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Walmart Etiquette
The following are etiquette rules to make your Walmart shopping experience more enjoyable for you and your fellow shoppers. These rules of etiquette are not limited to Walmart alone. They should be used where ever you go shopping.
The etiquette starts when you enter the Walmart parking lot. Within the parking lot, you may find such things as stop signs, cross walks, and direction arrows painted on the pavement. Obey these traffic signals and your chance of getting in a fender bender will be reduced. Many of the parking lanes are “ONE WAY” and have arrows painted on the pavement showing the direction of travel. Don’t drive in the opposite way. If you need to drop off a family member at the door, then don’t linger at the door in your vehicle. Drop off your family member, go park your car, then finish your conversation. Don’t sit in your vehicle at the door waiting for your family member to rush in and come back out. You’re blocking traffic and a fire lane and are being an inconsiderate jerk.
OK, you’ve parked your vehicle and have started walking to the store. The next etiquette rule involves your walk to the store. The parking lane is not your personal side walk. Walk all the way to one side of the lane to allow drivers to get around you. If you’re walking with one or more people, don’t walk side by side because you’re blocking vehicles. Also, don’t turn around and give a dirty look at drivers who honk their horn for you to get out their way. Just walk to the side and let them pass. Use the cross walk to get to the store and walk as quickly as you can safely. Just because you have the right of way doesn’t mean it’s right for you to walk at a snail’s pace unless you’re elderly or disabled.
You’re in the store and ready to shop so do so properly. Think of the aisles as the road and your shopping cart as your car. Stay to the right of the road/aisles. If shopping with friends or family, don’t push your carts side by side blocking the entire aisles. If you meet friends and family in the store and you stop to talk to them, GET OUT OF THE AISLES AND LET OTHERS CONTINUE TO SHOP! Walmart aisles are not your personal living room. If you have children with you, ITEMS ON THE SHELVES ARE NOT YOUR CHILD’S TOY OR FOOD UNTIL YOU BUY THEM!
You’ve found what you need and are heading to the registers. If you plan on paying by check, then please have the date and name of store already filled out before you reach the register. That way all you’ll have to write is price and your name. Once at the register, load your groceries onto the counter and then move your shopping cart to the end of the counter where the bags are located. Assist the cashier by taking your full shopping bags and placing them in your shopping cart. When the cashier is nearly done, get your cash, credit/debit card, check book, and food stamps card ready. Pay the cashier and leave the register. You can stop to chat with the cashier only if there is no one waiting behind you.
On your way out the store, have the receipt in your hand just incase the greeter needs to check your receipt for items not bagged or something you bought sets off the alarm. The anti-theft device are hidden in different places on different items so it’s easy for the cashier to miss the device. Don’t get angry or defensive if this is what happened. Just show the greeter the receipt and you’ll be on your way.
Once you’ve loaded your items into your vehicle, the next etiquette rule comes into play. Don’t leave your shopping cart in the parking space or in the grass. There are things in the parking lot made for the storing of the shopping carts. It’s not a far walk. Push your cart to these things and leave your cart inside the rails. Leaving the carts here will protect cars from getting dinged from rolling carts, keep parking spaces free and open for people to park, and make it easy and quick for employees to pick up the shopping carts.
About those shopping carts, ever wonder why the wheels are bent or damaged? You can thank immature people for that. They get a good running start, hop up onto the back of the cart, and then ride it like it’s a scooter. This can lead to damaged wheels or bent frames. Shopping carts are not toys nor an amusement park ride. If you want such fun, Walmart sells bicycles, skateboards, scooters, and roller blades. Go buy one of them for your kicks.
These are great tips...but to me Walmart and etiquette is almost an oxymoron.
I stopped shopping at Walmart a few months ago to save money and to save my sanity.
Since then, my bank account has grown and I've grown happier and less stressed.
Life is too short to worry about such things as you've mentioned in your great post. Walmart is a hectic environment from the parking lot, thru the store and as you pointed out...even getting out the store with your newly purchased merchandise can be a hassel....
I'll never forget the day...almost late for my daughter's party...picking up some last minute things and something made the alarm go off....and the old, handicap/blind woman they chose to employ in this 'security' position....took her severl moment to walk over to me...her feeble hands took severl seconds to take the receipt. And how horrible!!!! it was long! and the tiny print!!!! I didn't have time for her to scan it...she couldn't even see it...bless her heart.
Walmart serves a purpose...but thankfully they don't have any place in my life...but they did at one time and I am grateful they were there when I needed them.
