idiotic rules at Wal-Mart

[Bright_Star]

Here are a few rules & regulations at Wal-Mart that'll make you shake your head in wonder:

1. IF you have to call in sick OR you know you're going to be late then you 1st have to call a 1-800 number, get a confirmation number & then get connected to your store & talk to a member of management who will ask for the confirmation number. You would think it be simpler to just call the store directly but nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!! Calling that 1-800 number isn't always as simple as it seems cause you talk to a computer who will make you go through a bunch of menus just to call off! & a lot of times it can take over an hour to just get on the stupid thing!

2. So if you're at work and you get sick, even if you're tossing your cookies every 5 minutes, then you can't go home UNTIL you've been there at least 4 hours! That's ONLY if management approves it & more than likely they'll say that it'll "count against you". So do you gotta barf on the store manager so you can go home?

3. Let's say you gotta go #1 or #2 while at the register. Most people will just simply head to the bathroom & do their thing. Wal-Mart, according to the CSM's, want you to either put in the code for a bathroom break OR flash your light & wait for approval. So if you don't get approved does that mean you can piss on the floor or let it roll down your leg? Jeez!

3. When "Red Lining" you can't talk to the cashier on either side of you. So you're just supposed to just stand there like some half assed robot looking for people to cash out.

4. On the express register it states "20 items or less" BUT if some idiot comes up to you with a cart filled to the brim then we MUST take them regardless of what the sign says! So why not take out the express & replace it with a regular belted register? HELLO??????

5. The customers can swear at us like drunken sailors BUT if we swear then we can be reprimanded or as Wal-Mart likes to say it "be COACHED". God forbid that customers hear us swear & be offended. We can't have that. <sarcastic>

6. Cashiers MUST always be cheerfull at ALL times regardless of what's going in your life. EVEN IF the last customer bitched you out for whatever reason-you have to forget about that & greet the next customer as if nothing happened. Wal-Mart says not to take it personal if a customer bitches you out. So how else are you supposed to take that kind of crap?

7. You have sick time at Wal-Mart. So if you call off sick the one day then you can't use it-Wal-Mart won't let you. BUT if you call off sick the NEXT day then you can use it. So essentially you're screwed out of sick pay for that FIRST day you call off sick.

8. Call off sick MORE than 3 days in a row then you MUST file for a medical leave of absence. & NOPE, bringing in a doctors excuse isn't acceptable. So if you don't file for a medical leave of absence for more than 3 days sick then you can be fired.

9. IF a customer complains about you about anything then it will be held against you EVEN IF you didn't do anything wrong. Management will ALWAYS believe the customer no matter what.

10. The "Open Door" policy is a joke. Management will ONLY hear what they want to hear & they don't care about what you say. Their TOP priority is MONEY. Everything else is secondary.

[ditchdj]

This, lifted from one of Walmart's ten million canned corporate statements........

"Respect for the individual is one of the core values that have made us into the company we are today. We take pride in the fact that we treat every customer, every supplier and every member of our individual communities fairly and equally.

We are working hard to make our corporate contributions reflect the values of our customers, communities, and associates. As Sam Walton said, “Each Wal-Mart store should reflect the values of its customers and support the vision they hold for their community."

----Of course, and anyone that "speaks out" is just a trouble-making union activist.

[draggar]

----Of course, and anyone that "speaks out" is just a trouble-making union activist.

WalMart isn't the only company like this, so is mine.

Due to a couple of (legal) issues, I've been flagged as an instigator by HR. Every email I send is being sniffed though HR, everything I do is being watched by HR also.

[ditchdj]

I hear that the Jeep plant in Toledo does that too. Speak out about anything and they'll assign a supervisor to watch you and look for stuff to write you up for so they can get rid of you. They were doing that to the guy that snapped there two years ago and shot three people with a shotgun.

[SnapAddict218]

Oh honey, I can sypathize with the sick time BS. I didn't work at walmart, but I had similar, strict rules abot calling off for ANY reason.

I bet from now on you will inspect a new employer's time off/sick time policy before you consider them! I know I did. Main thing to remember Bright Star, is that YOUR heath comes first. YOU know when YOU can't continue to do the job. "F" the man, go home so you can get better. If they don't like it, well thats too bad.

Seriously, how can they keep you there if you are sick? I mean what if you had complications or it turned out to be something more serious? Case in point: I went home sick one day because I had some horrific gut pains. In reality, I thought I may have been really constipated. I told the boss that I would try to be back later, and I just needed to go lay down. I barely made the drive home, crawled into my house and placed a white knucked call to my mom (who works at the hospital) telling her I that I was in the most pain I've ever been in. Long story short, she picks me up, takes me to the hospital and I get an MRI or what ever (I don't know, I was in another demention due to the pain). With in 45 minutes of my admission I was in surgery for an appendix that was ready to burst. That could have been serious. The doc said that had we waited another 1/2 hour or so, it would have burst. Total time since I left work? THREE HOURS. HAD they made me stay there for the "required" time, it could have been much worse.

