Develop a Better System, Wal-Mart!

She should have finished the line and then went home.

You are right. This doesn't only happen at Walmart but stores like
Shoprite and Pathmark. First of all, why have 10 or 20 registers if
only 2 are open? Maybe they should hire more people. Waiting in line
for 20-30 minutes is a turnoff and if I have to take attitude from a
nasty cashier, that only makes it worse. As a matter of principle, I
would have done the same thing. I'd rather pay more money and
patronize a store where the customers are treated with respect and the
place is clean and I don't have to wait forever to get out of there.

On the upside, why couldn't she have put something up to show that she
was only taking a few more customers. Some cashiers ask for attitude
but how hard is it to be helpful, what your job calls for?

There are many more employees on duty who will quickly restock the
perishables. Geez, do you really think that they would just close the
store, shut off the lights and leave for the night with a cart full of
ice cream dripping out onto the floor? *eyeroll*

I used to be a cashier at Wal-Mart, so I have a bit of understanding
for both sides of this issue. I've been the one in line when the
cashier had to leave. It can be very annoying. At the same time, if
it's time for your lunch, the register will lock you out.

What I tried to do was to make sure my light was turned off, and I
would keep an eye out for new customers. Unless I was getting locked
out the system, I would try to take all the customers in my line
before completely closing. I would also politely apologize to any
customers I couldn't service. Of course, sometimes customers aren't
always so polite back.

I couldn't agree with you more. Walmart also needs to get their
staffing correct. They should NOT have 20 registers and only 3 open,
one of which is 10 items or less, as is the case in my local Walmart.

Thankfully, Target opened up right down the street, and while they're
a bit more pricey, it's been worth it.

I used to be a BIG supporter of Walmart. But to be honest, your
experience is the exact reason why I will now drive further away, and
spend more money...just so I dont have to wait in line forever!

Walmart better figure out that people are tired of waiting in their
lines. I used to go to Walmart a couple times a week. Now the ONLY
time I go is if its very early in the morning. And even then I will
usually opt for Target or a grocery store instead. If I need something
like clothes or shoes for my son then I will go to Walmart right after
I get off work at 8am. Otherwise I refuse to go anywhere near Walmart
anymore.

As a retail cashier myself, I can tell you that the proper customer
friendly way to solve this issue would be to have this cashier turn
off her light 5-10 minites before she was due to get off so she could
finish out her line and still get off on time.But this will nver
happen at wal mart because it would require an overlap in shift change
since the next shift would have to come on 5/10 min earlier to take
the customers turned away from the closing lanes.Its easier and
cheaper for them to bank on the fact that youve invested too much time
in thier crappy store to walk out and start all over elsewhere.Maybe
if they lose enough money to spoiled product left by angry customers
they will wise up

Let me ask you this: Do you expect some cashier at a Wal-Mart to just
stay over their shift for you? That's selfish and rude. So what if you
got in line... If her shift was over at a certain time who are you to
say that she doesn't have the right to go home and attend to her own
life?

People who shop have an unfortunate tendency to feel like they own the
people who work retail.

I love these 'Oh poor me, I've been wronged' stories.

'I grabbed a magazine...' Yep, and while you were so engrossed in the
magazine (which I know you had no intention of paying for), catching
up on the latest sleazy gossip, you were oblivious to what was going
on around you. You didn't keep your eyes on what was going on to see
when the cashier turned off her light.

The two customers behind you had their heads in the clouds as well,
following like sheep.

How did you manage to do all your shopping at the other store in 20
minutes when you were in Wal*Mart for an hour? Do us all a favor and
continue doing your shopping at this store.

Believe me, we don't need customers like you in our stores. You're
the reason prices are going up, not remaining stable. Your behavior
was very piggish.

I have never had this happen to me, personally. It is a bit shocking
that a cashier would leave three customers just standing there after
spending such a long time in line! In my experience, another employee
has always directed me to another checkstand with "little or no
waiting." As for abandoning the cart and leaving, I must admit I
would have likely done the same thing. It most certainly gets the
point across and may actually be part of the solution. When employees
have to stop what they are doing and restock the abandoned groceries,
it may dawn on someone to stop dropping the ball on checkout
procedures!

A number of years ago the same thing happened to me. I didn't have
any perishable items however. There were 4 of us in line at the time
when the cashier turned off her light and announced her line was
closed and she couldn't take us. I had 4-5 items in hand. I dropped
them on the floor and left. A couple of seconds later I heard more
items drop on the floor. They were the items the others in line had. I
haven't stepped foot in a WalMart since.

