I actually worked in Paper and Chemicals, so sold toilet paper and toilet bowl cleaner. especially some weekends for lunch breaks etc I could have up to 7 depts, and the customer service desk loved to see me as I knew most of the one side of the store so they would ask me to help them for price checks and other things, and they knew that I would do it with a smile on my face, I was even only part time but did everything under the sun. I even did over nights to do some of the dept managers job, as well as did over time to unload trucks when they were short staffed and down to 2 unloaders for the night.

Sure there is a quality difference but not everyone can also afford the prices of the small stored, i wold be able to do maybe two quilts a year if that if I had to shop there, so I have to make a choice, and mine are all utility and to be used, I don't plan on showing any of my work or sell much of anything, some of the problem is that it is a must have and walmart with the cheaper prices give them the opportunity of having more,

the small stores have to be twice as smart to survive (and yes even then it is hard for some of them to survive) and even then there are other posts that complain of just as bad service,

I know all the negatives concerning Walmart, but I have bought tons of fabric there and won't apoligize for it. I don't work, raised 3 kids, and Walmart afforded me the ability to sew and quilt.
One of my old quilt teachers said it was ok to buy fabric from Walmart for quilting but to hold it up to the light and if you could see the threads, don't buy it. If you couldn't see the threads then it was tightly woven and ok to use for quilting. I am hoping she is right!

If we take something back we have to stop at customer service. I have never had a problem returning anything.Still have our fabrics here for awhile,still have good customer service,and will be sad when it goes. The manager trid to keep it for us but he doesn't really have much voice.You should have gotten a refund...next time go to the manager.

I bought some paper towels the other day and wiped something up and they fell apart! They wouldn't give me a refund either. Come on it's cheap fabric for a reason.

I actually had a good experience at Walmart. I needed a new cell phone-just a cheap pay-as-you-go kind-no bells or whistles. I asked the young lady (OMG they are so young in Electronics) if there was a way I could transfer the info from my old phone to the new one or would I have to re-enter the stuff. She took my old phone, did her magic (I have NO clue!!) and 10 minutes later all the info was transferred. I didn't ask her to do this. She was really sweet and didn't treat me like an old coot who didn't know anything. When I got home I called Walmart, asked for a manager and told her I wanted to compliment the employee in Electronics. Her response: are you sure you called the right store? We never get compliments!! She was very appreciative that I called and said she'd pass it on to upper management.
Don't get me started on the Not there anymore fabric dept--never had anyone to cut fabric anyhow!!

a few years ago we were out of state for a sporting event. I had googled a couple of quilts stores that I wanted to see but the only time I had free there was a fierce storm so I couldn't drive in an unknown area. But there was a Walmart across the street from our motel, so I went there to get raingear & sweatshirts for us. While there I went to the fabric dept & found some great deals for fabrics I could use for charity projects. When I checked out, tired & rainsoaked I took the bags for the raingear & sweatshirt, and a bag of fabric, which I left in the car.
When we returned home 2 days later I realized I had left 2 bags of fabric in the store. Thinking it was forever lost I did call the store just in case, they had it in customer service & mailed it to me at their expense, I was very impressed!
Of course only an addicted sewer would shop for fabric while tired, rainsoaked & a major storm & flooding outside!

Now that is wonderful! Sometimes people (and stores) can surprise us. Kudos to this WalMart!

We had a great fabric department -- associates were experienced sew-ers, very willing to help. Unfortunately that department has been closed.

cutebuns thank your for sharing your experience. i also work for wal-mart, in my 15 th year. 12 of them in fabrics. i have done most of the jobs you described. i love my job. you said it much better than i could. yes the customer is always right. but there has to be a but. please everyone walk a mile in our shoes. we have very little say in the quality of the fabric, or the service coverage of the store. i try to give the best customer service i can. sorry i can not cut keys, mix paint and cut fabric all at the same time. when waiting on customers i do not answer the phone or paiges. i give you my undivided attention. i take customers and calls in order. please don't answer your cell phone when i am waiting on you. don't ring my bell and when i get to the counter you are still figuring out how much you want. yes if you need my help to figure it out that is fine. please don't let your children destroy the place and tell them that is my job, that is what we get paid to do. and shopping by phone, sometimes i am from one side of the store to the other. if you must call please ask all the questions you want to know at one time (price, size, how many we have, colors) etc., so we don't have to walk miles. also it would be very helpful if you have the measurements for your window, quilt top or what ever you are making. as you know everyone sews differently. the question of how much fabric do i need to make (???) but i don't want tooo much always makes me smile, well at least on the outside. sorry for the long post. believe it or not i really do like my job.
one more thing the term wally world sends chills up my spine, we do have a name wal-mart.