Does Wal mart not think of that?

Sorry so long. I've just had to abide by similar rules, and I totally feel your pain!

[ditchdj]

Total time since I left work? THREE HOURS. HAD they made me stay there for the "required" time, it could have been much worse.

Does Wal mart not think of that?

Read "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair to see how employees were treated and it's not that much different. I've read the corporate jargon about how they feel about employees and about how to squeeze as much as possible before simply throwing them in the trash and replacing them. "Lean production", "continuous improvement" (known to some workers at Jeep as "Management By Stress"). THIS is the REAL "New World Order" for the 21st century global economy that is spreading throughout the entire labor market.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I would once again like to take a moment to thank God, Buddha, a tree, or whatever deity there is out there, that I never got hired at Wal-Mart in town.

[Jester]

6. Cashiers MUST always be cheerfull at ALL times regardless of what's going in your life. EVEN IF the last customer bitched you out for whatever reason-you have to forget about that & greet the next customer as if nothing happened. Wal-Mart says not to take it personal if a customer bitches you out. So how else are you supposed to take that kind of crap?

Okay, let me preface what I am about to say with the fact that I have never worked at Wal-Mart, and I believe them to be an evil corporation that has ruined more towns and businesses than the average tornado season. And I think their rules generally suck, from what I have seen.

That being said, in this instance, they are somewhat right. You CAN'T let a customer bitching at you be personal. Because it isn't. They don't KNOW you, they have no idea what you are like as a person, and no matter what they say, they are reacting to you as a representative of the company they are upset with.

As a member of the food service industry, I have had more than my share of people bitching at me for this, that, and the other. I don't take it personally. I know the difference between work and personal. And that is work.

Is it EASY to separate work and personal when people are up in your face yelling at you (or whatever)? No. It isn't. But honestly, you should never take this stuff personally. Once you learn to separate your professional and personal lives in your head, things will be a lot easier, I promise you.

This is not to say that Wal-Mart still isn't the devil incarnate. They are. But as they say, even the dumbest squirrel occasionally finds a nut.

[SongsOfDragons]

I don't know if it is true, but women working in Lidl have to wear white headbands to signify when they're on their period so they can ignore the general toilet breaks laws.

[blas]

Wow....that is just awful.

At the factory, in the inspection department (where all the real assholes work), if the supervisor hates you or enough of your coworkers complain about you, you get sent to the electrical test area. It's very boring, you sit for 8 hours holding a prod against a panel to see if it works. They will keep you there for weeks and weeks until you quit on your own. They do it that way so they get the satisfaction of watching you crack.

[MystyGlyttyr]

Wow....that is just awful.

At the factory, in the inspection department (where all the real assholes work), if the supervisor hates you or enough of your coworkers complain about you, you get sent to the electrical test area. It's very boring, you sit for 8 hours holding a prod against a panel to see if it works. They will keep you there for weeks and weeks until you quit on your own. They do it that way so they get the satisfaction of watching you crack.

Hell, I would be in trouble nonstop because that sounds like a perfect job to me. Getting to sit and do basically nothing for eight hours but stare at a prod and daydream? And get paid? Sign me the hell up. (Then again, I have an extremely rich fantasy life and I can do that whole sit in one spot for eight hours thing.)

During my (extremely) brief tenure as a Wal-Mart employee, everyone else I worked with was very nice...but it was very clear very fast that I was working for an ass, and that if I didn't stay overtime and get every smidgeon of work done, I would get in troubles. Left nuts to that action.

[BookstoreEscapee]

So I guess your appendix has to burst and you have to collapse from sepsis before they'll let you go home? Would they at least call you an ambulance?

They opened a WalMart near me a year or so ago. I can count the number of times I've been there on one hand.

[AFpheonix]

Jester beat me to it, but numbers #5 and #6 are pretty standard across the board, and frankly, are good customer service skills. I've just learned to laugh maniacally after the stupid ass has left, because I think their public tantrums are usually pretty funny.

But the sick call out thing? Jeebus. I'm thankful that when I was ill last winter they let me go home and stay home, no questions asked. Granted, it was the first time I'd ever called out in my 3 year employment with this company, but still, it was nice.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Wait, so if you're going to be late, you have to call an 800 number, get a confirmation, then talk to your actual store...so you end up being even later while you wait on hold? The logic of that astounds me.

[kerrisan]

Oh, I have a Wal-Mart question.

BF is coming to visit next week (tomorrow! whee!), he works at Wal-Mart and he doesn't have a lot of money for his trip (rough winter). We'll be ok; we can stretch our money, but pay week is next week and I was wondering if Wal-Mart does direct deposit. We'd like to get his paycheck deposited into his bank on payday since he won't be around next week. I don't think Personnel will be open until Monday, and because I'm anxious . . . I'd like to know now!