Niceeeeeeeeeee....and you wonder why when you buy persihable items
they are bad, or you cook a frozen item and you can tell its been
refrozen. This is Walmart you know, its going back on the shelf

I agree. This is why I don't shop at Walmart. I would have done the
exact same thing.

I agree that the OP shouldn't have left the groceries sitting in the
line. At the very least she should have pushed them to the Service
Desk so that they could get someone to take them back before they
spoiled, and informed them that she had waited in line for 20 minutes
and the cashier had closed and walked away. That way her complaint
would get passed on to the manager...or perhaps the Customer Service
person could have gotten someone to check her out. But to leave the
groceries to spoil was petty and immature.

I work at Meijer and if it is time for the end of our shift we have to
clock out on time. If we are on an 8 hour shift and go into overtime
we get a writeup. I don't know if that is the case at Wal-mart or
not. The cashier should have called the CSR to block off her lane and
finish ringing out the few customers remaining. At Meijer we have
signs to place at the end of the lanes and we try to get our lights
shut off at least 10 minutes before the end of our shift. I can't
count the number of times I have seen a customer walk around or move
the sign and get into a closed line, then get offended when the
cashier tells them that they are closed. I have told customers that I
have to close because I will get into trouble for going into overtime
only to have them say something like, "That isn't my problem. I'm in
a hurry and you WILL check me out." If one cashier is late for their
break, then that cascades to the rest of the cashiers, as you cannot
send another until the first has gotten their breaks.
During busy times we will have the Service Coordinator or even the
Service Team Leads take over from cashiers to avoid closing down lanes
with customers in them.

One line in the OP's letter is something I have heard time and time
again at our store...something along the lines of "You have 30 lanes
in this store and only 4 or 5 of them open!" Some people seem to
think that all 30 lanes should be open all the time so they don't have
to wait. Those extra cashiers cost money to pay, which would be
passed on in the form of higher prices.

I wish every person was required to work in some customer service job
for at least 6 months...they might have a bit more sympathy for
cashiers/servers/CSRs etc.

While it was not handled in the best way (the cashier could have
informed the customers that she would be closing in 10 minutes and
gotten her light turned off quicker and perhaps called the CSR for
assistance), the OP should have taken her groceries to the Service
desk or at least informed them that she had left a basket with
perishables on Lane # whatever and why, so that they could have been
put back and not ruined...and that her complaint could have been dealt
with in a timely manner.

While I certainly understand your frustration, there are two HUGE
reasons why you should NEVER EVER EVER EVER leave a cart out when it
contains frozen food.

What often happens is a young cashier who doesn't realize that you
can't keep that kind of stuff out of the freezer for long will put it
back in the freezer case. This causes food to be unsafe and people to
get sick though they likely won't know that they are sick because of
the milk that was left out too long but not long enough to spoil. I
saw it all the time when I worked at a grocery store. No one knows
how long that food has been sitting in the customer's cart before
being left out, they likely won't put it away right away but it will
end up back in the case.

The alternative to this is the food does not get put back into the
case and ends up being a loss on the store's books. This causes
prices to go up.

So I completely understand your frustration but that is a very bad
solution to the problem.

Okay, I seem to be the only one that feels the OP was just as much in
the wrong for leaving her groceries behind as the cashier was for her
attitude. Fair enough, no skin off my nose.

I am curious, however, how many people feel so strongly about this
because the story took place at WALMART. Quite a few replies on this
thread about boycotting WM, how WM is the antichrist and all the rest.


Too tell the truth, I don't feel strongly one way or another about WM.
I live in a town where Wally World is pretty much the only option. It
bites, but until our city council gets over themselves and starts
allowing other businesses in, that's the way it's gonna be. However, I
used to live in a town that had quite a few choices, shopping wise,
and about 80% of the time I still chose WM, for the familiarity more
than anything else, I suppose. I've been in bad wallyworlds and decent
wallyworlds, just like I've been in bad targets, rosses, albertsons,
etc etc.

My POV on this is simple: the groceries left behind were a mess and a
waste. Someone had to clean it up and write the food up as lost. This
sort of thing makes for unhappy managers and unhappy managers make for
unhappy employees. Unhappy employees make for most of the letters here
on PFB.

Perhaps I am reading too much into the tone of the letter, but the OP
seems positively gleeful at the prospect of leaving behind her 'slowly
warming groceries'. Mostly because I take just about everything a
customer says with a grain of salt, I question the rudeness and the
attitude of the cashier. No doubt she was rude, but I don't think the
OP cut her any slack.

