April 24, 2018
LAWRENCEBURG MAN COULDN’T GET SERVICE AT WALMART: CONSUMERS APPRECIATE WHAT HE DID NEXT…
It’s an issue many shoppers have faced — needing assistance at a Walmart with no store clerks in sight. What Lawrenceburg native Forrest Hunter did next seems to have inspired the masses.
Hunter posted video to Facebook of him asking for help at the Lawrenceburg Walmart by picking up the store’s phone and requesting assistance through the intercom.
“Customer needs assistance in sporting goods, please. I’m the customer,” he stated, clearly tired of waiting to be helped.
A store associate came over to help Hunter, who needed to buy a hunting license, he told WKYT. Hunter did not get in trouble for taking matters into his own hand, according to WKYT, the Herald-Leader’s reporting partner.
Video of Hunter’s request for assistance has since been viewed more than 1.6 million times and shared by more than 34,000 people since it was posted Friday.
Walmart has been criticized many times and shoppers have commiserated over customer service issues at the stores. Several people shared their frustration with Walmart customer service in a 2016 Forbes article.
“The biggest problem at my local Walmart is that they don’t hire anywhere enough people,” one commenter said. “The shelves are empty and the lineups at the tills are monumental. Whole departments are like ghost towns. If you are lucky enough to find a clerk, nine times out of ten he or she will tell you that this is not his or her department and rush away.”
Walmart maintains that it’s adding new technology to free up employees to serve customers and saving customers’ time is a paramount concern.
Another commenter said a big reason for issues at Walmart is too many managers.
“Over the years, they ended up with department managers, zone managers, assistant managers, co-managers and store managers. As my mom used to say, ‘too many chiefs and not enough Indians.'”
By Mike Stunson
Lexington Herald-Leader
###
Local Louisa Walmart Management did not respond for comment about the story. (There have been no recent complaints about service at the local store.)