I have been in customer service (retail) 20 years.

On Wednesday, September 12, 2001, my daughter (then a high school student, who worked part time at Joann's with me, where I was an assistant manager) and I opened the doors to Joann's in Staten Island, and dealt with the aftermath of the day before.

I had no choice but to go in, as the store was open, and some of the other workers couldn't get to work because all the bridges were closed. She should have been at school, but it had been canceled. I couldn't leave her home alone.

My daughter had stood and watched the towers fall from her classroom window. Not TV. Real life, real time. (as I did, down the street from her)

While at work, she received a phone call from one of her best friends, saying that the man who drove her home from school Monday(the father of another friend, since kindergarten) had not returned home yet, that though he was supposed to have gotten off work early Tuesday morning. (firefighter) He apparently had stayed late at the firehouse and ended up racing the rig to the towers.

Now, everyone was HYPER aware, hyper attenuated to each other; customers and workers alike, walked in a daze, questioned each other about being "OK?" (In NY, OK meant no one in your IMMEDIATE family perished. Cousins, sisters in law, friends died? you were "ok" )

My daughter at one point was apparently slightly 'harsh' to a customer, (who for some reason, seemed oblivious to the pain in the air) and she chewed out my daughter, and then me. I tried to apologize, and told the woman she had had some bad news, and the woman's response was "well, then she shouldn't BE here!"

"No, none of us should be here, ma'am," was all I wanted to say. None of us should be hunting through the store, scrounging up the last bits of yellow ribbon, blue ribbon, black ribbon, patriotic ribbon, anything that we, in our absolute lack of power can try to control by tying ribbons to our lapels, by getting up again in the morning, ignoring the smell in the air, the gray of the sky....

I had to simply ask my 17 year old to go look for something in the stock room, get her off the floor, not be able to comfort her,....

For all I know, that customer was not "OK" and just hadn't been able to lay her fury out somewhere else. Somewhere more productive, so she took my daughter to task.

It took until the end of October before they were able to plan a funeral for Mike Fiore.

There is always another side to every interaction. I do agree that the benefit of the doubt as relates to PERSONAL interaction needs to be accommodated.

The corporate mentality to the customer complaint?? That WE screwed up, we need to do what makes the customer happy. The corporate mentality, UP UNTIL the customer complaint? Cut hours, make do with less, sell the cheap garbage, hire low and don't provide hours and time for real training.

In all honesty? The customer is RARELY right. (If you don't believe me, you probably have never worked retail)

But we must treat you as if you are. With a smile. And patience. And know when to turn you over to someone else, someone who is neutral, who has not had to listen to you slap down for the past ten minutes your paternity, your integrity and your intelligence.

I do treat you and your concerns with a smile. (biting my tongue? perhaps) I do what I can to fix the error. I accept blame on behalf of the person who F'd up.

But still, the customer feels the rules are not for them.

To the woman with the cancer scare, I hope it was just that.
To everyone else. There is a reason I don't shop in Walmart.
I posted a blog before Christmas, "Christmas without Wally". I received some seriously cranky, nasty responses, and I was really rather tame in my explanation.

Totally taking this to it's tangential end, there is a reason the products at WM are the quality they are. There is a reason that other companies who want to produce higher quality products keep closing.

Remember, purchasing things for a song, we are destroying slowly our economy. No matter how many people work AT WM, the number of jobs lost BY WM....(ok soap box being yanked out from under me....

:thumbup:

to the OP.... I hope you were able to resolve this to your satisfaction.

Actually, if customers would put merchandise back where it belonged, then the STAFF could downstock the shelves, assist customers with questions, run the register to keep the lines down, and not have to argue with a customer when they find a $10 item left on a shelf that says $5....

just keeps someone in a job.
can tell you have never worked in retail or at least in a long time. our job entails many things, customer service, stocking shelves, putting stock back on shelves that others have dropped, ordering, dusting, trying to explain to customer that is not the price as someone has just dropped it there, etc.
walk a mile in my shoes, it is just like picking up after small children that don't know any better.
if you change your mind and don't want an item, just take it to the check out and tell them.
do you have any idea how much frozen and fresh are thrown out because someone just dropped it. and we want to know why the prices keep going up and the landfill keeps getting fuller.
sorry for the rant but this just struck a raw nerve.

My DD worked for a western wear store for many years. She learned to tidy up the shelves & fold shirts. When she goes to a retail store even now if she takes it off the shelf, she refolds stuff & always puts it back in the right place. It bugs the devil out of me for people to leave a whole ham in housewares or ice cream all the way across the store. Know what happens to this stuff, it is usually thrown in the trash. I do shop there because the other chain grocery stores are almost twice as much in price & I don't have a lot of time to run around all over town or money. I have many friends that work for Walmart & I do appreciate what they do for me.

