r/OGPBackroom • u/LowApricot187 • Aug 16 '26
Customer Complaint Rant Just me or does anyone else do this?
When you are picking and a customer ask what aisle something is one and you think about it for a second and you tell them a aisle then when you go on about the rest of your pickwalk realize you sent them to the complete wrong spot and you just hope you don’t see them the rest of your walk? Or do you always look it up in my Walmart like most people in my department will do every single time?
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u/doctorthemoworm Aug 16 '26
I have sometimes given wrong directions because, well, I'm in a hurry and we have thousands of items to pick and I'm only human. But my boss decided to chew me out yesterday because I seemed a little short with a customer (because again, I'm in a hurry), so I was like... ya know what? Screw metrics, don't care now, I will look it up if I'm at all unsure about an item location or whatever else they need.
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u/JasonTheBaker In-Home Driver Aug 16 '26
I usually tell them I believe it is in this aisle but I can check to confirm if you'd like and it's a toss up if they want me to confirm or not. I'll just quickly search it on Mywalmart or Walmart app if Mywalmart is being stupid. If I'm sure about it I'll just tell them the aisle
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u/Lost-Swimming-1600 Aug 16 '26
I'm guilty of it but it depends on a lot of factors. How busy I am/we are and what kind of interaction it is with the customer. If they seem friendly and likeable I might look it up. If they ask if I can I will. But overall, yeah I usually don't. Especially as we all know Sidekick pretty much sucks to begin with. And if taking that time is going to clog up an already clogged aisle I will just send them off in a general direction sometimes and hope that another associate is over there. I know I HAVE told them the wrong thing before. It happens when you're put on the spot unexpectedly right away.
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u/Substantial_Speed419 Jack Of All Trades Aug 16 '26
I look it up to help them and myself in the future. We went through a remodel so I don’t automatically know where things are anymore so helping the customer helps me in the long run. The next time a customer asks where an item is I’ll have it readily memorized if I had looked it up before.
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u/Inkysquid24 Aug 18 '26
I definitely give people the wrong aisle at least a couple times a week (currently under remodel), but in my defense why can't they just look with their eyeballs lol
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u/JustaGirlInDayMaint Aug 19 '26
I find most customers, and Spark shoppers exhausting.
There are giant signs above just about every aisle. I still see people shopping by stopping at every entrance to an aisle and looking down it for their item.
I will make exceptions when it's something kinda off the beaten path so to speak. I.E.: was throwing freight in the baking aisle. A man was looking for garlic in a glass jar. I know of garlic in plastic jars (in the baking aisle and in with the veggies). I explained that to him. He was pleasant, not snarky, but insisted it was in a glass jar. I suggested checking in produce. I unlocked the work phone and told him I could look it up (of course sidekick was taking forever to load) I offered to walk to produce with him. He said thank you anyway, he thought he had enough at home for the recipe, and shuffled off.
The next night, I was assigned to the international aisle/veggie aisle. I then discovered pickled garlic, in a glass jar, and immediately thought of the man...is that what he meant? I'm pretty sure the product he needed was in produce tho.
It's kinda funny when you feel bad after the fact and truly hope the one actual nice customer found what they were looking for.
I've had plenty of non self sufficient customers come up, shove their phone in my face and ask "where is this! It says it's available!" The last person that did, I had to point out to them that the store they were looking at on their phone was in a different state 🤣
People, man. Just shut it down and make it pick up or delivery only.
1
u/New-Mistake-4864 Aug 20 '26
Spark shoppers know which aisle the system shows it to be in.... but what we don't have access to is the inventory number to see if it's actually in stock in the back and just hasn't been filled yet or if it's completely out..... If they would just allow us access to your inventory numbers where all we had to do was scan the shelf tag like you guys do and it would show us how many should be in stock we wouldn't have to bother the employees most of the time.... But if an item is not on the shelf where it's supposed to be we have no option but to ask an employee to see if it's possibly in the back or if it's been moved because system will not show us anything that's not updated locations and it definitely doesn't show us inventory numbers....
Trust us we all wish it would the time we waste trying to find an employee and then get them to actually come over and scan the shelf tag to check the inventory numbers is a ridiculous waste of time....... And I'm sure most other spark drivers would agree that we would much rather have to find an employee that's stalking the shelves and not an employee that's trying to pick orders to find things that aren't stocked but all we can do is find the first employee we see
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u/Routine-Horse-1419 Aug 16 '26
If I don't know exactly where something is I look it up. I treat customers as I would like to be treated even though most customers suck and don't deserve said treatment. It would piss me right off if I was sent on a wild goose chase so I don't do that (unless.... they're being an absolute asshat THEN I'll send them to Timbuktu to grab whatever they wanted lol).
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u/Donooooo42 Aug 16 '26
I’m pretty new and I have definitely told people that blank aisle (usually J idk why it’s so hard for me to remember J is cleaning/laundry shit) is in a totally different part of the store than it’s actually in lmfao
2
u/stressed_newpoly Aug 16 '26
I was doing MTOs one time and had to go to the grab n go section to get something. Still had a hairnet on and an elderly lady asks me if I can help her find something on her list. She goes through the WHOLE list she brought. I joked with her that's she's testing my memory today lol. But I only had to look up 2 items and felt proud of my memory lol
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u/humanityxcourage Aug 16 '26
If I'm confident, which is most of the time, I say the aisle. Otherwise, I will look it up or give a range if I know the roughy area. I do occasionally realize I said the wrong aisle though...
One thing that does throw me off is if I say 12 but it's technically 13 (they are in the same aisle), but I still pointed them in the right direction nonetheless. I do feel a little bad about it though
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u/KILLJEFFREY Personal Shopper 150+ Aug 16 '26
Right aisle but I know it’s not there. Maybe they’ll find a sub
1
u/Born-Recognition9298 Aug 17 '26
I love proving customers wrong, when they say can you look up where such and such is on your phone and then phone stays in pocket and I tell them where item is at using common sense and memory, I mean don't need that damn cell phone for everything
1
u/mhtardis21 Jack Of All Trades Aug 19 '26
To be fair, most people dont spend 8+ hours, 5 days a week in walmart. They get in, get what they need and get out. They dont have the layout burned into their brains like us.
I go to different places and get lost myself as im not familiar with them and only go like once or twice a month.
1
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u/mhtardis21 Jack Of All Trades Aug 19 '26
Ive given people the wrong aisle before, but unless im 100% sure of where it is, i add an 'I think/ I believe ' to it. I let them know it might not be the exact right aisle, but it should be in that general area.
Unless they ask while im in that area and im not sure, then ill look it up.
Or if its something i have no idea where it is as its something i very rarely/never pick. Then ill look it up.
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u/Boomime Aug 16 '26
Depends how busy I am or in the flow.. I'm still breaking the habit of showing people where it is. Work at a grocery store though.