17-year-old Walmart employee quits over store intercom: 'Nobody should work here, ever'

[TecmoSuperJoe]

Video is hilarious. Especially with the cheers from customers at the end. I just thought this was funny, since I used to work in retail from age 17 to my mid 20's. Simply put, it was pure doo doo. For me, I just felt like there was zero self gratification in the work, it's a path to nowhere, and having to pretend to be nice to people/act subservient was exhausting. Thank goodness I got out. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/12/13/nobody-should-work-here-ever-teen-uses-intercom-quit-walmart/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.04b9c3abf9ae

[BayRaider]

I’m thankful I never had to work in retail. I had a best buy interview when I was 16 in high school for a part time gig (29 now) and luckily they never called me back. Sometimes not getting something is a blessing in disguise. I’ve heard nothing but nightmares about working for retail stores. I mean, can’t be worse than fast food I guess, but still pretty bad.

[titansNvolsR#1]

Friend of mine worked at a Wal-Mart in high school. They paid for his business degree at the university he got into. Now he's a store manager making absurd amounts of money.

[Dome]

5 minutes ago, titansNvolsR#1 said:

Friend of mine worked at a Wal-Mart in high school. They paid for his business degree at the university he got into. Now he's a store manager making absurd amounts of money.

Same.

I have a friend who has worked at walmart for over a decade. He's a manager there (not store manager, but department). Ended up transferring to an Idaho store and they matched his wage from the first store even though the cost of living is WAAAAY cheaper in Idaho. Now he's really doing really well. 

 

[MrDrew]

Retail sucks, even more so at this time of year. Major retailers are even worse because people shopping are horrible. 

Managemnet makes all the difference at a place like that. If the people in charge are the types that think they can use people to get ahead, it’s going to be a horrible experience. If you have the people that are grateful for the work others  are putting in so that their bonus is higher, it’s still not going to be a good experience, but at least it will be better. 

[MacReady]

That kid is a moron.  Great way to set yourself up for future jobs and careers by blaming everybody for your own shortcomings.  I worked in retail for a few years.  Yeah, it sucked, but I worked hard and left on good standing from every job I've ever had and it led to me getting jobs I was not qualified to get based on my references and my work history, etc. 

It's pretty clear the kid wasn't a good worker.  You don't call someone a waste of time if they're not a waste of time, you don't get written up for nothing, and you're not loyal if you leave by telling your company to eff itself.  Loyal.  Lol.  He was loyal in so much as he needed the money and kept going back for that paycheck. 

I can't stand that type of employee.  Blames everyone else for their own eff ups and never takes accountability.  I could rant about that type of employee forever, but bottom line is that anybody who gets on a Walmart intercom and quits like that isn't the type of person anybody is sad to lose, and they probably wanted him to quit to avoid firing him with all that comes from firing someone. 

I hope his next job is at McDonald's. 

[eagles101]

8 minutes ago, Outpost31 said:

That kid is a moron.  Great way to set yourself up for future jobs and careers by blaming everybody for your own shortcomings.  I worked in retail for a few years.  Yeah, it sucked, but I worked hard and left on good standing from every job I've ever had and it led to me getting jobs I was not qualified to get based on my references and my work history, etc. 

It's pretty clear the kid wasn't a good worker.  You don't call someone a waste of time if they're not a waste of time, you don't get written up for nothing, and you're not loyal if you leave by telling your company to eff itself.  Loyal.  Lol.  He was loyal in so much as he needed the money and kept going back for that paycheck. 

I can't stand that type of employee.  Blames everyone else for their own eff ups and never takes accountability.  I could rant about that type of employee forever, but bottom line is that anybody who gets on a Walmart intercom and quits like that isn't the type of person anybody is sad to lose, and they probably wanted him to quit to avoid firing him with all that comes from firing someone. 

I hope his next job is at McDonald's. 

General problem with these situations. People generally take one side or the other. Either retail sucks and people like this are heroes because they fight the power or the person is a chump that deserves chump things. 

 

Honestly we have no idea what really happens is happening. Ive worked a bunch of jobs and its really hard to tell when someone is a whiney brat or they work for jerks. 

You clearly hve blinders on. People get written up all the time and yelled at all the time for bo reason. To assume that someone wouldnt get written up for nothing is beyond ignorant. I worked at a restaurant that wrote up an employee for not doing working off the clock. Ive seen managers yell at employees for being useless POS because they were bad at a job they never werent trained to do. 

Ive seen plenty of employees that whine and moan and have quit like a jerk when they sucked but to instantly take management side shows intentional ignorance to the fact that some places have terrible managers. 

