Funny, I went to Walmart twice in the last year, with miserable experiences. I wrote these trip reports in my blog. They are a little long and winded, but I was entertained by re-reading them.
Part 1:
Background:
Yesterday I decided to pick up some new headphones (for my MP3 player) as my last ones had broken, and get a combination lock with the intention of getting rid of all excuses to not go to the gym. On the way home, Target (my intended destination) was not desirable due to traffic. I got off at Middlebelt with the intention of going to Target, but saw Walmart and decided to roll the dice. I tried not to let my expectations get in the way of honestly evaluating my shopping experience.
Parking/Entrance:
Very crowded, and I had to park pretty far back. Not a big deal as the weather was unseasonably warm, and there were actually cars in every spot, as opposed to randomly strewn shopping carts. Entering the store became the first real adventure. There was somebody about 5-10 yards in front of me, and they went through the automatic door. I proceeded to follow and the automatic door nearly closed on me. It literally got within inches of me, causing me to make a retarded jump backwards in order to avoid it. This must have looked rather silly to an observer as it looked like I had never seen an automatic door. This got my experience off to a poor start.
Shopping experience:
The store is dark (poorly lit), messy, and the signs are not very clear to tell you that you are in the right department. I expected the locks would be difficult to find, and they would have been if I hadn’t been lucky and guided by the force yesterday. I found exactly what I was looking for in a reasonable time. On to the headphones, found what I wanted, again pretty cheap, grabbed it off the shelf and it was already open….oops. Fortunately they had one more that was already sealed. I also made an impulse buy of a $5.00 hand AM/FM radio, to listen to at the Kentucky Derby, and the few times where I actually go to Sporting Events (if I so choose to listen). I suspect that if you were looking to purchase any items over $10, this is not the store to go to. If I were looking for any sales assistance I would have struck out like Labelle at a bar not named Kickers, as I never saw an employee in the sales aisles.
It should be noted that the experience would have been more pleasurable had an annoying black woman’s voice not been playing over the PA telling employees to move anything that didn’t belong in their area (of which there was a lot of) to the front of the store for organization.
Checkout experience:
Not very many lanes open, and they had some long lines. I found one at the far end titled “Speedy Checkout”, where I was 3rd in line. It was far from speedy, the scanner wouldn’t work to scan the 1st person’s prescription. Then the 2nd person required a price check on their Selsun Blue. By this point I was fed up with being there, and just paid cash, even though I intended to pay with my credit card.
Side note:
Near the corner of the store, they have a Subway. The décor is a very nice brick, well lit, looks like it belongs in Ford Field, and not a ghetto Walmart. No report on the dining at said Subway.
Overall ratings:
Parking/Entrance: 3.5
Shopping Experience: 6
Checkout Experience: 3
Intangibles: 2
Overall Rating: 4 (I expected a 1)
Part 2:
The only convenient places to buy tennis balls was Walmart or Meijer. Since Walmart is a little more convenient to 96, I decided to roll the dice once again. What followed was the Walmart I’ve grown to know and love.
Got in there, and guided by intuition I found the sporting goods (mind you, I was not guided by any signs). Got the balls I needed and I was up and running. Apparently the store closes at 10pm, and in order to get a headstart on their night operations, there were large cardboard boxes of stock on the floor of nearly every aisle. Cute.
Got to the checkout and this is where the fun begins. I have two cans of tennis balls, so I’m looking for a quick checkout. Of the 2 aisles open (aisles 8 and 22 for those keeping track, on opposite sides of the checkout area), aisle 22 is the “speedy” checkout. Both lines are long. I am the 8th person in line. Apparently they have not heard of the self checkout…although I have a hunch that given the clientele as well as the staff, this would be a huge bottleneck. Anyways, as the line is SLOWLY moving forward, I notice the woman in front of me had a damn near full cart. I try to draw attention to this by looking at the cart, looking at the sign, looking back at the cart and laughing, but she is oblivious. I am hesitant to say anything to her, for fear of her (A) popping a cap in my ass, or (B) sitting on me.
The “Speedy” checkout has a clearly marked sign saying “10 items or less”. I attempt to count as she is unloading onto the conveyor that will only comfortably hold 2 items. I get to 28, with a tolerance of +5/-2 items. The cashier says, “You have more than 12 items.”, apparently completely inventing the 12 item rule, and the woman (you can imagine what she looks like) says something about them only having 2 aisles open, which apparently allows you to skirt any limits that said Walmart imposes.
This experience was a flat 1 on a scale of 1-10, they could have been giving the tennis balls away and it wouldn’t have been worth the aggravation.
