wally world clerk vs. manager

[Superpsy]

Yesterday I went out and bought a single-shot for a fun gun. I went to Wally world since I knew that they had NEF single-shots in stock. Surprisingly the clerk actually knew his way around guns, shooting trap etc. etc. We chatted for a while, discussed the ATF, NY's crazy laws (I'm in upstate NY...different planet compared to NYC) and CCW. All in all it was a good talk.

Then it comes to the point where the gun has to be put into the box and I'm escorted out by the manager. The manager approaches and tries to butt into our conversation. (ever have that happen?) :banghead: After 10 seconds it becomes apparent that he knows nothing about guns but seems to enjoy talking He then proceeds to regale me with stories about his excellent shooting (consistently taking deer at over 1000 yards and shooting 300 straight in trap )

At this point I'm ready to go and tell the manager that. He says okay and begins to put the gun in the box, finger on trigger and sweeps the clerk with the muzzle. The clerk and I look at each other in disbelief after that and exchange another look when the manager puts the gun in the box the wrong way. Ummm, I think the wider angled slot is for the stock and the other side is for the barrel I shake the hand of the clerk and thank him for helping. After this faux pas (box debacle) the manager doesn't say much while we walk to the car. He puts the gun in the trunk and I can't help but ask what guns he owns. He looks at me, hems and haws for a while and then finally says he owns a beat up .22 he then hastens to add that he borrows guns a lot and knows quite a deal about them....RRRRIIIIIIGHT.

+1 for that clerk tho'!

Any stories about people who pretend to know alot about guns but don't?

 

[Nathan Williams]

Thats about as bad as my encounter with Wally World. The only gun I ever bought from them was a bolt action Savage in .223. I only bought it there because they had a good deal on one with a scope already mounted. Once I had completed the "walk of shame" with the manager (a morbidly obese lady with a really bad perm) , she drops the gun in the parking lot while putting it in my truck . I just about got sick. Luckily the scope was fine when I got it home and began to zero it in, but I did not want to think about the hell that would have been if I had to try and do an exchange over it if it had been damaged.

 

[HCfan]

I have no idea why they have the walk of shame policy in wally world.

I've never bought a firearm from them but heck, if I did it would seem really silly that I'm being escorted out with a longarm while I have either/and a .45 IWB and a .38 snub in ankle holster.

Our wallyworld doesn't sell firearms or firearm related stuff any longer. It's now a fishing pole display case and there are fishing lures where they had the ammo.

That's okay, we have another locally owned store that still sells firearms and ammo so I don't really care.

 

[SeanMTX]

The Sports Authority here does the same thing. I just got a new Benelli 12 gauge for dove this year and had a clerk as smart as my left testicle escort me to the door....where I was allowed to take the gun and walk out.


Thanks for the help chachi.

 

[akjren]

I am fortunate enough to have three gents and one lady working in the sporting goods section of the local wal-mart that regularly fish and hunt and do know more than I do about such things. It's nice to be living in the South.

Alex

 

[Ndenway]

several years back a wal mart in my town was closing its location and preparing to move to a larger store up the street, so they had all the rifles and shotguns discounted,

I bought a parkerized 12ga. 870 express, the counter dude boxes it up and the manager checks off the paperwork and carries it out to my car,

all the while chatting it up about how much she ready to move, that they'd been selling the hell outta their stock and how she'd be glad when it slowed back down,

so several days pass and I decide to put the shotty together and shoot it a bit, as I'm putting it together I notice that its a 20ga.,

so I look at the box and its got the info for a 12ga. and the serial #s don't match up with what I got,

I call up the store and get put on hold, the store mgr. picks up and ask me whats the problem, I tell him that I bought a 12ga. and the counter monkeys put a 20ga in the box,

so he tells me that he can't do anything about it, because its already been sold blablabla, so I said "hey man, when your sporting goods people do their weekly inventory checks, their gonna find that they've got an extra 870 12ga. and are missing a 870 20ga and their probably gonna have to report it to the atf that their missing some inventory",

so he says "hmmmmmmm, let me put you on hold and I'll be right back", about 5 minutes later I get a different sporting goods mgr get on the line and I tell him whats up, and he's like "**** man!, uhuhuh!, can you bring it back today and we'll get it all straitened out", and that dude was uptight,

I show up and they got all my paper work layed out, they couldn't find the shotty with the correct serial #s, so I had to fill out a new yellow sheet, the chick mgr is appologizing for the inconvenence its caused and all that,

I started joking around with them and the male mgr is worried, they didn't know where the 12ga went that I was supposed to get, so I said "hey man, that ain't my problem, but ya'lls mistake got me running all around town trying to get it straintened out, so why don't you make me a deal on some ammo"

I ended up getting all the slugs and buckshot they had on the shelves for a $1 a box,

I figure it was partialy my fault for not looking at the shotty before I left to make sure it was what I bought, but there was two of them that checked it before boxing it up and signed off on the paperwork so I thought it was good,

now when I buy a firearm, I double check everything before I leave the counter.

