback price fell off, my department manager neglected to change the shelf tag back to the regular price. I explained everything to her and told her that we would still honor the $13 price, I would just have to escort her to the register and verify the price change for the cashier. Unfortunately, for some reason, that wasn't the answer she wanted to hear. She then proceeded to make personal attacks on me and caused a scene. I let her tire herself out like a screaming toddler and then asked her if there was anything else I could help her with. She rolled her eyes and I walked away.

As much as I tried not to let her personal attacks get under my skin, they really did. She had said some really hurtful things about me personally. Even though she was probably the worst person I'd ever encountered, I maintained a professional demeanor and gave her good customer service. I don't get paid enough for this kind of bullshit. I really don't. For a final thought, I'll leave you with this Tumblr post. It's the most accurate post I've ever seen in my life.