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Why would any corporation be against price matching?
Let's see. How about the almighty dollar bill? Few companies do it actually. I suspect it is the hugging thing. It's likely a customer complained and Walmart doesn't want to disclose that as a reason because that makes them sound even more harsh than they do already. I would feel very uncomfortable with a store employee attempting to give me a hug and would probably complain if an employee attempted to do such a thing. I can't stand receiving hugs from anyone but close friends and family. It seems odd that they would suddenly fire him for price matching unless he suddenly upped the frequency over the past few months. In any event, employment in almost every state is at-will. Walmart could fire him because they don't like the brand of socks he wears.
He had been with them 20 years! I can not believe it took Walmart 20 years to figure this out and I doubt seriously they tolerated his discounting for 20 years. Some body decided to put him on a cash register at some point. Some understanding and placing him in another position where he didn't have to make those kinds of decisions could have gone a long way. I am sure there are any number of jobs he could be qualified for including unloading trucks, stocking, hanging clothes on hangers, sweeping floors, watering plants in the garden center, collecting shopping carts from the parking lot and so on. The store put him in a position he apparently did not need to be in. After 20 years with them they had to know his limitations and he had to be at least somewhat skilled to have been there so long. Just out right terminating him was unjustified in my opinion. But then again, I do not know all the facts.
Poor guy though...I'm thinking that a lot of jerkoffs sensed he was mentally impaired and naive, and thought it'd be a ripe opportunity to take advantage of him. People really suck sometimes.
I feel the same. And if that was the case, they could have had him working in another area of the store instead of letting him make the same mistakes over and over again. So, they let him make the same mistakes and then they had a reason to get rid of him, ya dig?
He had been with them 20 years! I can not believe it took Walmart 20 years to figure this out and I doubt seriously they tolerated his discounting for 20 years. Some body decided to put him on a cash register at some point. Some understanding and placing him in another position where he didn't have to make those kinds of decisions could have gone a long way. I am sure there are any number of jobs he could be qualified for including unloading trucks, stocking, hanging clothes on hangers, sweeping floors, watering plants in the garden center, collecting shopping carts from the parking lot and so on. The store put him in a position he apparently did not need to be in. After 20 years with them they had to know his limitations and he had to be at least somewhat skilled to have been there so long. Just out right terminating him was unjustified in my opinion. But then again, I do not know all the facts.
I'm inclined to agree with you. But the hugging probably made management nervous, and they found a way to get rid of him. It's potentially a huge liability for the store. I feel bad for this guy though - I suspect he was accommodated for the past 20 years and maybe newer management decided to change up the rules on him.
He had been with them 20 years! I can not believe it took Walmart 20 years to figure this out and I doubt seriously they tolerated his discounting for 20 years. Some body decided to put him on a cash register at some point. Some understanding and placing him in another position where he didn't have to make those kinds of decisions could have gone a long way. I am sure there are any number of jobs he could be qualified for including unloading trucks, stocking, hanging clothes on hangers, sweeping floors, watering plants in the garden center, collecting shopping carts from the parking lot and so on. The store put him in a position he apparently did not need to be in. After 20 years with them they had to know his limitations and he had to be at least somewhat skilled to have been there so long. Just out right terminating him was unjustified in my opinion. But then again, I do not know all the facts.
I have a theory.
Many disabled adults have advocates/job coaches through Adult Services who shadow them throughout the day at work. Maybe not full time but they'll check in during the day with the client.
If he had an advocate, that person may have urged/convinced management that the client should be given a chance to be a cashier, possibly with a scenario of unpleasant outcomes if it wasn't done.
I've seen, in my career in education, some advocates who don't recognize the limitations of their clients.
We obviously don't have the full story. If it wasn't the hugging and the guy was only giving the price matches he thought was appropriate, then bad on Walmart. They could have moved him some place else. Guys like that are probably some of the best employees they have. He's friendly and enjoys what he is doing.
There was possibly a mentally challenged individual in a town where I used to live. He told me he got in trouble for telling women they looked nice or pretty because someone had complained. I personally found it harmless. I think it meant something to him to have a little personal interaction with the customers. He probably just needed someone to spend about ten minutes with him and retrain him with a few appropriate comments he could use that were positive and would elicit a positive response.
When I go shopping I don't want the staff hugging me. Being greeted when I walk is weird enough.
I know what you mean...when I walk into a store and an employee shouts from across the room, "Welcome to Walgreens" or whatever, (usually in an insincere, monotone-ish way, but who can blame them?), it irritates me.
It doesn't brighten my day or make it an "experience" to shop there or make me want to come back more often....it just irritates me. It's fake and phony and I feel sorry for the poor slob who has to do it over and over and over all day long for $7.25 an hour.
I don't understand what the issue is. He was apparently taken thru all of the steps of the employee disciplinary program. Verbal and written warnings. This is simple. The company only does price matches with physical proof of the competitor price (and ad) not simply because the customer says hey target sells this 50 cents cheaper. He repeatedly gave the customers discounts without the appropriate documentation. Either the customer's were taking advantage of his low IQ or he didn't care to follow the rules and just wanted to be nice. Either of those are more than enough evidence to show he is unable to perform the job correctly. Wal-Mart correctly believe that their cashiers are not entitled to make random pricing decisions on their own. As for the hugging......completely inappropriate. It's shocking he was allowed to do it ever. I do wonder though why they didn't try to move him to another position. Stock boy or janitor perhaps.
Sounds like the issue was with price matching in which he did break the rules.
Though it does seem fishy that it happened just 20 days shy of his 20th year.
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