Becoming A WalMart Greeter
I'm a WalMart shopper. There is such a stigma about loving WalMart, but I really do enjoy the everyday low prices. I can assure you that I have never gone to WalMart in my pajamas. I can tell you one thing though, I've always loved the greetings I got when I walked through their doors. The greetings at WalMart made me feel welcomed, so much so that as a goal after retirement, I had always aspired to be a WalMart Greeter.
So several years into my retirement, I moved to the Central Valley, where in my hometown there is a Super WalMart. Along with wanting to be a WalMart Greeter, I wanted to earn some extra cash so I could buy me a She Shed. Remember that phase? So one day, I decided to apply on line. Because of my extensive work experience, I got a call back for an interview. During the interview process, I was hired on the spot. The manager asked when I could start and I said as soon as tomorrow. I believe he started me the following Monday. I was hired as a cashier, because you need to be a cashier first to then become a Greeter once you learn some WalMart skills.
Oh my goodness, the process of learning the duties of a WalMart Cashier job is very intense. I had never really had to train so hard for a job as I did to work at WalMart. My Business Administration job training just grew after I promoted from a vocational business college and then became a very lucrative career path for me. When I worked as a Human Resources Manager for a school district, I learned through my job just how hard classified staff employees worked. I felt when I joined the WalMart team, I had become a classified employee. Working for WalMart was one of the hardest jobs I had ever had. Originally I started out as part time, but then they hired me on as a full time employee.
For the most part, I was very well liked by my peers and the customers. I really learned how to pack groceries properly and the customers were very kind in letting me know what I great job I did. All this while using the price scanner and collecting all forms of payments. When I worked only four hours a day, my body could handle the work. When I took on full time, that was a whole new exercise regime. I used to wear a Fitbit back then and I would put in 26,000 steps in an 8 hour shift. I started working at WalMart at the age of 58 through 59 years old. I worked for them for a total of eight months.
Once I mastered the cashiering position, then came the responsibility of watching self check out. If I wasn't assisting customers, I just didn't like to stand around. I would do as much organizing as I could possibly do in my areas and then if I was standing just monitoring customers, I was doing steps. I loved the regular customers who would recognize me and treat me kindly. However, there were some customers who could really try to make your day as miserable as their's was going. I am 5" .5" tall and at that time working for them probably weighed a solid 150lbs. give or take a few. There were 6' men who would be buying heavy items and for the most part, most were gentlemen and would assist me with lifting. I had a few though that got a kick out of watching me lift their heavy items in and out of their carts to find the bar codes and scan. Also most female customers were generally very kind to me as I treated all customers with kindness. But again, there were a few ladies that for some reason felt the need to be condescending to me and throw their money at me. Believe me, my ego took a hit on those ladies as I was used to being in a position of authority for most of my career with the school district. But because I worked for WalMart, I kept my pleasant demeanor the whole time. I guess management took note of my friendly attitude and decided to finally offer the opportunity to work the door as a WALMART GREETER!!!
Being a WalMart Greeter was such a pleasure. Understand this was way before the Covid stuff, so customers who saw me would hug me or shake my hand. Friends from church would come in and I'd get hugs from them. I always had stickers that I bought to hand out to the children as they were leaving. I always gave my big smile and said "Welcome to WalMart!" or "Come Back Again Soon!!" Depending on the holiday or season, I'd include the seasonal holiday greeting. I also had to random check a couple items out of their cart to their receipts. There were a few people who didn't like that part, so would push their cart into me and walk out. I'd smile and tell them to have a great day!! There were different doors where they would stand you. The Garden Department was always slow, so along with organizing displays, etc., I would do steps to the music.
When I took the full time position with WalMart, it cut into my church time. There were several Sunday's I had to miss because they depended on me to work. I remember it had been quite awhile since I had attended church and I saw my Pastor. Talk about Holy Spirit conviction!! As I hugged him (and shed tears), I told him how much I missed church and really needed to get back there.
But God had bigger plans for me. The long hours and standing eight hours took a toll on my body. I believe that is where I really aggravated my full body arthritis. Well one day as I was working the self check out lines. I started seeing lights flashing in the middle of both my eyes. I knew that meant I was having a silent migraine and would be going blind in my peripheral vision for about 20 minutes. I told one of the employees to please go get a manager so they could monitor my area while I had an episode. I hadn't had an episode like I did that day for years. So, I went home after that as I then became dizzy and nauseated. The next day I went to my doctor and he said that the WalMart job was too much for my body. I had depleted some of my electrolytes and had some nutritional issues going on. I had also caused a flare up in my chronic illnesses. So, the next day, I had to resign my position.
This was a hard reality for me as I had made so many wonderful friends at WalMart. Some of those employees shared in their love of Christ with me. I had gotten to know several of the employees and the management team there had afforded me such wonderful opportunities. At one point I tried to get into a supervisory role, but after only a couple months, I asked to be returned to the door and cashier positions. I worked in the jewelry and shoe departments when they still had one -- I learned how to pierce people's ears!! Oh the trust of the WalMart customer. It was such a joy to work for WalMart. Of course, my favorite job was that WalMart Greeter job!!
Note: I was able to purchase my She Shed, which was really a nice sized storage unit for me to place my art and art supplies. I found out that in Central California, the weather was either too hot or too cold during some months and it would have been impossible to work in extreme weather conditions without electricity to keep it either warm or cool in the shed.
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