Doug Kanter wrote:

"Dave Hall" wrote in message
...
Doug Kanter wrote:

"Dave Hall" wrote in message
...


A real store would've moved those women out of the line, and perhaps
even
called the police. Not WM, though. As far as they're concerned,
their
customers' time is worthless.


You can't put the blame on that type of behavior squarely on the
shoulders of Wal-Mart exclusively. Many other department stores work
in
the same way. Any time you have a store which attracts a clientele
which
is not "bloomingdales" quality, you employ people at or near minimum
wage, and do not offer line managers any incentive to do any more than
babysit the employees, you will get this sort of situation. I've been
in
similar situations (I always end up picking the worst line) in grocery
stores as well as department stores.

Dave



I have, too. In the "other" store I shop at, the cashier's blinking
light
would've gone on and a manager or security person would've been there in
30
seconds. Not Wal Mart, though.

Again, it's probably a local thing, and not something endemic to the
Walmart business plan.



Something else interesting about the WM near me: You know how you hear a
gentle beep from some cash registers each time an item is dragged across
the
scanner? At WM, they've connected that to the public address system at
the
front. Unbelievably loud and annoying. WTF? This is supposed to make the
place sound interesting?

What? You've got to be kidding. That would drive me nuts if I had to
listen to that for hours on end....

Dave



I kid you not. At first, I wondered if my 50 year old hearing had begun to
lose some of its directional sensitivity. But, last time I was at WM, my 14
yr old son & two friends were with me. They focused on the sources and sure
enough, it was coming from the PA system. You know the 120 decibel French
fry timers at McDonalds? Lower the level a bit, but multiply by however many
registers are beeping.


That's nuts! What possible legitimate use could that possibly have?

25 years ago, when I worked at a factory, they had tone paging over the
PA. When you worked second shift, and it was quiet, you really started
noticing those annoying beep-beep-beeps every few minutes. One night the
maintenance crew left a lift in our area. Needless to say, we climbed up
there and cut the wires to the speaker, so that we could open the
connection at night, and then reconnect it again for the day shift.

I know how annoying those sounds can be. I can't imagine having to hear
that at close range for any length of time.

Dave