Amazing Wal-Mart Experience

[Oh Shoot]

So here in Knoxville, we've got a new Wally right next to UT campus, part of the "University Commons", only been open a week or so.

 

Rather unique layout, the way they had to design it to fit in limited area next to 3rd creek, most of the parking is enclosed garage beneath it and from front you have to go UP to the store via stairs or escalator. Also going to be a Publix as the other anchor store, which seems strange to me that they'd come in there, what with the Wally having a supermarket too.

 

But the absolute amazing part was that I was actually asked by employees if they could help me find anything four times before I even made my meandering way back to sporting goods! I was stunned.

 

Sporting goods section about as extensive as any, no guns of course, but did have ammo case, and it was about as well stocked as most of them. Even had the deadly assault weapon calibers.

 

So I decided to grab a 100 pack of .38 Special. Two youngsters there, guy and gal,  neither had key. They apologized and the gal ran off to find the key person, came back pretty quick with key, apologized again, and consummated sale.

 

Then on way out, I run into the guy who had been there before, and he asked if I had gotten the ammo okay.

 

Wow.

 

- OS

[Rightwinger]

Give it a week and try again

[kieefer]

That's good to hear...hope it will last.

 

The one in Hermitage is full of grumpy malcontents.

 

Add a little story.

I bought some used tires to mount on my truck (Ranger) and took them to WallyGarage to mount. They put them on but put the longest valve stems they had in them, must have been 3-4" long. 

WTF? 

The dude told me he thought they might be too long, well-DUH! I made them swap them out and rebalance them too.

Edited August 15, 2014 by kieefer

[monkeylizard]

That's good to hear...if it will last.

 

Every other one is full of grumpy malcontents.

 

 

FIFY! :up:

[hipower]

That's good to hear...if it will last.
 
The one in Hermitage is full of grumpy malcontents.

That's about the best I'd say of them.

[luvmyberetta]

That's good to hear...if it will last.

 

The one in Hermitage is full of grumpy malcontents.

 

While some emploees are going to be jerks no matter where they're working IMHO I think one of Walmarts main problems is the way corp. chooses to run their stores. They keep expanding & building more stores, but don't know how to run them anymore. Then they do those stupid store remodels every few years now which wastes millions of dollars. Stock isn't splitting or going up in value (it used to split every few years), sales are down, so they try to make up for it by buying/selling cheaper imported garbage & cutting back the number of employees along with their hours. This leads to bad customer service, overworked employees, & more stress. This leads to less sales & customers going elsewhere to buy. I've watched our local store go downhill over the last 15 years. It's open 24 hours & I've seen many nights when there were literally six or less employees (including managers & stockers) running the entire store at night when there used to be 40-50. It wasn't that way when Sam was here & products were made in America.

Edited August 15, 2014 by luvmyberetta

[Dane]

No way you were in a Walmart. I always thought being helpful was against their company policy. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[R_Bert]

OS, you didn't transport that ammo through campus, did you????

[Erik88]

I hate to say it but it really depends on the part of town the wal-mart is in.

 

I live in a smaller town outside Orlando and I'm on a first name basis with the sporting goods clerks. Both are good guys.

 

When I attempt to buy ammo at the urban store near my work the results are always horrible.

[Oh Shoot]

OS, you didn't transport that ammo through campus, did you????

 

Well, had my heater in my pocket anyway. And though the store is not on UT property, the streets and their accompanying sidewalks on UT campus are public city owned thoroughfares, not UT property.

 

- OS

[kieefer]

The mention of 24 hrs reminds me of another story.

 

Bought a pair of Wranglers but they were too small when I got home. I work 6am-6pm, so I figured before work I'll run in and do a quick swap. What do I see when I pull up....half of the employees, or rather the ones who smoke are all gathered by the door burning one and playing on there phones. Looked like a bunch of drunks hanging out in front of the liquor store. There for a second I thought they were closed and these folks were waiting to go in.....?

 

Anyway, I hold my breath and run in and greet the welcome lady, she didn't know what to do at that hour and for me to see if anyone was at CS. Of course there wasn't. Crap, I'm in a hurry, I wonder if anyone is monitoring the cameras? Nah, I run back to the jeans, make my swap and walk out, the greeter lady didn't even notice. 

