Store employees ever give you trouble?

[evenstaves]

Posted this in the QC sightings thread yesterday (didn't even happen in QC tho, was just posted for the sake of the anecdote)

Anyways, figure maybe should be its own thread?
maybe others can share some stories about store employees giving you crap? I dunno

- -

(in a WM) recently found a full case of Velocitron deluxe on the pallet - case was already open, but everything was still inside, miraculously
I ganked the Cosmos/Clampdown, put in our shopping cart, and continued shopping (got some clothes for child etc)

after clothes all selected, back to toy section (I went myself before, now bringing kid to check out toys) - coming out the aisle near the pallet, went over & picked up the case to show my wife where I got em from, and THAT is what I shouldn't have done

blue vest old man employee with an RF gun nearby "hey you can't take from those" so I "oh im sorry" put the case down and leave - figure he must be a stock-shelving guy or whatever
at this point "man we better get the f out of here" so up to the self scan - got a lot of clothes in the cart, which are on top of everything - wife goes to hit the can while me & the kid self-scanning

the old man literally chased us down to the self scan with the case in hand "alright, where are they" "what" "the two from in here, they were there before, now they aren't, and YOU had your hands in it"

Buddy (claimed) that if he doesn't have all contents in the box when they putting em on the shelf, that they "have to send the whole case back" - insinuating that me taking two from a case on the pallet, is basically going to "cost them" the entire cases' worth of sales

At that point my two are still buried in the clothes on the cart, so I'm playing a bit dumb because in the first place this guy can f*ck right off, he's scaring my kid and making a scene in the self-scan area in front of literally everyone
At one point he says "what, are they with your wife in the bathroom" and it's like excuse tf out of me?
On the other hand, I have literally no idea what WM policy is, so I'm not particularly comfortable enough with the scenario to argue with him (cause for all I know, maybe it's true)

So without actually rifling through my whole cart, he catches a glimpse of them on the side and goes "there they are, right there" and I pick em out and he takes em back and frigs off

Wife comes back, she's absolutely furious that this guy insinuated she's in on some thievery
"what the f*ckin problem? we are literally taking an item in the store, to the cash, to buy it"

It's pretty close to close, so we go home and I drive right back there the next morning, right through the doors at 7am open
Go to the section, all pallets are gone
Go to the aisle, no Velocitron deluxes

Nearby blue vest girl "good morning can i help u" "yes in fact"
Being selective in what details to reveal, indicate that I saw (case of thing) on the pallets last night, was advised couldn't have em, so back this morning
She indicated everything that was on last night's pallets should be out, and using WM website, she found the SKUs and triangulated the empty pegs they should have been on "hmmm, let me go check on these" and heads off

Meanwhile I check all the toy aisles, in case they got "uploaded" somewhere else, no dice
She comes back "ya I can't find them, maybe come back tomorrow?" - indicate it's a long drive, "where u from" "oh they didn't have these there?" (detail about missing the shortpacked figs in other nearby locations) She graciously offered to take my name & number to call in case they resurface, and I leave (late for work, lol)

Anyways my buddy who lives in that town, I ask him to check it out after work, and he tells me they got 2 Blurrs, 2 BurnOuts, 2 RoadRockets - exactly the ones I wasn't taking
So they put the case out anyways, and somewhere inbetween, the ones I tried to purchase, disappeared

I would later discuss WM policy with another buddy who's a yellow vest at his own (different) WM location, and he told me that blue-vest guy was full of sh*t "everything that's on the floor at all, even on the pallets, is ready to be bought" and said the guy must have just been "power-tripping" at me

So I don't know whether he:
- was planning to buy them himself
- had them destroyed in a fit of rage to spite me
- put the whole case out after I left the following morning, just to make sure I couldn't literally legally buy some product with my money, especially once they took my number so they knew I likely wouldn't be back that day (i don't think the girl was in on it, but maybe there's a picture of me behind the cashes now? lol)
- maybe it's a regional thing and the rules really are different there, compared to other locations

ANYWAYS for like two seconds inbetween, I thought "maybe this is why there's no velocitron anywhere - maybe every time we gank stuff off a pallet, they have to send back the remnants?"
Though my yellow-vest buddy told me that's BS, so it's back to "no, they really are that coveted" I guess

[Banshee]

Yeah, I read that yesterday. The employee sounded like a power hungry asshole.

