This week in Walmart.
Walmart’s one of the world’s most popular, omnipresent, and trafficked globally recognized brick-and-mortar retailers. The Arkansas-based chain has managed to lure customers into its stores for decades with its low prices and wide variety of items, while also pushing towards developing its online sales division.
And because there are so many folks working and walking through Walmart each and every day, there are inevitably going to be more than a few social media posts about what it’s like working for and shopping at the retail giant. So it’s no surprise that there are a number of Walmart-central TikToks that go viral each week: Here are some of the more popular ones.
The milk man
A Walmart dairy section worker launched a conversation on what folks thought the easiest jobs in the store were and for him the answer was simple: Chilling in the back of the refrigerator and placing milk on the shelves.
He appears to joke about spending “all day” in this back area, using his entire shift by taking his sweet time to ensure that there are enough gallons for folks to grab during the day. Other commenters said that they too loved working in dairy at their respective grocery stores, as they got to spend their day in air conditioning while using their phone.
Walmart’s selling data?
Software engineer, student, and TikTok user @stoic_liberty shared a nifty little trick that he says allows folks to find out whether or not Walmart has sold their information.
The methodology is pretty simple and could theoretically work for any store: In his video he tells users that when they hand over their email address to sign up for Walmart’s services, all they have to do is put Walmart as their middle name. So if your name is Victor Schnabel, you’re telling Walmart your name is Victor Walmart Schnabel. Then, when you start getting emails addressed to Victor Walmart Schnabel, you’ll know who sold your data, and then what you do with that data is up to you. The TikToker suggests going after the company for some money, as you’ve never used that name anywhere else.
In-store shoppers > everyone else
A TikToker claims that the best hourly job to get in Walmart is an in-store personal shopper position, which has employees basically push a cart around and fulfill online-placed orders for customers.
He states that folks can nab themselves around $21/hr for these positions, but warns folks that if they do sign up for the job, they may initially be asked to work as a cashier first. His hack for not being placed there? Letting the hiring manager know from the get-go that you don’t want to be placed there (which he says worked for him, he also called cashier work a “brain-dead” job.)
Another little trick he said is to become friendly with a Walmart employee who is rocking a yellow tag on their vest, which indicates they’re a personal shopper. Other commenters confirmed that the work not only pays well, but it’s “easy” to boot.
Shifts removed out of the blue
Temporary Walmart employee and Reddit user @TheUnknownRangler woke up one morning and saw that all of their shifts were removed, prompting them to wonder just what the heck was going on. They asked fellow users on the social media site if this was a precursor to getting fired, which they found odd because they had never missed a shift, never had a write-up, and that they never came into work late.
Turns out that they were fired, but weren’t given an in-person meeting to discuss their termination. Commenters expressed how impersonal they felt the firing process was, and the New York Times previously covered some wage scandals when it came to the chain’s treatment of temporary workers.
Bathroom = break
One Walmart employee said that their manager wouldn’t let them take a break because they spent 15 minutes in the bathroom. It’s not like they were dilly-dallying and playing games on their phone while sitting on the can, either. The Walmart worker, in their viral TikTok, says that they originally went to use one restroom during their 9-hour shift but had to leave because it was full of people and didn’t have any toilet paper.
So they walked to the other bathroom at the back of the store and were told afterward by their team lead that because they took so long, they wouldn’t be getting their 15 minute break. Other redditors on the platform thought this was a grimy thing to do, with some suggesting that their supervisor violated OSHA regulations.
Petty with the time clock
Another r/walmart subreddit featured a shockingly pedantic manager sign posted for Walmart employees at an unnamed location which shows a supervisor’s note to employees urging them to clock out a few minutes early from some of their next shifts due to the fact that they stayed longer than their previous 5-hour blocks.
Many users on the platform were stunned at how cheap management was being: As the sign indicated some of the employees were being asked to clock out as little as 5 minutes early. Perhaps the stringent attention to hourly workers’ times could be part of the brand’s push to boosting its online sales?
