I go to Wal-Mart late at night, about an hour before shift change. Lately, when I go to the Supercenter on South Campbell the checkers are grumpy. A tired checker told me all about how someone who had come to work after her had just gotten off before she did. Gripe Gripe Gripe. A few days later, two checkers completely ignored me while complaining to each other about getting off work 15 minutes late. Gripe Gripe Gripe.
Then I went to the Nixa Supercenter. It was the same time, an hour before shift change. Two checkers were smiling and chatting with each other and customers. One said, “Oh well, guess we don’t get a break.” The other one grinned and said, “We’re tough, we don’t need breaks.” The first checker enthusiastically replied, “That’s right, my back is strong!”
The associates at each Wal-Mart were dealing with the same work issues. But their responses were completely opposite. What made the difference?
Seth Godin wrote about a similar topic:Inside and Outside
When I go to Wal Mart late at night, I end up getting hit on by Alex… Even this week I purposely didn’t go anywhere near his line, but I ran into him in frozen foods. Oy! I am going to have to start going to a different Wal Mart I think.
Comment by Judi — 7/29/2005 @ 9:04 am
hmm some of my friends have the misfortune to work at supermarkets…and whether they can tolerate it or not usually depends on their supervisor
Comment by jammay — 7/30/2005 @ 12:16 pm
I agree with jammay, The checkers at Walmart are at the bottom end of the food chain. The supervisors and the managers can make or break a job. People feel powerless when their perception is that their bosses don’t care about them.
Of course, I might be contankerous if I were only making 5.15 an hour and had to work extended hours without overtime.
The low cost leader got that way by having low overhead…aka low wages.
Imagine a city, county, state where people earned a living wage, had affordable health care and affordable access to higher education…..
Comment by Jim — 8/1/2005 @ 8:21 am
Wow, Jim could have broke this Walmart discussion wide open. Hmm. . .what to respond, what to respond. Nope I’ve got nothing. I am interested in this Alex guy who is hitting on Judy though.
Comment by Jami — 8/3/2005 @ 2:11 pm