Walmart Employees Share What They Wish Customers Knew

Anyone who's ever worked in retail can tell you that customers can be both vital parts to your success and the bane of your existence. You may be helping a sweet old lady with her groceries or you may be trying to deal with an irate woman in baggy sweats trying to haggle for imaginary deals. In a place that serves nearly 240 million customers alone each week (via Statista), employees of Walmart from the deli counter to the electronics department are no strangers to dealing with customers both good and bad. With 1.6 million associates in the U.S. (via Walmart), Walmart employees have a pretty daunting task of doing their job and keeping their customers satisfied.

While customer training or motivational exercises can help — or at least, supposedly help — you, a diligent employee of Walmart, deal with an irate customer, there's nothing stopping from you wishing that you could just keep that angry Karen in the checkout line or obnoxious know-it-all in the auto parts section out of the store and your life to begin with. Straight from Walmart workers themselves, here are some tips that you should do well to remember the next time you pay a trip to your local superstore.

On the subreddit r/Walmart, employees of the titular store gathered together to share one very specific desire: What did they wish customers of Walmart knew before they came in? The original poster expressed their desire for customers to understand that the website isn't always accurate, that even if the website says they have something in stock, it's either not there, lost, or probably stolen. Their second wish was that customers stop trying to get expert advice from them, stating that they just because they work in a department doesn't guarantee they'll know what exactly the customer is talking about.

"Not everyone who wear a vest works in the department you need assistance in. Especially when they're visibly wearing a hairnet or a orange vest," said user Expendito. 

"Just because the Walmart in your home town in Podunk, Missouri carries Product X, doesn't mean all Walmarts carry it," was the response of user cowboyJones.

"Just because we work at Walmart doesn't mean we know everything about every department," added user Ecstatic_Peak6646.

"I don't know every inch of the store. I legit stand at a register all day," said another employee.

While this may paint all interactions between Walmart employees and customers as hostile, it's important to remember that kindness begets kindness. A Walmart in Arkansas threw a surprise party for a beloved 104-year-old customer in 2017 (via Wide Open Country), proving that as long as you are kind to them, they will be kind to you.