Posted on 01/31/2012 5:32:30 AM PST by rawhide
Supermarket chain Walmart is to dispense with the outdoor 'people greeters' who have traditionally welcomed customers outside its stores.
The retailer got rid of its night-shift greeters four months ago, and now intends to move day-shift staff inside its shops.
Known for welcoming shoppers with 'a cart and a smile,' the greeters have been a feature of the chain's customer service since 1980, when the store's founder decided that 'aggressive hospitality' would help set it apart from competitors.
While many staff have expressed fears that their jobs will soon be scrapped, Walmart spokesman David Tovar said, 'they're not going anywhere'.
He said the greeters would be given more responsibility under the indoor move, so that they can 'really focus on customer service,' and interact more with customers.
Jerome Allen, a greeter from Fort Worth in Texas, said he has been allocated a new job standing in 'high traffic' areas of the store, asking customers if they need any assistance, and directing the flow of traffic.
He said his hours have been cut, and that he fears he will soon be made redundant.
Mr Tovar said the decision was a way to to rein in costs and prices.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Are you serious? Where do you live..Tehran? Each and every greeter I've ever met at Walmart has been polite.
Oh Crap!! I gotta rework my retirement plans again.
Must be a regional thing. I’ve never seen an outdoor greeter at a Walmart in my life. Inside sure, but outdoors? Nope.
I've never been in a Walmart that checked receipts. We do the vast majority of our shopping at BJ's and Costco. Out of habit, my wife and I will both go to hand the Walmart greeter our receipt, only to be met with a friendly wink and a smile that indicates "wrong store, stupid!"
I'm with you. Target is my preferred choice. Much hay is made on FR because Target "doesn't allow the Salvation Army bellringers at Christmas", when the reality is that they don't allow anyone, anytime.
Frankly, I like it. I can donate to SA (or whichever charity) whenever I want by writing a check, and I don't need to get panhandled by everyone's pet cause everytime I go in and out of the store.
When my kids were babies - toddlers I was very watchful, but they can be VERY slippery. I always knew that if some kidnapper were to try to snatch them they'd have to get past the greeter at the door, and Target et al didn't have them. I shopped at Walmart EXCLUSIVELY for many years for that reason only.
Does this mean Walter is going to lose his job?
That is great but not enough reason to have over paid employees at the door. How many kids were kidnapped at Target? Walmart? I bet the same answer is zero.
It must be unique to some areas, because I’ve never seen an outside greeter and I shop in WalMarts in Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware.
Why is Walmart a mess, and Target clean? Why are there long lines at Walmart, short ones at Target? And most mysteriously, why are there People of Walmart, but not Target?
There isn’t even much of a price difference anymore.
I could go on with more anecdotes, but it would be a bore. At any rate I won't miss the greeters.
I always thought the “Greeters” performed a more important service for the store itself than “customer service”. The only “visible security” in the whole store (even though not really security employees). Wal-mart may find that they end up losing more money than saving having the doors wide open with no attendants there 24 hours/day - the doors are too far away on both sides of the cashiers for them to monitor the entrances at all.
That is great but not enough reason to have over paid employees at the door. How many kids were kidnapped at Target? Walmart? I bet the same answer is zero.
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Don’t they have a “code red” or something—you alert a clerk that your child is missing and they shut the doors?
That being said, when my son (now 16) was a toddler, he thought it was absolutely hilarious to hide in those round clothes racks. There were times when I was near tears trying to find him. Yeah, good times. LOL!
IMHO - Target and Wal-mart should both have VISIBLE security at their locations. After I was assaulted at a Target store 10 years ago the next time I visited a Target (months later) they had ARMED security guards in the area from that point forth. I have no idea if it was because of what happened to me or not, and I don’t know if it was temporary or a corporate change made for that region. I know that Targets here in Wisconsin doesn’t have armed security. It would have actually HELPED had they been in place the day I got assaulted - not some overweight woman who was barely 5’0” pretending to be “security”. (Not a slam against overweight women - just that if I couldn’t restrain the guy (and I tried my best), there is no way that “security” guard could have done a better job, and she was nowhere to be found until AFTER we all met with the police that day.
As for a “greeter” stopping a kidnapper - it’s not going to happen. ALL employees (except security) are instructed to NEVER, EVER try to stop a criminal. You may get some good people whose instincts outweigh their “orders”, but they are few and far between (and most likely won’t be the 70-year-old woman handing out carts).
Fortunately the “hugger girl” now works the checkout line so we can avoid her.
After I was assaulted at a Target store 10 years ago.
Wow. Sorry to hear that. I read your entire post but that stuck out. I agree with you about being told not to do anything. There have been plenty of articles that prove that.
It’s time for my favorite Walmart Greeter Story.
A new retiree greeter at Wal-Mart just couldn’t seem to get to work on time. Every day he was 5, 10, 15 minutes late. But he was a good worker, real sharp, so the boss was in a quandary about how to deal with it.
Finally, one day he called him into the office for a talk. “Charley, I have to tell you, I like your work ethic, you do a bang up job, but your being late so often is quite bothersome.”
“Yes, I know boss, and I am working on it.”
“Well good, you are a team player. That’s what I like to hear. It’s odd though, your coming in late. I know you’re retired from the Air Force.
What did they say if you came in late there?”
‘They said, “Good morning, General.”
elderly door greeter made people feel that if they stole from Wal-Mart they were stealing from their own grandparents.
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There are enough riff-raff out there who would kill their own grandparents that this premise might not be as effective as once thought.
Most of the greeters here in middle GA are busy looking through you, or talking to another employee or a friend. Anything but greeting you.
Real answer for you - it’s the difference between an open for 24 hours/7 days a week with customers messing stuff up constantly, versus a store that actually closes every night and has staff that aren’t “done” for the night until the store has been cleaned, all returns put away, and all the aisles straightened and faced. That’s the ONLY difference. I guarantee if Target were open 24/7 it would be just as messy (if not more). Where I worked last at KMart (in Denver) we actually had 5-7 women who were literally locked in the store all night to clean, and organize. Many other retail outlets have overnight staff if not all year, sometimes seasonal overnight help (Kohl’s for example).
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