Like I said earlier, the OP is part of the problem, along with the
cashier's attitude and the policy for closing registers with people in
it. Leaving groceries behind the spoil isn't going to do anything
about fixing the problem and will in fact, only make it worse.

I wont shop wal mart either, ever, I had a pip squeek of a manager
tell me my coupons could be fradulent, when their own coupon policy is
posted on their internet site, saying they DO take them, just another
example of the idiots they have that work there, then they want to
check your bags and receipt before you go through the door. Like I
said never again!!!!!

Sounds like that Wal-mart cashier needs to be taught how to be a
little more customer friendly.

Today I was in Wally world to pick up some milk and a few magazines. I
got in a short line, considering the time of day, but then the cashier
said to me very politely, "I'm sorry, ma'am, but I am closing after
this customer."

It was then I noticed her "this lane closed" sign on the end of the
little conveyer belt and also her light was out. I apologized many
times for the mistake and went off to another line.

So...they do have signs. At least my Wal-mart does.

I think if I was the OP I wouldn't have left my groceries to melt
because I'm the type of person that would feel guilty for life for
doing that, LOL.

I stopped shopping at WalMart for this same reason. I didn't have a
huge cart full of groceries, but a small basket of personal items.

I waited in line for almost 30 minutes and then the cashier said she
was closed.

If this store would stop treating their employees like dirt, they in
turn would stop being so complacent with the customers that shop
there.


I haven't been to a WalMart in 8 years.

Boycott Wal*Mart.

It is a bane on todays society. Cheap, low quality goods, at a price
you think is good, until you realize you paid $2 less for an item you
will have to replace 2x as fast.

Consumer Reports gave WalMart it's LOWEST rating for quality and value
of products.

I read your letter, and halfway down the responses. I got into an
area of "I think the OP was right to leave the groceries..."

I wholeheartedly agree with your letter, and leaving the groceries
right where they were. They can function as a "line closed" sign now.
They showed you no respect - I don't see why you should go out of
your way to respect them. Certainly not taking 10 minutes to put the
stuff back.

You are right - they certainly need a better system. Where I shop
there is a supervisor walking around to let people know what is going
on. They could have a sign on a pole, IMHO. It may be seen as an
insurance hazard of some sort I suppose.

This is just one of many reasons I am not a fan of WalMart.

I will shop there if there are specific items I need but don't do any
general shopping because the one closest to me is generally a sty and
the folks who shop there - well, let's just say that many of them look
like that's EXACTLY where they belong!

When I cashiered, even if they had told me to leave my post, I would
have finished up the customers in my line with my light off - not made
anyone wait without AT LEAST handing them off to another cashier who
had no line.

Heck, I even took on extra guests before leaving my post if the
cashier next to me only had 1 other person in their line with a few
items. Just so they wouldn't see me walking off and think I wasn't
concerned about getting them rung out. And seriously, it took me,
what, an extra 2 minutes?

And I love that you left the ice cream there in the aisle. I totally
would have done that too. But angry or not, I really wish you'd have
said something to that manager. It is a (remote) possibliity that
he/she was unaware the cashier was doing that and he definitely ought
to know that it's happening.

Now, that snotty little brat will probably think she got away with it
and will pull that same stunt again until someone speaks up and
complains about it.

The cashier shouldn't have turned you away when you were in line.
Having said that, it would be pretty hard to close a lane when there
are so many people in line. Even turning your lane light off 5 minutes
early and finishing everyone in line doesn't work that well because
other people see the line and go and stand in it. The cashier would
have to keep leaving their lane to go tell people in line that they
are closing.

What Wal-mart (and other stores) need to do is have a supervisor stand
behind the customers in line to tell any additional people that they
are closing.

I was a cashier in College, and many times would have to close my lane
with people still in line, HOWEVER, I turned off my light and put the
closed sign up, THEN finished out all the customers in my lane. Never
did I turn any away that were already waiting. That being said, I
would have ABSOLUTELY left my groceries on the belt, hell, i might of
even taken the ice cream out of the cart and put it on the scanner! I
know Wal-Mart does not allow that kind of behavior, though I did not
work for them. I agree with your letter completely and lately have
been disgusted with my experiences with Wal-Mart. Thankfully there is
a safe-way, just down the street which has earned my business.
Wal-mart. GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER!!

That cashier was absolutley in the wrong for sending you away. Surely
she saw that you stood there that long. A good cashier will always
take notice of who is at the end, and not just decide as someone
finally approaches to tell them to go elsewhere.