[MacReady]

Just now, eagles101 said:

Ive seen plenty of employees that whine and moan and have quit like a jerk when they sucked but to instantly take management side shows intentional ignorance to the fact that some places have terrible managers. 

I'm not taking management's side.  I was in retail working at 4 o'clock in the morning Mondays-Fridays at Home Depot and I got written up for not attending a store meeting scheduled at 10 PM on Sunday night (after the store closed).  I told them beforehand, they accepted it, told me okay and wrote me up for it because it was store policy that anyone who wouldn't come in for the store meeting would get written up for it.  I told them it was BS, they agreed, but I still got written up for a reason.  Did I get on the intercom and quit?  Nope. 

I got scheduled for mornings, nights, mornings, nights at Home Depot because they kept having their freight team members quit and couldn't get anybody.  I was treated like **** due to their inability to hire people and get their own **** sorted. 

I was the best operations worker at two different Home Depots.  Never had a single random call out the day of, wasn't late once over 4 years, switched schedules between three different departments, had to work 16 hour shifts, all of it.  Didn't get nearly the credit I deserved, got written up for not showing up when I said I wouldn't show up, I could go on and on.

The bottom line was that it was incumbent upon ME to either find something somewhere that treated me better or get out.  Once I'd had enough, once they'd finally broken my spirit, I put in my two weeks notice, thanked them for the opportunity and went on to different and better things and got a job I was wildly unqualified for and was told in the interview process that my former bosses had spoken glowingly of me.  You think I get that recommendation if I stormed out and blamed them and called them a whole host of bad names?  Nope. 

There are two sides to every story, yes.  True.  You think management is going to call someone a waste of time if they don't have a valid reason for it?  You think they're going to call a hard-working kid who is eager to learn and who comes in with a positive attitude each day, shows up on time, doesn't call out... You think that kid gets called a waste of time by anybody?  Even an especially ****y boss?  Sorry, but it doesn't happen.  If all of management seemed to be against the kid...

It's like these people my sister gets involved with.  She got involved with this guy who has three brothers, two sisters... Not a single one of his brothers will speak to him.  Not a single one of his sisters will speak to him.  His 18-year-old son has stopped speaking to him.  The man's own mother stops speaking to him.  I bring this up and my sister assures me it's because they're all ***holes.  I'm like... What's more likely?  If 6 people are pointing their finger at one person and one person is pointing their finger at 6 people, which side is the most likely to be right? 

I'm not defending retail here, I hate retail.  Retail sucks, it is a soulless, heartless, joyless place that kills spirits and cripples souls and I wouldn't wish a life in retail on anyone.  Fact remains... If you're  working there, it's because you're not doing what it takes to get out of it because you are lazy and unmotivated. 

To quit like that shows a lack of accountability.  If (GIGANTIC IF CONSIDERING WHAT HE DID) the kid really was written up for no reason, if he was actually not a waste of time, if he was actually a good employee, he could just as easily have put in his two weeks notice, left on good terms and set himself up for some solid references from people he worked with. 

Now?  How do you think management at Walmart is going to respond if potential employers call them to ask about the kid? 

Quote

You clearly hve blinders on. People get written up all the time and yelled at all the time for bo reason. To assume that someone wouldnt get written up for nothing is beyond ignorant. I worked at a restaurant that wrote up an employee for not doing working off the clock. Ive seen managers yell at employees for being useless POS because they were bad at a job they never werent trained to do. 

I'd like to see the paperwork involved in that not working off the clock write up.  If that happened just like that, I'd like to know which employee didn't take that to some kind of somebody.  A hotel I worked at in North Carolina tried automatically taking half an hour out of employee checks regardless of whether or not they took a lunch.  All it took was one person to bring it to the attention of the appropriate parties and the hotel had to back pay every single worker who worked there that 30 minutes back regardless of whether or not they actually took the lunch break. 

There are appropriate actions for every situation.  If you're being unfairly treated, you can definitely leave and look for something else.  What if I told you you could do that without burning bridges in life and being immature enough to get on an intercom and swear like a petulant little child and quit? 

Life isn't fair and you can either respond in mature, appropriate ways or you can place all the blame on external factors and act like things will be given to you without working for them. 

[eagles101]

33 minutes ago, Outpost31 said:

I'm not taking management's side.  I was in retail working at 4 o'clock in the morning Mondays-Fridays at Home Depot and I got written up for not attending a store meeting scheduled at 10 PM on Sunday night (after the store closed).  I told them beforehand, they accepted it, told me okay and wrote me up for it because it was store policy that anyone who wouldn't come in for the store meeting would get written up for it.  I told them it was BS, they agreed, but I still got written up for a reason.  Did I get on the intercom and quit?  Nope. 

