FRUSTRATION
Mass Confusion While Shopping at Walmart
Even smoothly working computers can be sabotaged by a sadistic architect and Dilbert management
The Ruby Sliders TV commercial showed how much better their new product worked over other products when moving furniture and chairs across the floor. Our current sliders glue to the bottom of the feet. Those sliders don’t stay put! They move, come off, and deposit glue onto the floor.
We decided to try the Ruby Sliders.
Expectation
A Google search showed that the local Walmart had them in stock on isle z21. That sounded simple enough. Walmart’s location system uses a logical grid much like a warehouse. So, I expected to go to Walmart, get the sliders at z21, and leave in not more than 5 minutes.
The grid system works great Unless you are looking for section “z”
Reality
The grid system in that store starts with the letter “A” on the right, increasing to the left. The numbers go from 1 on up from front to back. I expected to walk to “z” on the right side of the store but came to “G” instead.
I did find a section devoted to furniture sliders, but the one advertised wasn’t there.
Random Workers
So, I asked stockers in the area where the item was or where z21 is. Finally, someone pointed out that the “z” was located at the cash registers.
They weren’t in sequence: z14, z18, z19, z2. I could not find z21, so I went to customer service to see the store map. Surely they knew where z21 was.
Customer Service
They did not have a store map. So, I asked the poor girl to look up the item on Walmart’s website. Maybe I had the wrong location.
She had no access to the Walmart website on her screen. Walmart’s Dilbert managers prevent access so they can’t play games during work. So, she tried her personal cell phone but couldn’t find Walmart’s page with that item.
They were no help.
As a side note, Dilbert managers are not limited to Walmart or engineering. My wife worked in breast cancer research. Her hospital prevented her NIH (National Institute of Health) search for other breast cancer studies and research papers. They blocked the term “breast” assuming people were searching for porn.
Finally
One of the cashiers found z21. It was not on a pole or end of a shelf. At one checkout station, the label on the shelf below the candy had its location as z21.
There were no sliders in that checkout lane. Maybe they were in a large box in front of the aisle at one time, but there were none now.
Conclusion
After one hour of searching, I finally left. When I got home, I ordered a package of 8 from Amazon. They were shipped that afternoon. Amazon had a package of 48, but they were out of stock. Those must be very popular, or the TV ad was very effective.
The next morning, the Walmart website showed that my store was out of stock.
Note: Ordered from Amazon on Tuesday, arrived on Friday.
References
- Supposed to solve problems presented by glue-on sliders
- A Dilbert manager is completely clueless