Pfft! I'm with the OP on this one. I would have just left my basket
too! I would have also given the manager an earful - but that's just
me.

While leaving groceries behind may not have been the *best* option,
what was the OP supposed to do? Put it back? I don't blame her for
being mad. I've never had a cashier do that to me. They've always
turned their light off then finished with the customers they have. If
this cashier needed to go on break at a certain time, she should have
anticipated the timing better and turned her lane light off early.
I've worked as a cashier at a grocery store -- it doesn't take long to
know how much time it takes to do a cartload of groceries.

I do wish the OP had spoken with the manager, since that's the only
way any real change will happen.

Perhaps it was just that cashier who was inconsiderate. But who knows?
I've waited in a line and after a few minutes, noticed that the
cashier turned the light off. Still, customers would approach the
line, seeing as it was the shortest.

Your letter sounds pretty legit to me. I have also been to Wal-Mart in
the evening with only 1 or 2 items to purchase and the only lanes that
are open are the regular ones...no fast checkout or self checkout.

I would try to get the cashier's name and file a small complaint or
make a suggestion at the customer service desk.

Good luck

Walmart used to have a policy if more than three people are waiting in
a line they will open another register. Albertsons does that now.

I think the writer had a perfect right to leave those groceries. At
our Winco, where I do 90% of my grocery shopping, they ask the last
person in line to put up the closed sign and then turn out their
light. Then if anyone joins the line anyway, the cashier usually
points to the sign and says " I'm sorry, I'm closing." I've never seen
a cashier turn people away before she has the sign up and light off. I
think talking to the manager the next morning might have been better ,
not while she was so angry, as another suggestion. Not sure that
Wal-Mart will ever wake up to the fact that maybe if they treated
their employees better, they wouldn't have disinterested, rude
employees.

Our Walmart quite often only has 5 or 6 registers open (the regular
lanes, not speed check-outs) at 9:00 PM
How many registers do you think they should have open that late at
night? As for her closing the line, her break more than likely started
at 9:30 which according to your own story, you waited OVER 20 minutes
in line therefore she was already late on her break. In places like
this, actually practically any place you take your break at the
designated time. If you dont, you lose it. While I agree that this
would have angered me, I would have chose to talk to the manager and
ask them to open the register themselves and help with the overflow of
customers. Not only did you decide TALKING was too much of an
inconvience for you, you decided to leave your cart full of groceries
for someone else to clean up! HOW RUDE! Personally if I was a manager
at that Walmart I would review the tapes, get a clear look of your
face and not allow you to shop in the store ever again.

What we do at our store is when a cashier is going to be closing, a
manager stands at the end of the line directing the customers to
another line. Then he/she blockades the register and does what needs
to be done to swap out the cash drawer, etc. We never let anyone get
in line and then refuse to wait on them.
I think WalMart and other stores have done themselves a great
disservice by having so many checkout lanes with no cashiers. That
just adds to the frustration people in line feel while waiting for one
of the 3 open registers.

I HATE it when stores do that to me. I completely understand your
frustration and don't blame you a bit for walking out of the store.

Great idea for the sign. Good on you for trying to be part of the
solution.

I do agree with other posters that talking with a manager would've
been the best option, even if you were angry. (Your anger probably
would've got your point across to the manager even more.)

Other than that, I completely understand your frustration; I've had
the same thing happen to me before. (And no, you shouldn't have to be
the one to break the bad news to the customers behind you. You don't
work there.)

Your solution is a good one. Another one that I've seen other stores
do is to have a manager or other cashier tell customers this line is
closing, then direct them to a newly opened one.

Kati C.,
I don't like the idea of leaving a full,or for that matter a partially
full cart, with perishables in the line and departing.
While you felt you were in no state to approach a manager that would
have been the past avenue IMHO.
By leaving the cart you became part of the problem and not part of the
answer.
However, your suggestion does make sense and it would be great for
retailers to followup on it.
Take care and let us know if they get back with you.
BillR.
( anybody seen KenV.? )

at Walmart. They don't incur the same costs for labor as other stores
(many of which are unionized) and hence, customer service suffers.
Unfortunately, that's the choice, higher prices and better service or
what Walmart dishes out in order to get cheaper prices. I don't
disagree with your frustration, just pointing out the reasons for it.

It bites to stand in line, then have the cashier close just as you get
to the front, but leaving your groceries to melt and congeal on the
line didn't help the attitude of the cashier. You are offering
solutions, but you are also part of the problem.