 

[SeanSw]

It's a crap shoot at walmart. Some stores are better than others and the employees make the difference. I worked at one location for a couple years and I go to great lengths to avoid going there for ANY reason. Their service is terrible and their ammo counter is completely devoid of any help at all. I used to stop by because this store was on the way to the range but after 2 trips trying to pick up a box of .22 I learned my lesson. Both trips resulted in a 30 minute wait to only to find out no one had the keys needed to get the case open.

I was with my friend at another location while he was attempting to pick up a Henry .22 out of layaway and the ensuing madness was mind-boggling. No one knew anything. It took hours to get the rifle out of the store.

It would be nice for the counter clerk to know something about his merchandise but that simply isn't how Wal-Mart made their money. If the clerk can read at a highschool level then consider yourself lucky. I don't give them any grief if they aren't gun enthusiasts, I just appreciate it when they do a good job.

 

[Action_Can_Do]

Wally world treats their employees like crap. They receive poor pay and poor training. Hence, the employees just don't care and why should they? It sucks for the customers but Wally world didn't get so rich by sharing the wealth with the people who earned it.

 

[Bobhwry]

Wally World should just get out of the firearm and ammo business altogether!! They can't support it with knowledgable staff and in most cases no staff at all. Even though they sell low end, mass produced guns it still requires some expertise and understanding of the law. It's a very small part of their business and if they get out of firearms they won't miss it and neither will I.

 

[tubeshooter]

After my 1st experience trying to buy from Wal-Mart (which isn't even over yet, and I special-ordered in July), I'm inclined to agree with Bobhwry. To be fair, the distributor is out and so I probably couldn't get the gun any faster anywhere else close by, but the nonchalance about my purchase is infuriating. But that's what I get, I suppose.

I'm going to leave it there for now; I'm sure this has been discussed before, probably at length.

 

[TIMC]

They have the same escort policy with guns at Oshman's here in San Antonio. I bought a handgun there several years ago and showed them my Texas CHL so I didn't have to go through the back ground check. We finished the paperwork, I paid for the gun and picked it up to leave. The clerk told me "Sir I have to carry that out for you." I asked him why and he told me customers were not allowed to carry gun purchases in the store. Puzzled by this I told him "You saw my handgun permit when we filled out paperwork. I can't carry this emty gun I just bought out but I can carry the loaded one under my shirt? That's just odd." I guess it never occured to him because he suddenly got a real funny look on his face but he still carried the new gun out for me. I thought it was too funny.

 

[Taurus 66]

Dicks Sporting Goods in the mall also has the walk of shame policy. They made me walk out a back door through the Employees Only section. Only thing was the exit was nowhere near where I parked my car, which was near the main entrance. They knew what they were talking about, however, and knew how to safely handle a gun.

OTOH, my workplace is a whole different world. There is this kid (part time help since school's out) who once told me he has a .22 and he really likes the .22 round because it will do something no other bullet is capable of - it can strike a man in the toe, travel up the leg, through the pelvis, continue up the spine into the skull, scramble the brain, then exit the the top of the skull.

Wow ... That .22 LR must've been moving with a MV of, oh, 5,000 fps, err sumthin'. That sure is a lot of flesh and bone to be drillin' thru. The kid strikes me as a little odd anyways.

 

[cracked junior]

last time i got some 45 auto ammo at wally. i got some remington jhp, 100 round box for 27.45. i had to go to paint dept to get some help. no one there had a key for the ammo box. so they had to page someone from the back. after the "key holder" got there. it seemed there was 15 people instantly at the counter, like they were scouting the sporting goods counter untill help arrived and then made a rush to be first in line. then after getting my ammo. i had to pay for it at the sporting goods counter. they wouldnt let me pay for it at the front counter with my other items.

 

[jrou111]

It's nice to be living in the South.

 

[larry_minn]

What is fun is do other shopping (and have manager carry all your purchases) on way out of store. I did that for ammo one time. Even asked if he wanted to get a cart.

 

[EddieCoyle]

...i had to go to paint dept to get some help. no one there had a key for the ammo box. so they had to page someone from the back....

Same as my local Wally World. I had to get a bunch of ammo once on a Sunday and Wally World was the only place open. I waited at the ammo counter for 10 minutes when a manager walked by. I asked him to page someone because I'd been waiting a while. He apologized and paged a clerk.

