The stupidity and shortsightedness of many Wal-Mart managers never ceases to amaze me. I’ve said many colorful things in the past about the managers at a store where I once worked, but at least our store manager had a pair. The co-managers, well, they had about one apiece (depending on the day), but I digress…
So, I seek out an assistant manager and tell him I’ve got a proposition: let me put the widgets on layaway, and I’ll take all three. He says he “can’t do it,” so I find a co-manager who surprisingly says the same thing.
Now, any time a salaried member of management at a Wal-Mart store tells you he “can’t” do something, he’s lying — plain and simple. Every salaried member of management at every Wal-Mart is empowered with the authority to pretty much do anything he/she chooses as long as they believe it’s in the best interest of the company (read: stockholders), necessary to satisfy a customer or, well, just something he feels like doing for any reason, basically.
January is one of the slowest months of the year for retail sales, so you’d think that a co-manager whose large annual bonus is directly tied to the store’s performance would jump at the chance to add $250 to his store’s bottom line by just bending one small rule.
If Sam Walton were still alive, I can imagine him looking these guys in the eye and asking, “Do you think you’ll ever be merchants?” Sam wanted associates who were merchants, not automatons.