I got scheduled for mornings, nights, mornings, nights at Home Depot because they kept having their freight team members quit and couldn't get anybody.  I was treated like **** due to their inability to hire people and get their own **** sorted. 

I was the best operations worker at two different Home Depots.  Never had a single random call out the day of, wasn't late once over 4 years, switched schedules between three different departments, had to work 16 hour shifts, all of it.  Didn't get nearly the credit I deserved, got written up for not showing up when I said I wouldn't show up, I could go on and on.

The bottom line was that it was incumbent upon ME to either find something somewhere that treated me better or get out.  Once I'd had enough, once they'd finally broken my spirit, I put in my two weeks notice, thanked them for the opportunity and went on to different and better things and got a job I was wildly unqualified for and was told in the interview process that my former bosses had spoken glowingly of me.  You think I get that recommendation if I stormed out and blamed them and called them a whole host of bad names?  Nope. 

There are two sides to every story, yes.  True.  You think management is going to call someone a waste of time if they don't have a valid reason for it?  You think they're going to call a hard-working kid who is eager to learn and who comes in with a positive attitude each day, shows up on time, doesn't call out... You think that kid gets called a waste of time by anybody?  Even an especially ****y boss?  Sorry, but it doesn't happen.  If all of management seemed to be against the kid...

It's like these people my sister gets involved with.  She got involved with this guy who has three brothers, two sisters... Not a single one of his brothers will speak to him.  Not a single one of his sisters will speak to him.  His 18-year-old son has stopped speaking to him.  The man's own mother stops speaking to him.  I bring this up and my sister assures me it's because they're all ***holes.  I'm like... What's more likely?  If 6 people are pointing their finger at one person and one person is pointing their finger at 6 people, which side is the most likely to be right? 

I'm not defending retail here, I hate retail.  Retail sucks, it is a soulless, heartless, joyless place that kills spirits and cripples souls and I wouldn't wish a life in retail on anyone.  Fact remains... If you're  working there, it's because you're not doing what it takes to get out of it because you are lazy and unmotivated. 

To quit like that shows a lack of accountability.  If (GIGANTIC IF CONSIDERING WHAT HE DID) the kid really was written up for no reason, if he was actually not a waste of time, if he was actually a good employee, he could just as easily have put in his two weeks notice, left on good terms and set himself up for some solid references from people he worked with. 

Now?  How do you think management at Walmart is going to respond if potential employers call them to ask about the kid? 

I'd like to see the paperwork involved in that not working off the clock write up.  If that happened just like that, I'd like to know which employee didn't take that to some kind of somebody.  A hotel I worked at in North Carolina tried automatically taking half an hour out of employee checks regardless of whether or not they took a lunch.  All it took was one person to bring it to the attention of the appropriate parties and the hotel had to back pay every single worker who worked there that 30 minutes back regardless of whether or not they actually took the lunch break. 

There are appropriate actions for every situation.  If you're being unfairly treated, you can definitely leave and look for something else.  What if I told you you could do that without burning bridges in life and being immature enough to get on an intercom and swear like a petulant little child and quit? 

Life isn't fair and you can either respond in mature, appropriate ways or you can place all the blame on external factors and act like things will be given to you without working for them. 

This is the strawman of all strawmen. I directly talked about how you refused to accept that he could have been written up and told he was useless if there wasnt a valid reason. Which there is no valid reason. 

I completely understand that this is not the way to go about things if you want to have this sparkly resume and good recommendation. I never doubted that. My only concerns with what you said was the automatically doubting he ever got written up for no reason or was told he was useless for not reason, so i will re address those and ignore the rest since it’s irrelevant.

the write up for not working off the clock was training. Mandatory certification training. The training was in house specific training. (So not like getting liquor license training) legally, at least here, you cant force people to get that training without being paid. The write up was for failing to get the training, which she didnt get because they refused to pay her. She could have gone to a lawyer or called a governent agency but thats a lot of hassle for a job that has terrible managers so she just quit. 

At the same place there was a guy who could. Not. Be. More. Positive. The giy got treated like dog crap. Just berated the poor guy. Then would bash him to other employees, specifically me since i was the head cook. They called him useless also. He wasnt trained property and when they worked with him instead of helping they said he just in the way and a waste of their time. When he worked with me he was defent enough. He didnt break records but was fully capable of learning and going at a reasonable speed. 

Technically i would said your right. No manager would call someone useles without a reason, but someone times the reason is that the manager POS. I dont this guys situation so i dont know if he was just some idiot who had his head so far up his own butt that he couldnt tell he was the problem or if the managers were garbage, but im not going around making assumptions either. 

