First of all, if anyone is thinking about complaining about that title, may I remind you of this…
.
Seriously, I am polite but not politically correct. The only things I’m prejudiced about are rap, hiphop, urban culture, people who wear pants with the waist around their knees, and rude people. I’m honest about it, and don’t care about race, sex, sexuality, or religion.
I do my level best to be nice and polite, and even have a good sense of humor about myself. I have a long fuse on my temper, but a quick way to light the base is being rude to me. Maybe it’s because I try so hard not to be rude to others, when the same is not even attempted by them there is often murder in my eyes.
Not that I’d actually murder someone. I’m probably too polite for that. ;)
So, now that I’m done defending myself and setting up the situation, let’s begin.
Why am I so pissed off?
Walmart refused to sell me booze.
Twice.
It’s more than just that, though. There’s also a rude manager who went out of her way to be rude to me.
.
So, my fiancée and I are at the Quincy walmart doing some christmas shopping. I picked up a 500 gig external usb drive (which is a kick ass deal, btw. [Also, forget the maxtor one touch models or others with automatic software backup. It costs extra and it's dumb to rely on automation when you can do it yourself and be absolutely sure everything is backed up the way you want.]) and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. The drive was a present for us and the jack was a present for a friend.
In case you’re wondering, my friend is of age.
First off, the cashier asks if these are separate (my fiancée had been carrying the hard drive).
“Nope,” I said, innocently.
“I’m going to need to see both of your ID’s.”
Eyebrow cocked, I asked, “What?”
“I need to see both of your ID’s.”
The manager had come over, and this girl looked new to her job. I asked if this was some new policy, as I have purchased cartloads of alcohol from that very walmart while my fiancée stood next to me, had done the same at walmart in Hannibal, and several others.
The manager said this was always walmart’s policy.
“So, I’ve just been dealing with lax employees?”
She looked confused.
(I don’t think she knew what ‘lax’ meant.)
Instead of answering my politely toned question, she repeated that it has always been walmart’s policy.
.
Have you ever noticed that kind of thing? It’s like dumb people have a ‘reset’ algorithm that executes in case of confusing confrontation. I’d hate to see two of them arguing, it’d be an infinite loop if not for the eventual degradation into fisticuffs (which isn’t too bad to see.)
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Regardless, my fiancée had her id out in the car, far and away across a cold, cold parking lot full of treacherous ice and dumbass drivers. She wasn’t going out to get it, and she was pissed off.
She also has an overwhelming hatred of causing scenes.
I’m pretty understanding, and I realized not much would come of this, so I said, “Well, don’t worry about it. We’ll just go buy it in Hannibal’s walmart.”
The lady voids the entry and I see the screen flash, “Denied- Under 21″
*grumble*
Regardless, I pay for my hard drive (still a great deal, and yes, I realize the near hypocrisy of this. I’m okay with that, because I know that [most] human beings are not just flat characters, but capable of complex and varied emotions. So nyah.) and leave. Out in the parking lot, my fiancée is so mad she’s almost in tears. She doesn’t want to have to go to Hanibal (which is about 10 minutes from our eventual destination, but another trek into crazy shopper land.)
So, being the nice guy that I am, I brave the crowds and go back inside while she heads out to the car. Another cross store walk to the liquor section…
Once there, I picked out a bottle of Jack Daniel’s that didn’t have a security cap on it (reasoning that I didn’t want that manager to have to come over for removal of the cap), dodged surly people pushing clamoring carts, and went to a register on the opposite end of where I’d tried before.
Two customer’s in front of me (a guy and then an older woman), and it didn’t look like any of them had anything in need of manager approved removal.
And then, up from the depths of things better left unpondered, the little old lady pulled out a huge bottle of smirnoff.
It had a security cap on it.
The manager was there before I could respond, and she saw me.
She pays, unhassled and unhindered in regards to id questions. The manager stays. The next guy pays. The manager lets the cashier start to scan my whiskey and then she snatches it from her hand, then loudly says, “I’m sorry but you’ve already been denied one tonight, so we can’t sell this to you.”
Now, at this point I’m irritated.
Carefully controlling my tone, I let anger filter in and growl, “Are you serious about this? I am 25 years old.”
“It’s walmart’s policy.” She repeated, retreating to her comfortable mantra.
“That’s funny, because so far I’ve never encountered it. And since this is the first of this example, a contrast to the numerous times I’ve been carded while the people next to me haven’t, it looks like you’re the one causing the problem.”
“It’s walmart’s policy. I’m sorry.”
