Just Smile and Wave

When was the last time that you were faced with something so incredibly stupid it took your breath away? I hope that you can say it was more than a week ago. But if you say five minutes,tops, I bet I know where you have been. I watched two people today while they were trying to do some Christmas shopping. One of them needed a toy and while the shelf was empty, he could see three of them on the top shelf. He tried to flag down a person to help him. No dice. After three minutes of waiting for someone, any one to ask him if he needed help, he went looking for someone to help him. A few minutes later he found a person in the new Walmart uniform of blue shirt and khaki pants and asked for help. He was told that someone would be right there. He went back to the area and waited. And waited. And waited. Ten minutes have now passed. So he began to call out in a loud voice "Hello...helloooo.... is there any body working here?" Nothing. It was two days after Thanksgiving, and he expected it to be busy, but not empty of help. He passed some of his time waiting by speaking to me. "All I want is that doll. I can see it on the top shelf, I just need one and then I can get the heck out of here." I wished him luck, and told him about this blog. I told him that if he played his cards right, I might just be talking about him in my next piece. He smiled, then went back to calling out loudly. We started to time it. He was getting frustrated, but putting on a good face for it. I was stretching my legs from a car trip and was curious to see how much longer this would take. If you are wagering at home, the answer is 23 minutes! The person he had flagged down went to break and forgot about him! It wasn't until the person was walking back from break that they remembered and called a member of management. When the customer tried to explain that he only needed a toy down from the shelf, he told it to the back of the blue shirt because the associate didn't wait to see if they could help. The assistant manager who finally showed up told the potential customer that the toy was out of stock. The potential customer pointed straight at the item that he wanted. The manager then excused himself and returned with-you guessed it!-the first associate who never even asked what was needed! He then found a ladder and brought down the item that the potential customer wanted. Ask if the employee brought down enough to restock the shelf. I dare you. The answer would be no, he did not. As the customer made his way toward to checkout, he looked at me with disgust."Sam Walton is rolling in his grave." he said. I had to agree with him. By then my knees were no longer stiff and I made my way back to my car. I thought of the expression just smile and wave. It was never more appropriate. When I read that sales were disappointing for Walmart this year, I was not surprised. If they would just listen to me and focus on customer service again, they might just thank me later.