[ninjapirate]

I worked retail for a few years its the worst. I cant stand christmas music anymore.

[Mega Ron]

You can make the best of things when you work for a place like Walmart.

However, you can be damn sure that at every level that kind of firm will be looking to take advantage of their staff members.

Plenty of people aren't able to look out for themselves they way some of us are and they will be used and abused.

[Whicker]

I'm with Outpost on this one. I'm pretty bothered by what this kid did.

I've worked more than my fair share of retail jobs over the years, and I spent over 2 years at Wal-Mart. I haven't had any "real" jobs, but my Wal-Mart job was easily the best job I've had in my life. I was hired as a cashier and two days into my training program, the personnel manager pulled me aside, told me she was impressed with how quickly I was picking things up, and said she flagged me as promote-able. Not even six months later I was being trained as a Front End Supervisor and received the full time position probably two months later. I was paid very well (for a college job), had maximum job security, a lot of autonomy in my daily work, and I had plenty of opportunities for advancement. By the time I left to pursue my career, I had already received questions about going through their Manager Academy Program and potentially moving up to Assistant or Store Manager. Also, even though I haven't worked there in years, I know that if I ever need to, my former store manager will make a place for me. I am actually the opposite of this kid. I think people should get their degree and then go work at Wal-Mart for a year. You'll learn quite a bit about the world around you.

I know my experience was probably unique, but I feel like a lot of the negatives of retail jobs are exaggerated. I very strongly disagree with it being a path to nowhere as I very well could have made a strong career out of it. I guess maybe there was "zero gratification" of it in the sense that I wasn't saving lives or shaping youth, but I have several memories of people telling me that I made their day better by helping them. I still have people, who are still regulars at this store, who will say hello to me and tell me they still wished I worked there. It's more gratification than my current career as a poker player without a doubt. I even think the idea of being friendly and subservient is overblown. I took hundreds of jabs at rude customers while I was there and was often supported by upper management while doing so. I can't remember a time where I had a complaint about an associate and I felt the associate was clearly at fault. People are generally friendly to others just as a general rule, and I knew my cashiers. I knew none of them were just going to show up rude just because they felt like it.

[Dome]

4 minutes ago, Whicker said:

I'm with Outpost on this one. I'm pretty bothered by what this kid did.

I've worked more than my fair share of retail jobs over the years, and I spent over 2 years at Wal-Mart. I haven't had any "real" jobs, but my Wal-Mart job was easily the best job I've had in my life. I was hired as a cashier and two days into my training program, the personnel manager pulled me aside, told me she was impressed with how quickly I was picking things up, and said she flagged me as promote-able. Not even six months later I was being trained as a Front End Supervisor and received the full time position probably two months later. I was paid very well (for a college job), had maximum job security, a lot of autonomy in my daily work, and I had plenty of opportunities for advancement. By the time I left to pursue my career, I had already received questions about going through their Manager Academy Program and potentially moving up to Assistant or Store Manager. Also, even though I haven't worked there in years, I know that if I ever need to, my former store manager will make a place for me. I am actually the opposite of this kid. I think people should get their degree and then go work at Wal-Mart for a year. You'll learn quite a bit about the world around you.

I know my experience was probably unique, but I feel like a lot of the negatives of retail jobs are exaggerated. I very strongly disagree with it being a path to nowhere as I very well could have made a strong career out of it. I guess maybe there was "zero gratification" of it in the sense that I wasn't saving lives or shaping youth, but I have several memories of people telling me that I made their day better by helping them. I still have people, who are still regulars at this store, who will say hello to me and tell me they still wished I worked there. It's more gratification than my current career as a poker player without a doubt. I even think the idea of being friendly and subservient is overblown. I took hundreds of jabs at rude customers while I was there and was often supported by upper management while doing so. I can't remember a time where I had a complaint about an associate and I felt the associate was clearly at fault. People are generally friendly to others just as a general rule, and I knew my cashiers. I knew none of them were just going to show up rude just because they felt like it.

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

I’m guessing Wal-Mart wasn’t begging them to work there, they applied and likely wanted the job. 

It’s at-will employment.  If you don’t like it, find a better gig.  Can’t find a better gig?  Maybe be a bit more appreciative for the one you have?

Worst part imo was the language.  Now I personally curse like a sailor, so it’s not as if I’m being a prude, but I don’t get on intercoms and do so when kids and others who may not appreciate it will hear it. 

[Sugashane]

Wife worked in the Health and Beauty section and loved working there, then got promoted up into the Pharmacy and despised it due to the garbage pharmacists and how they allowed constant verbal abuse from customers.  Each place is different, especially the people you work for and with, but while I laughed the kid definitely didn't handle this well.