Conversations with Retail Sales: Dooming Walmart

I went to the Body Shop yesterday as I was out of moisturizer and my skin is flaking already from the cold. Do you know that when I was in Atlanta I had oily skin? Now I need moisturizer. Aggggghhhh. Dammit WINTER.

Oh well. While in the store the sales assistant and I started talking about the after Thanksgiving shopping hell and the internet. More people could shop the internet as opposed to risking their neck or someone's to buy Aunt Essie a scarf. Or maybe shop at local boutiques.

This might seem odd for the sales lady to be saying because the store I was in was at the mall. Hey, retail people are human too. The retail consumers are the ones that are not human. You try working retail. Try working retail during a holiday. Trust me. Working retail and becoming disgusted with the general consumer was enough for me to vow to never again work in a job where I had to deal with Joe Shmoe at the ripe old age of twenty one. If I did I knew I would hate the world at large if I continued to deal with people wearing their worst face; the consumer.

The conversation changed and the sales lady mentioned Wal-Mart. She tried really hard, honest she did, not to make a face. She just couldn't pull it off. I told her not to worry. I hate Wal-Mart. I refuse to shop there.

I have many friends that refuse to shop at Wal-Mart. My friends have very good social - political reasons for not going in that store. I agree with their reasons. You probably know these reasons. I'll not reiterate. If you don't know, then check out: http://www.1worldcommunication.org/Walmart.htm or my favorite http://www.intellectualpoison.com/WalMartisPureEvil.html .
Then watch http://www.walmartmovie.com/ .

All these reasons are sound and are cause to choose carefully where you shop. However, my reasons not shop at Wal-Mart are aesthetic. The stores are dirty, not well lighted, and completely disorganized. Nothing is intuitive about shopping in Wal-Mart. You will never be able to find anything in this store. (If you can find stuff in there, you've shopped there too much.) There is a science to laying out a store. Wal-Mart chose a layout that is conducive to Wal-Mart not the consumer.

That's my point really; the reason I don't shop at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart treats people like consumers not customers. Wal-Mart forgets that one of the tenets of business is customer loyalty, gained by numerous factors that include customer service. Low prices only guarantee loyalty when someone else cannot meet your price. (Now go check out the sites above) Why should I shop at a place that does not care about my business? Exactly, I shouldn't.

Well, the sales associate whom I was speaking with gave me a scary tidbit of news. Wal-Mart is planning to open a bank.

Slapping my hand to my forehead...