“I don’t think you are. You stood there for a few minutes, let me go through the line, and then snatched the jack away from that cashier while loudly declaring me to be some sort of lawbreaker. You could’ve walked around and said something when you saw me.”
“Well I’m sorry, but it’s walmart’s policy.”
AGAIN.
“Listen, I’m not wanting to be an asshole. Is there a manager that I can complain to?”
“Well I’ll see if I can call someone over.”
“You know what, never mind. I’ll just call the corporate office.”
I walked out. I could feel the reins begin to loosen, and I was wanting them to slip.
So, yeah. Dear Walmart, go fuck yourself.
(And yes, that’s a Trailer Park Boys reference.)
That being said, I’m still shopping there. Cheap stuff is a great motivator.
~Matt Booker
HIPPOCRIT MUCH?
\\RODIMAS// Z
ho ho ho
Seriously, do you even read the entirety of each post?
~Matt Booker
Yeah, call her District manager. They should have re-sold to you, you were on a seperate visit. Did you flash your ID the first time through?
They normally do this shit if you pass cash near the line or otherwise do something blatant with someone underaged, but that’s the first time I’ve heard of them pulling it on an of age person who was paying with their own funds.
No cash. It was all plastic. And yes, my id was shown and age verified.
We went to Hannibal and got it, and I really thought about calling the Quincy walmart and asking to speak to a manager, explaining what happened, and (especially if the dumbass manager answered) saying “Well, that’s okay. The Hannibal walmart didn’t ask for her ID.”
~Matt Booker
WALMART ROCKS.
Doug, you need to comment more.
Jeff… Hi Jeff.
~Matt Booker
It’s simple. Stupid parents who didn’t bother to take the time to raise their kids right want to believe there is some safety net keeping little johnny from buying booze and possibly splattering his brains all over the pavement.
Wal-Mart creates a policy to make them feel better, even though anyone with any sense knows that a kid can always find booze if they want it.
Then, like every other retailer, they have this policy and either out of ignorance or usually laziness and a general understanding that nobody wants to deal with it, the low level employees just ignore the policy. Then now and then someone makes them skittish or you have a new worker or one with a bug up their ass about drinking who randomly tries to enforce it.
The manager is a tool but what do you expect? You have to be a tool to be a manager under a corporate juggernaut like wal-mart. And I feel the floor level employees are really just drones to be pitied rather then vilified.
Who’s fault is it? Well ours. Still, the Chinese children build plastic crap cheaper than anyone else so we’ll keep buying it up.
Here’s a great curve ball you can throw at the Manager there. Ask them that IF such a policy is true, then pose the following question:
A single mother comes into Wal-Mart to do her monthly shopping and picks up a six pack of beer to keep in her fridge for her boyfriend who comes over once in awhile.
With her is her 9 year old daughter who didn’t have a babysitter to watch her while Mommy went out shopping. According to Walmart’s policy, can they sell alchohol to the single mother since her daughter with her is not over 21 years old?
If they step back into the “idiot-reset” like you mentioned, ask them to please take you to their office and show you in their Manager’s Handbook to specific policy they are referencing. Be really nice about it and say that you feel that they are misinterpreting the policy and that if they are in fact acting in violation of Wal-Mart policy you will be forced to ask for the manager’s full name, the Wal-Mart store number, and the toll free number with which you can pursue a claim.
Do this every single day until they comply. Either in person, or via e-mail, fax, etc. If it turns out that the manager is in fact in violation and specifically targeting you for harassment, you can file a complaint and threaten to sue (this works especially well if you’re a minority or handicapped).
At this point, threaten to go to the media and a District Manager will have to get involved. They will probably settle for money and then you can go and spend more at Wal-Mart.
Enjoy!
Talk about BULLSLAG/BULLSH**!!!
If that ever happened to me, I probably would of lost my temper at them and said words at that glitch/B**ch.
It’s shame that some people can be so DAMN rude.
I’m pretty good at staying calm at things like that. I try my best to be nice and polite (though admittedly, the time for ‘well it’s not really her fault…” was over by the time she made me wait in line again before she snatched the bottle away), but most of the people I’ve mentioned this too said they would’ve been yelling.
~Matt Booker
Same thing happened to me today, however I yelled, got pretty pissed off, and they called security over. At that point I wanted ask for the bottle of wine i bought back, and “accidentally” drop it and leave all my items I had and not pay for them (about $300 worth of stuff). GO FUCK YOURSELF WALMART YOU LOST MY BUSINESS FOREVER, I’ll go to Meijers.