[R_Bert]

Well, had my heater in my pocket anyway. And though the store is not on UT property, the streets and their accompanying sidewalks on UT campus are public city owned thoroughfares, not UT property.
 
- OS

But the children! And the squirrels!!

[luvmyberetta]

OS, you didn't transport that ammo through campus, did you????

 

What's the law on that? I thought as long as it was inside your vehicle (not carrying of course) & out of sight it was legal to have firearms/ammo on school property.

[Oh Shoot]

What's the law on that? I thought as long as it was inside your vehicle (not carrying of course) & out of sight it was legal to have firearms/ammo on school property.

 

With a carry permit, it is.

 

I was actually on foot in narrative above, though it doesn't matter in this case, was never on UT property. Closest I came to it, less than a foot away, was sidewalk on some city streets which border it.

 

- OS

Edited August 15, 2014 by Oh Shoot

[runco]

Isn't this store targeting 18-22 year olds?  OS, aren't you slightly North of this age group?  That might explain the super customer service you received!  How were the hover rounds, same, or did they have any?  :rofl:

[TMF]

[quote name="Erik88" post="1179748" timestamp="1408066693"]I hate to say it but it really depends on the part of town the wal-mart is in. I live in a smaller town outside Orlando and I'm on a first name basis with the sporting goods clerks. Both are good guys. When I attempt to buy ammo at the urban store near my work the results are always horrible.[/quote] This is true, but I would add that the management team sets the tone as well. But yes, a Walmart which exists in an area where 99% of their customers are Walmartians will have employees who have given up on life.

[R_Bert]

Isn't this store targeting 18-22 year olds?  OS, aren't you slightly North of this age group?  That might explain the super customer service you received!  How were the hover rounds, same, or did they have any?  :rofl:

wait!  It's worse than I though!?!?  :stalk:  Not only is OS risking innocent lives from a mere 12"......NOW you tell me WallaceWorld is selling ammo to children???? and pointing it at them? :panic: 

[R_Bert]

wait!  It's worse than I though!?!?  :stalk:  Not only is OS risking innocent lives from a mere 12"......NOW you tell me WallaceWorld is selling ammo to children???? and pointing it at them? :panic: 

 

 

and BTW OS..... Over time I have built a mental image of a old wizened codger walking pushing a shopping cart all over town, but are you on foot from East Town mall area all the way to far end of UT?  You know, since one of my legs is shorter than the other, I walk in circles.  It would take me three days to cover that.

[Mike.357]

did they have any .22's?

[A.J. Holst]

Let me get this straight, ut in session, co-eds all over the place and OS just "happens" to be checking out the campus WM.

Tells Mrs OS he needed to buy ammo and has a receipt and product to back up his story.

You're my hero! Edited August 15, 2014 by Gotthegoods

[Garufa]

did they have any .22's?

 

Of course not.  But there are shelves and price tags for it.

 

Paid a visit this morning.  10 AM is too early for eye candy.  :dirty:

[bersaguy]

I have a few issues with going to any Walmart, new, old or in between. One issue I think they have finally began to address which I am thrilled about and that is they are moving back to trying to buy and sell Products made in the USA and are even working with new companies opening up in America to buy there goods and services. That I like. Now the two issues I have which have not been addressed and I have brought them to the attention of the manager more than once. The main one is that the fast lane 20 items or less isles are seldom open with a live person and people are forced to either wait in long lines with full carts ahead of them or use that "Do It Yourself" check out isles. I refuse to use those for 2 reasons. 1 is I don't like to do it my self and 2 is those type of isles take away a living persons job and when I am spending my money I want a live person to do the transaction with and not so cold uncaring greedy money machine. Also, I have noticed that the employees at my local Wally World have been a lot nicer recently than in the past.............jmho

[Wyldk2]

I haven't been working at walmart in 9 months, but lemme tell you most want to work, it's the "more chiefs than indians" reality as there seems to be more managers than lowly employees. As a former employee, i got told more than once to do something differently by no less than 5 different managers all at the same time.

 

But, go to a wal-mart when it is newly opening and if the managers treat their employees good, then those employees will have a better positive attitude. But there's always he case where no matter how nice you are to someone, they still treat you like :poop: .