A clerk showed up quickly, but after 20 more minutes, three employees were still looking for the key to the case (the person that had it was working in the pet dept and was currently "on break").

The same manager came by again and asked, "Are you still here?" I almost lost it - but instead I remained calm but was obvisouly angry when I said, "Yes I am. I would've left long ago but you are the only store that is open and stocks ammo. I've been here for over 1/2 hour, what can you do for me?"

He said, "I'll tell you what, when they open that case you can have for free what you came for." I handed him the list and when they opened the case, I walked out with $125 worth of free ammo.

 

[Mojo-jo-jo]

...i had to go to paint dept to get some help. no one there had a key for the ammo box. so they had to page someone from the back....

I have the same problem each time I go to Wally World...

I usually buy ammo at the new super-Walmart near my home, as it is much cheaper there than anywhere else (heck, ther ISN'T anywhere else except the high $$$ range, and that's 15 miles!).

Once, I got quite impatient, as I was trying to get to the range before it was near closing. After waiting and looking around the sporting goods department for some help, I noticed that there was a telephone near the cash register on the counter.

I picked up the phone, pressed the "PAGE" button, and spoke loudly over the public address system, "HEY!!! Does anybody work in Sporting Goods?!?! I'm trying to buy something here!!!!"

Help arrived within thirty seconds. The employee sold me my ammo (about ten boxes in various calibers) and never said ANYTHING about me calling over the PA.

Unfortuanately, that's what it seems to take at WalMart.

 

[Rabid Rabbit]

You guys have the wrong attitude about the "walk of shame" I've always looked at it as my own personal gun bearer. Thats right I have a manager carrying my stuff for me while the serfs have to push carts around. Tis good to be the king.

 

[LadySmith]

You guys have the wrong attitude about the "walk of shame" I've always looked at it as my own personal gun bearer. Thats right I have a manager carrying my stuff for me while the serfs have to push carts around. Tis good to be the king.

Now that is a unique perspective.

 

[HankB]

Once I had completed the "walk of shame" with the manager (a morbidly obese lady with a really bad perm)

Something similar happened to a buddy of mine . . . local store had a policy of not just escorting you to the door, but taking it out to your car.

Guy decided to have some fun, and "forgot" where his car was . . . ended up walking the manager all over the parking lot.

picked up the phone, pressed the "PAGE" button, and spoke loudly over the public address system, "HEY!!! Does anybody work in Sporting Goods?!?! I'm trying to buy something here!!!!"

Awesome - and here I thought I was the only guy who ever did something like that! (Though it wasn't for sporting goods that time.)

 

[Zach S]

I picked up the phone, pressed the "PAGE" button, and spoke loudly over the public address system, "HEY!!! Does anybody work in Sporting Goods?!?! I'm trying to buy something here!!!!"

lol, I was in home depot a few years ago and heard "Customer needs some ****ing assistance in the paint(?) department!" over the PA one day.

 

[TX1911fan]

I had a guy at Oshman's tell me it was Federal law that he had to carry my 9mm ammo to the front for me. Of course, they have stacks of shotgun ammo all over the floor, but pistol or rifle ammo has to get carried. I guess all the other sporting goods stores that let me carry my own are breaking federal law. Poor suckers.

 

[#shooter]

Taurus 66

he has a .22 and he really likes the .22 round because it will do something no other bullet is capable of - it can strike a man in the toe, travel up the leg, through the pelvis, continue up the spine into the skull, scramble the brain, then exit the the top of the skull.

I'm jealous. All mine do is poke holes in paper.

 

[Roadwild17]

I just the Ruston Wally World is modle store. The guy and me were BSing while the GF was doing her shoping. The guy showes me "the books" of stuff they can order, it kinda gave me hope. They could order almost any long gun in production. Berreta eXtrma,, no porblem. They even could order 18" barrels and =2 mag extensions for the 870s. They could order a huge selection of knives from boker, kersha, buck, gerber, and a few others. Yes Boker at wally world .

It's nice to be living in the South.

 

[armoredman]

OTOH, my workplace is a whole different world. There is this kid (part time help since school's out) who once told me he has a .22 and he really likes the .22 round because it will do something no other bullet is capable of - it can strike a man in the toe, travel up the leg, through the pelvis, continue up the spine into the skull, scramble the brain, then exit the the top of the skull.

Wow ... That .22 LR must've been moving with a MV of, oh, 5,000 fps, err sumthin'. That sure is a lot of flesh and bone to be drillin' thru. The kid strikes me as a little odd anyways.

That's that new caliber, 22 DR...22 Death Ray.