It would never occur to me to put something down on a shelf where it doesn't belong just because I changed my mind and didn't want it. I can't imagine doing that with something that is perishable!!! :shock: Yes, I can easily see where customers can be a pain in the butt. I worked as a waitress for many years and I can't begin to tell you the frustrations I've had putting up with people who shouldn't be allowed out in public, much less out with their bratty children. Yet, the customer NEVER knew how I felt, even when I had to work and miss my FIL's funeral. Trust me, we were close and I loved him dearly and was a complete wreck - but the customers never realized it! I think both snarky customers and snarky employees should shape up and learn to behave as a grown up and not like some whiney four year old who always has to have their own way and can't treat others with respect. Actually, my apologies for slamming 4 year olds since I know some of them (my own children) who behave much better than many adults. Sadly, I don't think the attitude in this country is going to improve any, though I don't let that stop me from being a decent human being to those I come in contact with. Like many others though, I do get tired of being treated poorly by those employees of places I shop at and I think if more people were fired for their cruddy attitudes it might do a lot to change the industry. I don't think it'll happen, but I can dream.

Alias - As for the lady who treated your daughter so poorly...she is obviously a thoughtless person and no amount of reasoning will work with those types of people. I'm sorry your daughter had to experience that, but at the same time she got the opportunity to learn from you how to handle such crummy people and that has to count for something. And my sympathy on what you both experienced and went through. 9-11 was horrible and very tragic and my heart goes out to you both!

Dear friend... I can't imagine that you couldn't go to your FIL funeral. There have to have been some serious circumstances or horrid work conditions/fellow employees to not have worked something out.

There are limits to what I am willing to do to keep my job, and missing out on a family funeral? well, that would be the line...

Thank you for your kind words. My DD is definitely one of my favorite employees, ever. She WORKS her tush off. She may have a bit of a (NY) attitude, lol.... its hard outside NY to be understood...the difference between being harsh and simply telling it like it is, is sometimes a fine line...

I live in Idaho and my FIL lived in California, so it wasn't just a matter of taking a single day off and at the time we absolutely could not survive without my income. It is something I deeply regret and yet I couldn't do anything about it so I try not to let it bother me. Since then we've moved my MIL up here, along with my SIL and my youngest DH. Now my SIL has been layed off and we're desperately trying to find him a job up here so that my oldest DH and my grandson can move up here. (Prayers welcome!!) Once they are here I will be completely happy and I won't ever have to worry about missing out on family again.

I have never lived in NY but I certainly understand the attitude of telling it like it is. I've been accused to being "too blunt" quite a number of times. :P I appreciate truthfulness, as long as it is told to me without an attitude going along with it.

OK, Tiffany, I feel a bit better for knowing all your circumstance... I am nosy, and always want what is RIGHT!!! (my store manager calls me argumentative but, really I am realistic...)

I too call myself a realist. ;) That's not the word my hubby uses but I'm sure he's just misinformed. :lol:

One of my favorite friends is from Pennsylvania & some of these southern folks don't know how to take her. She tells it like it is. I just love that in her. I would rather have someone be blunt about something than to pussy foot around about it. My boys are always telling me "mama your are so blunt & to the point."

I worked in a job where the customer was almost never right. I did taxes. The IRS is right. The people that complain the most about somebody being rude to them were the people that were trying to cheat on their taxes in some way or told they couldn't deduct something. Mostly they complained about somebody being rude to them when they couldn't have their way.

Bless your heart!! That would be ONE job I could never do :lol: :lol:

I HATE Walmart and shop there as little as possible :hunf:

You'll notice I said "did." I am not working for a tax prep firm this year or ever again. I have had it with obnoxious customers complaining about everything and everyone. I am still doing taxes but only for people that are nice. If they're not nice or demanding in any way they can take their taxes somewhere else. Go ahead, complain to the boss!! LOL