Never had any employees give me trouble before, thankfully.

[delrue]

No, he sounds like an employee who works for Walmart so gets paid fuck all to deal with customers treating them like a piece of furniture all day and was sick of another person not respecting them as a human being.

[RansakWORK]

Originally Posted by delrue

No, he sounds like an employee who works for Walmart so gets paid fuck all to deal with customers treating them like a piece of furniture all day and was sick of another person not respecting them as a human being.

sounds like you are projecting.

[Banshee]

Originally Posted by delrue

No, he sounds like an employee who works for Walmart so gets paid fuck all to deal with customers treating them like a piece of furniture all day and was sick of another person not respecting them as a human being.

I worked for WM , and no, it?s not an excuse to treat someone like a thief and be on a power trip over product that they WANT to sell you.

[Soundwaves]

Originally Posted by delrue

No, he sounds like an employee who works for Walmart so gets paid fuck all to deal with customers treating them like a piece of furniture all day and was sick of another person not respecting them as a human being.

What?

Only 1 person in this story was being treated poorly with no respect for the other.

If they pay him so little, and he hates it so much, why is he power tripping like this on a guy buying toys with his kids?

It doesn't benefit Walmart or the customer. The guy is just a small person and probably working right where he belongs at a wage he deserves.

He probably loves his job as it affords him the opportunity to power trip like this every now and then with no repercussions.

At least it sure sounds that way to me.

[imfallenangel]

I'm going with power-tripping asshat, as I've had some floor clerks be super friendly and help me check pallet boxes and didn't have any issues whatsoever. I've had others that pulled the "sorry but we have to unpack and shelve stuff and you can't touch, but those have been rare. I've even had times that I asked to possibly check in the back in case and never had issues, with once the person coming back with the item.

So yeah, it's about sales and wose scenario would be to talk to the manager, explain that you've been at other stores and it had sold out and you're hoping to get this (hence, they ARE available and in the system to be sold) so no reason to hold back on selling them, and it saves the work to put them o the shelf anyways.

The one scenario that could be an issue is if the item is simply not entered in the system, which at that point, they can't even shelve them until they are enetered in the inventory. But aside this, there's no reason for any hardship. The guy's motive were either him trying to be a dick and have a power trip, he's gotten in trouble over shit he's pulled before and on a short leash to loose his job, or he was planning to grab them for himself if he knew that they are selling at scalpers pricing... check the local adds and such, and you might see him name come up (if oyu grabbed it).

If anything, I would have grabbed his name, and discussed the situation with management, especially about the accusations of theft and/or call a main customer service to get to higher management.

[Goaliebot]

As soon as the guy came over wanting to know where the figures went, that's ask to speak to a manager time. Not to try to get the employee in trouble, but rather to verify that the figures can be bought without the whole box being ruined.

Very odd behavior from the employee, IMHO.

[Marcotron]

Theory: the stock guy wanted to scalp the figures.
Evidence: figures were gone before the next morning.

If it were me, I would have asked them to put the box on the shelf, and wait (impatiently) till they did so. It seems, being there the exact moment when they put the stock out is the only way to get these short-packed figures.

Conclusion: Stock dude was a douche. You deserve a Cosmos. Whoever does the purchasing for Walmart really screwed the entire North America.

[JonoPrime]

Originally Posted by delrue

No, he sounds like an employee who works for Walmart so gets paid fuck all to deal with customers treating them like a piece of furniture all day and was sick of another person not respecting them as a human being.

From what I can tell Walmart isn't the first choice to work there for most people, so much as it is out of necessity.

And at the lower end, those employees can be written up and/or fired for not scanning or displaying products correctly. A family member of mine works in one in Toronto and from what Ive heard it's a bitch of a job, with little pay, and joyful customers to deal with.

To play devil's advocate, buddy could've been scared shitless to lose his job (doesn't justify the attitude on his part, but there's always a reason and not necessarily just because they are a dick or power trippin').

People are struggling to pay bills, make ends meet, and put a roof over their heads more than ever. I cant imagine working at a place like Walmart, or retail for that matter, being an uplifting or hopeful experience.

Let's just take a step back and realize how lucky a lot of us are to be venting about not getting a toy.