My wife shops there religiously except for meat. We have a local family owned grocery store we enjoy more but because of their limited space, they don't have certain items in stock that we need. When I was single, I went to that store and, though it was more expensive, I saved money shopping there. The problem of poor etiquette isn't limited to Walmart. Remember, people who shop Walmart also shop other businesses. You've probably seen them at the mall or electronics stores like Best Buy.
The few times I patronize Wal-Mart I try to go when it's not super busy and rarely encounter what you mentioned. In my town, though, the local Wal-MArt always seems to have a steady flow of traffic day and night.
Sure, it's not perfect and there are jerks here and there no matter where you go in life. However, I do my shopping, be it here or the grocery store and get the heck out. If I got wound up about each little thing you mentioned, I would have high blood pressure. I feel life's short and hectic enough as it is. Why make it harder by stressing over things we can't control? I can't "make" someone behave a certain way or not be rude. If someone is blocking the aisle with their cart, I kindly say "excuse me" and they move aside, simple as that.
In a perfect world, there would be no rudeness and chaos, but we just do what we need to do and move on.
Our local Walmart is located in a majority black area riddled with crime. The culture there is horrible. They'll shop together in a large group and completely block the entire parking lane and shopping aisle and want to fight you if you ask them to move or don't get out of their way. They give their kids toys to play with or food to eat right off the shelves and sometimes don't pay for the items eaten. The toys are usually left in some aisle before they get to the register. The employees are just as bad, if not worse. Some don't seem to be able to function unless loud rap music is being played. On the far side of the parish (county) is another Walmart where employees and customers are much better behaved but the traffic to get there during the day is horrible. I try to go to that Walmart when I get off of work at 7am when I'm on the 11pm-7am shift. Another thing that goes on at the Walmart closest to my home is because it's a 24hr store, they stock shelves at all hours of the day. They regularly place pallets of stock in the aisle and you cannot get into the aisle to get things you need.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gil3
Dave,
The few times I patronize Wal-Mart I try to go when it's not super busy and rarely encounter what you mentioned. In my town, though, the local Wal-MArt always seems to have a steady flow of traffic day and night.
Sure, it's not perfect and there are jerks here and there no matter where you go in life. However, I do my shopping, be it here or the grocery store and get the heck out. If I got wound up about each little thing you mentioned, I would have high blood pressure. I feel life's short and hectic enough as it is. Why make it harder by stressing over things we can't control? I can't "make" someone behave a certain way or not be rude. If someone is blocking the aisle with their cart, I kindly say "excuse me" and they move aside, simple as that.
In a perfect world, there would be no rudeness and chaos, but we just do what we need to do and move on.
I have three Wal-Marts equidistant from me, and then an HEB twice as far, and a Green Fields up the highway. Its this lack of etiquette that causes prejudice. I was driving out of Wal-Mart and there was a girl walking in a group that was blocking the lane. she was far away from the group and the only person really blocking me. I drove up close to hint to her to move, she turned around, stared me down with an ugly face, and walked slower. So i gunned my engine gave her the finger and side swiped her arm with my mirror (hehe i heard the thump, it was funny). Yeah i know its rude, but next time she'll think twice about being a b*tch. These people (and they're mostly my age) don't have respect for anyone. I have been a previous offender and a current victim of this lack of etiquette. but these people are allowed to continue their childish behavior because no one confronts them about it.
I avoid Wal-Mart because I feel like i am racially profiled when I go in there because i'm not "ethnic" I'm white. So i go to Green Fields, its a little more expensive, but when i needed something, I'm helped without malice. That doesn't happen at Wal-Mart.
I'm saying we as the general public should not put up with this crap. back in the 18-1900's if you did that stuff you got punched, shot, or generally reprimanded by the people around you, the person you offended didn't just sit there like a lame duck.
I'll admit i wouldn't do that again, it was a dangerous and highly offensive thing for me to do, and I was 19 at the time. But I still confront rude people doesn't matter how big they are and they usually understand what they did cause they were taught better.
Our local Walmart is located in a majority black area riddled with crime. The culture there is horrible. They'll shop together in a large group and completely block the entire parking lane and shopping aisle and want to fight you if you ask them to move or don't get out of their way. They give their kids toys to play with or food to eat right off the shelves and sometimes don't pay for the items eaten. The toys are usually left in some aisle before they get to the register. The employees are just as bad, if not worse. Some don't seem to be able to function unless loud rap music is being played. On the far side of the parish (county) is another Walmart where employees and customers are much better behaved but the traffic to get there during the day is horrible. I try to go to that Walmart when I get off of work at 7am when I'm on the 11pm-7am shift. Another thing that goes on at the Walmart closest to my home is because it's a 24hr store, they stock shelves at all hours of the day. They regularly place pallets of stock in the aisle and you cannot get into the aisle to get things you need.
and people in the inner city complain that they don't have services or stores!
