Reminiscence of the Walmart Days

During the days of my high school years, I would often be jealous of my friends having a job. Why? My friends always had a good amount of money on them, and whenever we would go out they would pay for me. They didn't mind, but I hated the feeling whenever they paid their hard-earned cash for me. So I decided it was time for me to get a job of my own.

Unfortunately with the economic status we have today, it was hard to get a job in this small town. I applied everywhere and I would get the same results, either we're not hiring or we'll get back to you. Finally after putting in a couple applications to Walmart, they called me back and offered an interview. I could hear the angels rejoicing in heaven after the news.

The interview was unlike anything that I ever experienced. Actually this was my first interview but I'm pretty sure most companies don't do it the way they did. After 30 minutes of "we'll start soon", they gathered just about every manager they could find that was working in the store that day. They circled around (I'm not even kidding, I felt like I was being interrogated for a crime) and took their turns asking questions while keeping a smile.

After a successful interview, I was given papers and told to go complete a drug test within 24 hours. The place they sent me to had to of been one of the scariest places that I have ever visited. I open the door and Immediately I could tell that the building was older than dirt itself. The lobby had a water fountain that was so rusted that it might break if you were to touch it. The attendant was playing a game on the computer in the office, and I'm assuming it was farmville since I could hear the sound of farm animals. I told her that I was sent here by Walmart for a drug test and I must of upset her by disturbing her farmville, seeing how she grabbed my papers and proceeded to the restroom without saying a word to me. I was given the cup and told how much it needed to be filled. I walk into the restroom, and the first thing I noticed was how awful the sink and toilet were. The sink was broken and rusted beyond belief, and the toilet looked so nasty that you would of thought a monster lived down there. Despite the conditions, I proceeded with the test. Now, I'm sure you're supposed to be given privacy whenever you're doing one of these tests, but this girl would knock on my door every 5 seconds asking if I was finished. Regardless, I was able to complete the procedure.

I took the papers back to Walmart and they told me as soon as my results for the drug test came in, they would schedule me for an orientation. After about a week of waiting, I decided to call Walmart and ask for an update on my drug test. Their words were literally like, "Oh yeah, we got the results about 2 days after they were sent". So much for notifying me, but it didn't bother me since I was finally going to have a job. They scheduled an orientation with me and one other person who turned out to be one of the cutest girls this town had to offer, so of course I ended up paying more attention to her than the actual orientation.

This is where I like to note that orientation for Walmart is about 8 hours a day for a week straight, and it's the most boring experience that you could ever endure. Over the course of the training, they go over the history of Walmart, policies, customer satisfaction, and other stuff they're required to show you. The worse part of it all are these lessons you do on their network called CBLs. They serve as your training portion of.... well your training, but I swear they couldn't make it any more boring than they did. Each CBL ran about 30 minutes to an hour long, and at the end you would have to complete a test. Answer them correctly and you move on to the next CBL, but if you miss so many then you have to re-do the entire CBL from the very beginning. There was so many CBLs too, even when I was finally able to go out and do my job, they would call you to the back so you could work on your CBLs. The upside to them was you were being paid by Walmart to do them.

After so much of training, Walmart would finally send you out into the field of duty. I was hired on to be a cashier, so it was off to the front for me. I was hired a couple of weeks before spring break began for surrounding colleges and schools, so I figured it was enough time to get use to being a cashier and flirt with any girls that would come to my line. Fortunately, I had all sorts of girls come to my register. Unfortunately, the only ones that would hit on me were the moms. Now don't get me wrong there were a couple of cougars out there, but it made things so awkward, especially when they had really good looking daughters. I had to suck it up and move on with the job.

I've had some of the most unique experiences with my time at Walmart. People would come through my line and act as if we had known each other for years, talking about subjects that I had no clue about. One of my regulars was an elder man, and each time he would come through my line he would tell me another experience he had in Vietnam. Being in a small town that has almost nothing, Walmart was practically the central hub for everything. In fact, many residents of the town would refer to the Walmart as "the mall of the town". That being said, it was a great way to meet new people that lived nearby in the area. Unfortunately, you also met some of the worse.

A lot of the times I would work until the late hours. It was usually slow having about a customer every 30 minutes, but this would be around the time you would see the crazier side of the town. The one I remember the most, it was around 10 o clock and a middle-aged couple came through my line. Their entire shopping cart was filled with lingerie and KY products. As much as it was awkward for me, all I could do was scan their items and wish them a good night.

Days and nights went on and it seemed like every day I had a new experience to tell to the buds. Months later I left Walmart because of a restaurant saying they were going to pay me more and even give me a manager's position possibly. Every now and then I'll go visit my old co-workers to see how they're doing. The managers would even beg me to come back because they miss me so much. There are times where I miss working at Walmart, but it's nice that I can lay my head down at night and not hear the sounds of the scanning device beeping in my head.