 

After a while, some employees get tired of it and move on, some stay and become worse managers than their predecessors. I've seen it, i don't agree with it. One reason why I'm out of it.

[wileecoyote]

I managed numerous facilities and corporate projects for several major nationwide retail chains in a prior life. Both of those chains provided excellent customer service with an educated, skilled associate available to help you nearly all the time. They could assist if you needed to find something, had questions about a product, price checks, how to install or use it, what accessories to buy with it, help loading or carrying it out, etc. And enough customers came in every day to keep the skilled help busy non-stop, yet roughly 90% of the shoppers never needed or wanted any help, and would prefer to shop unassisted, so the help was mainly there for the minority "high maintenance" customers.

 

This made sense in certain product areas such as jewelry, electronics, or firearms where the items were valuable, complex, or the sale process required employee assistance, but staffed help was mostly unnecessary in areas like toys, sporting goods, household goods, etc. which were primarily straight forward sales that most people could handle self-serve. So these chains tried to provide the best of both worlds, staffing the high maintenance departments and leaving the other areas to run with few or no associates. But for both of these retailers and nearly all others, they found that their sales and profits were steadily declining as most customers would buy primarily based on low price. Sure, their stores were still just as busy with the high maintenance customers coming in to ask all sorts of questions, handle and test the products, compare items, and learn everything they needed to know to make their purchase decision, but then most customers would leave without buying anything because they could purchase the same item online or at another low-priced retailer which did not have the overhead of the stores and educated employees. Or worse, they would whip out an ad and ask you to match the low price competitor, which would often be below your cost so you would actually lose money if you completed the sale.

 

In the days before the internet and online shopping, the staffed model made sense but it is no longer viable for most retailers. Most modern consumers are comfortable doing their own research and purchasing online, and when they purchase locally they primarily want a large selection and low prices. I am the same way, mostly because I have always been technical and prefer to do my own research rather than rely on a store clerk who only knows a little, but also because I am frugal and want to get the best deal possible. I feel cheated if I buy something and then later find it selling for much less elsewhere.

 

So when I shop at local stores like Walmart and other places, I mainly want the store to be well stocked, laid out in a logical manner, and completely free of expensive sales associates with the exception of the checkout or customer service areas. I don't need or want their help most of the time, thus I don't want to be paying more for my items to fund the paid help which is normally only used by the minority high maintenance customers, many of whom don't end up purchasing locally anyway. Like it or not, the days of the mom-and-pop stores and Mayberry RFD are long gone.

[Oh Shoot]

Youse guys are always quite the hoot!
 

Isn't this store targeting 18-22 year olds? OS, aren't you slightly North of this age group? That might explain the super customer service you received! How were the hover rounds, same, or did they have any? :rofl:

Yeah, just a bit North, like 3 x 22! Could be they were worried I was gonna drop dead in their store any minute, I guess, so gave me extra attention. ;)

Thing is, I look fairly rough out on these treks, crumpled shorts/shirt, half the time couple days beard, backpack, plus all sweaty in the summer. Was taken for a street person by a cop the time I found the stiff and reported it, for example. All the more amazing how nice they're trained to be there at the new Wally, seems to me.
 

and BTW OS..... Over time I have built a mental image of a old wizened codger walking pushing a shopping cart all over town, but are you on foot from East Town mall area all the way to far end of UT? ...

Lordie, I don't range that far, and my base is near West High.  I've got about a 5 mile radius, 10 mile round trip cap.   This was just one of my YMCA treks, 8 mile round trip, generally do that couple times a week plus a few more miles on closer errands here and there. 3.5 mph on way there / 2.9 mph on way back. :) "Wizened codger" is accurate enough, but still ambulatory, knock on wood.
 

Let me get this straight, ut in session, co-eds all over the place and OS just "happens" to be checking out the campus WM.

Tells Mrs OS he needed to buy ammo and has a receipt and product to back up his story.

You're my hero!

I have two quite understanding ex-wives, no worry there. :dirty:   And actually, the Y is one of the better places to ogle the female form, quite the head start what with the minimal clothing thing. :stunned:

 

- OS

Edited August 16, 2014 by Oh Shoot