I've heard everyone on this site talking about the customer and the employee and I've been on both sides of the plate, but my customers were actually patients. Now of days patients are not called patients,or customers but clients. I guess they are still clients. I haven't been able to work in 2 years and when I was working they were customers. Sometime in the last 2 years they became clients. I had been working in x-ray for close to 40 yrs. and we've called patients a lot of different names, but client just doesn't seem to fit to me. I guess it does in some things. I have always thought of my clients as patients, because it fit for me. I have seen my share of different customers, clients and patients in all those yrs. I have seen them in all shapes sizes and mind set. Sometimes in my mind, my remark to some of them has been, Have you lost your mind? and then on 2ND thought, they probably had! I've been hit, no slugged by drunks, cussed out by furious people, pinched by little old ladies and men. I've been thrown up on, pooped on and had idiots pull their IV's out because they wanted to. Why am I saying this, well, my point is, most of them were out of their minds when they did those things. Sometimes it was by their own doing when they messed with drugs, or drank too much or decided their family or friend read an article and said they didn't need their meds. Sometimes, I've had to yell at them just to get their attention so we could do what ever it was just to help them. Family members out of the rooms would hear me yell and the only thing that saved my butt with them was because I explained that I might be yelling because of their ability to understand that I was trying to help them. I normally would keep someone with us so they could see both sides. Drunks, I would yell out because they were out of their minds and once slugged, twice yell! What I'm trying to say here is that there are always 2 sides to most stories. As an instructor (past-tense) I have seen a change in the mind set of some of the newer students. Some of these students were not younger either, but the younger ones had a different attitude. Some were in it for the passion. Some thought everything should be given to them or they tried to work you so they could get through things with out doing more than standing in the room, watching the clock to see how much longer an exam would take so that they could get me to sign them off and they could be on their way. Now, would you want someone doing anything on you besides maybe bringing you a warm blanket. Wait maybe just even a blanket. That is what I mean about the differences that I've seen. Young and old, there are all personalities with ambitions and none.
I'm sorry to have taken so much space and soapbox, LOL Bethy

I voluntered at a store where everything is free. It was started to help out the community and has been going for over 16 years. Anyway, working with the public is hard and I feel for anyone who has to work with people-it can be fun and it can be a nightmare. Fortunately, most of the experiences I had were fun, and the people for the most part were greatful and glad to be able to "shop" in a free store, but there were some that would make my day just by not coming in!! For example, when we had plumbing problems and had to close the restroom ( people went next door) and someone would walk past the closed signs, and use the bathroom even tho they knew it was closed. This was an adult and I know she could read, but they don't care. Anyway, my point is that we all need to understand what the clerks are going thru and remember that no one is perfect and we can all (and do) get on other people's nerves. I have found that most people respond favorably when you go the extra mile and smile and say something positive.

Bethy, as a retired Nurse Practitioner I hear what you are saying. We would both have plenty of stories! In the last couple of years before I retired it was so painful to be told at inservices that after 50 years in nursing that my patients were now just customers.
And since now that is the mindset do people who are ill or have problems go to their clinician for help realize that they are regarded as a customer, not a patient?
I do realize it is just semantics, but in my mind it greatly reduces the patient to just a number in line at the deli.

i just hand shoulder surgery today...and i want u 2 know Bethy, i 4 one love u for your heart and dedication.. i can't tell u how wonderful it was 2 b treated with kindness by everyone starting w/ the Dr. u can bet there will be a letter out as soon as i can write. yes,we all have 2 b kind even if it kills us, thats what it means to have compassion. I have been literally the face of the company and i know how tough it is...my motto..is; it never is about YOU..it is about them. u never know what they have gone through and that is the hardest to remember. sorry bethy, i got on my soapbox...and WHERE did that saying come from lol!

Hope you will be up to par soon. And what you are saying is so true. I'm a retired teacher. So many times parents come angry and lash out at YOU when it is their frustration with the situation and not knowing what to do about the problem at hand. Experience taught me that by remembering to turn it all to them and letting them know you want to make it better, too, they will calm down and work with you to get to the bottom of the problem. By turning it to them, I don't mean by blaming or pointing fingers, but by saying that you understand how they must be feeling bad because they're having a hard time and want to see it made better. Once they know that you are "on their side," they are much more willing to look at the situation and work WITH you to help make it better. This can be true in any field. Our students and their parents were our "customers," our "clients." It was often difficult to wear the smile and be compassionate, but it DID work better than meeting them with a brick wall. It took me a long time to learn to just let them talk and blow off steam, then when they were done to calmly assess the situation at hand and begin to work on the real problem.

I remember once I was in a little fabric shop that sold machines. The owner received a call from an irate customer who yelled on and on at her. She held the phone away from her ear and let the poor woman have at it. When the woman stopped for a breath, she calmly told the woman that she was so sorry she was having so much trouble. She then asked, "Mamm, I know you mustn't be feeling well. Do you have a headache?" The woman said that she certainly did. The shop owner then said, "Please stop and take an aspirin and rest. Then call me tomorrow when you're feeling better. I know we can work to solve your problem." I thought this was great.

Bottom line is, when we are working with the public, or anyone really, we can "hand the fly honey instead of vinegar."