Making the little girls cry

[Ron G.]

Yesterday I noticed I had several rolls of film sitting in a box under my desk, so I decided to go to Walmart and get them processed and see what they were since I’d forgotten.

I tossed them in my pocket and off I went.

I got there and the girl told me the print processor wasn’t working so they couldn’t do it in an hour. It’s a 45 minute drive from my house to the nearest Walmart, so I told her I’d just get CD’s made.

I spent the next hour or so wandering around the store looking at assorted Chinese made merchandise and then went back to see if my CD's were ready. She told me there was a problem with one of my rolls. She said it came out of the cassette and it was wet.

WET?

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot??!..."How could one of my rolls be wet?" I demanded, "It came out of the cassette that way? How can that be? All five rolls came out of the same box at the same time and I carried them here in my pocket...how can one of them be wet while the rest aren’t?"

"I don’t know", she replied.

"Bring it here, I want to check it out"

She walked over and got one of those changing boxes and brought it to me. She started to show me how to put my hands through the cloth hand holes and I explained I’d been doing it for decades and I knew what to do.

I put my hands in and felt around. sure enough, the film was wet and sticky, but it was taped to the leader card.

I told her to just throw it in the trash. When she opened the box, I noticed the film was dark grey. I also saw it had images on it. I sniffed my fingers and sure enough, it was RA4 developer.

I showed her the images and told her OBVIOUSLY the roll had jammed up in their machine and someone had taken the top off and taken my film out and put it in the dark box.

She told me her manager only told her it came out of the cassette wet and to let it dry out before putting into the machine for development. She said she knew nothing besides that.

"Uh....ma’am....you were going to charge me for this?"

"That’s what my manager said to do. He said we couldn't be responsible for wet film."

"Lady, don’t bullsh it an old .... ter. There are images on that film and it’s been in the developer and obviouly dragged out...here...see the roller marks?"

About this time, I saw tears welling up...I don’t think this girl was much more than 19 or so, so I cooled it down a bit.

"Okay, where’s this manager?"

"He’s left for the day."

"Okay, just toss it and we’ll forget it, but DON’T LIE. I know this shi t better than your manager does and I don’t appreciate being lied to. SOME customers would get really pis sed, but I’ve been doing it long enough to know that this kind of sh it happens and with continuous roller processors, that sort of thing is sometimes unavoidable, but don’t try to tell me the film came out of the cassette wet like that, implying it’s MY damn fault just to weasel $6 out of me."

That was the trigger, she was sobbing..."They didn’t train me for this...I don’t know what to do...I was just doing what my manager told me....blah blah blah WAAAHHH"

Here comes some store bouncer or uberfuehrer something.

"May I help you, sir?....Is this guy causing problems?"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooo" she wails, "His film was ruined and I can’t help it" WAAAHHHHHH!!

He looks at me with a mixture of anger and bewilderment.

I told both of them, "Okay, Let me just pay for what I got and I’ll mosey on home."

They both agreed to that...everyone was relieved and I went home with my CD’s.

I may go back Monday and look this manager guy up, if I decide it's worth it to burn the $10 in gas to get there.

There’s no moral (except Walmart sucks), punchline or really any point to this, but I thought I’d share it with everyone.

Now that I shared it, I don’t feel so bad for making the little girl cry.

[rhino]

You could just send an email to the customer relations department. Show them what you wrote here and tell them the store and the manager. Also tell them you posted this on a board read by hundreds. They'll probably compensate you and talk to the manager.

You save the gas money and the hassle, and probably get some kind of refund. Unless you just wanted to go and see if you could make the maager cry too.

Edited March 23, 2008 by rhino

[excathedra]

awwwww i'm sorry

[cman]

She told me her manager only told her it came out of the cassette wet and to let it dry out before putting into the machine for development. She said she knew nothing besides that.

It was the manager who lied, not the girl, seems to me.

I was just doing what my manager told me

It wasn't her fault. imo

[Jim]

It's a no-win situation. You expect a certain level of competence and honesty and you don't get it.

You didn't want to make the girl cry, you just wanted an honest answer and for the store to do the right thing. At this point I don't expect there's anything that can be done to fix it other than to take your business elsewhere. You know the supervisior is, at the least, unethical. Confronting him will only lead to more lies and fingerpointing. The girl was only doing what she was told, and didn't have the self-confidence to do the right thing. She knew she was doing the wrong thing and to me, that's worth something.

Buy a digital camera and a decent photo printer. Stop trading at Walmart. That would be the best long-term fix.

[coolchef]

ron

i will send you ten bucks for gas if you go and ream that managers arzz out

i hate wally word and feel bad for most folks trying to eke out a living there

[Shellon]

Wow

This "little girl" was trying to do her job, maybe paying tuition, who cares.

If she were the manager, I guess maybe I could see getting all up in her koolaid, but as the young woman just trying to do her job, I don't see it.

We never know what it really going on, no matter how much we know about their job or doing it better, we can't know the whole story.

If I'm much older and trying to get good service from a young person, I sure am not going to help him/her learn by setting them to tears.

I am one of the first to complain about how crappy customer service is anymore but I think we get more done when we don't kill the messenger.

Sometimes we need to just be quiet and listen.

[vickles]

Well, I work at Walmart. The problem may have been that the roller got stuck and the manager was called. When she/he opened it up it was wet and sticky. This told the manager that it must have been wet coming out of the cassette.

The manager that is working the floor usually is managing the whole floor and may have not known how it happened. There is always a manager at Walmart so you could have talked to a manager.

I would rather like to think that someone hadn't lied to you but misunderstood the situation. Walmart is very good at giving a gift card for customer satisfaction. On your receipt there is a phone number with the manager's name on it. If you still have a complaint I suggest you call the manager and let them know.

I agree with Shellon.

[rhino]

I showed her the images and told her OBVIOUSLY the roll had jammed up in their machine and someone had taken the top off and taken my film out and put it in the dark box.

She told me her manager only told her it came out of the cassette wet and to let it dry out before putting into the machine for development. She said she knew nothing besides that.

"Uh....ma'am....you were going to charge me for this?"

"That's what my manager said to do. He said we couldn't be responsible for wet film."

My experiences with WalMart customer service has always been positive. They seem to have a "the customer is always right" point of view. I think policy is more about being efficient than deceptive.

From this little vignette, it is hard to say if the girl understood the manager was asking her to lie, but it seems clear enough it was a lie. I doubt that is WalMart policy, and the store manager should be informed of bad behavior.

But it does bring up the ethical question ... is it OK to lie to customers, if you are doing it to keep your job?

The obvious answer is no, but in fact it seems to have become the way many employers routinely do business. Today policy seems to be "see what you can get away with", at many places at least.

If the machine ate and destroyed a rollof film, Ron probably should have gotten the others for free. It was an accident, but it was their accident. Calling customer service seems a simple step ... or the manager, as vickles suggested.

[Watered Garden]

Ron, if you go back and complain to the manager, I have no doubt that he will wreak vengeance on the girl by terminating her employment immediately, because she should have covered his butt.

It is unfortunate, but that's the way it works.

My suggestion would be to just try to find somewhere else to go.

And watch the motion picture "The High Cost of Low Prices" to get a different perspective.

WG