Our local Walmart is located in a majority black area riddled with crime. The culture there is horrible. They'll shop together in a large group and completely block the entire parking lane and shopping aisle and want to fight you if you ask them to move or don't get out of their way.
Those freakin blacks! Someone should do something about them. HA, sailordave!!
Do you live your entire life this regimented? Why not just take it a little bit further: Take two steps forward into the checkout aisle. Adjust purse. Open zipper. Take out wallet. Remove credit card. Hold the credit card with your index finger and thumb.
I mean really. That whole checkout lane diatribe is just over the top. Yes there are annoying people. List and rule people are just as annoying as the oblivious people. Being different is part of what makes life vibrant and worth living.
And disabled people don't all use walkers or canes or wheelchairs. That person you are honking at just may be one of those people.
Walmart Etiquette
The following are etiquette rules to make your Walmart shopping experience more enjoyable for you and your fellow shoppers. These rules of etiquette are not limited to Walmart alone. They should be used where ever you go shopping.
The etiquette starts when you enter the Walmart parking lot. Within the parking lot, you may find such things as stop signs, cross walks, and direction arrows painted on the pavement. Obey these traffic signals and your chance of getting in a fender bender will be reduced. Many of the parking lanes are “ONE WAY” and have arrows painted on the pavement showing the direction of travel. Don’t drive in the opposite way. If you need to drop off a family member at the door, then don’t linger at the door in your vehicle. Drop off your family member, go park your car, then finish your conversation. Don’t sit in your vehicle at the door waiting for your family member to rush in and come back out. You’re blocking traffic and a fire lane and are being an inconsiderate jerk.
OK, you’ve parked your vehicle and have started walking to the store. The next etiquette rule involves your walk to the store. The parking lane is not your personal side walk. Walk all the way to one side of the lane to allow drivers to get around you. If you’re walking with one or more people, don’t walk side by side because you’re blocking vehicles. Also, don’t turn around and give a dirty look at drivers who honk their horn for you to get out their way. Just walk to the side and let them pass. Use the cross walk to get to the store and walk as quickly as you can safely. Just because you have the right of way doesn’t mean it’s right for you to walk at a snail’s pace unless you’re elderly or disabled.
You’re in the store and ready to shop so do so properly. Think of the aisles as the road and your shopping cart as your car. Stay to the right of the road/aisles. If shopping with friends or family, don’t push your carts side by side blocking the entire aisles. If you meet friends and family in the store and you stop to talk to them, GET OUT OF THE AISLES AND LET OTHERS CONTINUE TO SHOP! Walmart aisles are not your personal living room. If you have children with you, ITEMS ON THE SHELVES ARE NOT YOUR CHILD’S TOY OR FOOD UNTIL YOU BUY THEM!
You’ve found what you need and are heading to the registers. If you plan on paying by check, then please have the date and name of store already filled out before you reach the register. That way all you’ll have to write is price and your name. Once at the register, load your groceries onto the counter and then move your shopping cart to the end of the counter where the bags are located. Assist the cashier by taking your full shopping bags and placing them in your shopping cart. When the cashier is nearly done, get your cash, credit/debit card, check book, and food stamps card ready. Pay the cashier and leave the register. You can stop to chat with the cashier only if there is no one waiting behind you.
On your way out the store, have the receipt in your hand just incase the greeter needs to check your receipt for items not bagged or something you bought sets off the alarm. The anti-theft device are hidden in different places on different items so it’s easy for the cashier to miss the device. Don’t get angry or defensive if this is what happened. Just show the greeter the receipt and you’ll be on your way.
Once you’ve loaded your items into your vehicle, the next etiquette rule comes into play. Don’t leave your shopping cart in the parking space or in the grass. There are things in the parking lot made for the storing of the shopping carts. It’s not a far walk. Push your cart to these things and leave your cart inside the rails. Leaving the carts here will protect cars from getting dinged from rolling carts, keep parking spaces free and open for people to park, and make it easy and quick for employees to pick up the shopping carts.
About those shopping carts, ever wonder why the wheels are bent or damaged? You can thank immature people for that. They get a good running start, hop up onto the back of the cart, and then ride it like it’s a scooter. This can lead to damaged wheels or bent frames. Shopping carts are not toys nor an amusement park ride. If you want such fun, Walmart sells bicycles, skateboards, scooters, and roller blades. Go buy one of them for your kicks.
I'm no longer in the Army, so I no longer follow orders....... and I haven't been to a wally world in over a year...
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