Walmart — Local services in Straban Township

This should be a ONE or NO STAR, but the Walmart Managers made my "return visit" very pleasant. They called ahead to the Sports Dept., and the woman was very understanding and helpful. Two keys made AND a proper PA Kayak Launch Permit processed, and in hand! This entire transaction took only about SIX MINUTES! 😁 But, the day before? Total FUBAR!

THIS transaction was hell. The elderly "gentleman" at the sports department was, how shall I say, "less than cordial". (I'm 67 myself, so I'm not age-profiling) Of course, I was in a hurry, but I did NOT convey that to him. I even suggested that he help the guy behind me, since he was just looking for one item, and I knew my visit could take a few minutes. Little did I know, that he would escort the guy to the toy section, about three aisles down, and discuss his options for a bouncy ball 🤨

I was simply there to get a PA Kayak Permit, and two keys made, assuming that the process would probably take no more than ten minutes --- but this took him well over a half hour!

We began with the kayak launch permit --- and he was aware that I needed the keys made too. There was NO attempt made, at all, to "multitask". As he entered the info to the State's system, he would WAIT as it processed the info --- he actually WATCHED the arrow go round and round, and commented on it 🥱

By this time, two other persons had lined up behind me, waiting for keys to be made --- one using a walker. Another came... waited... and then left. It was at this point, that I suggested , "... while we're waiting for that to process again, here is the key..." He took the key ring, and laid it on the counter... and watched the screen cycle a bit longer. He seemed to fumble with the system a bit, as he relayed to me, the "issues" he was having.

He FINALLY began to cut the keys, while the system did its thing. BUT then, he stood and WATCHED THE MACHINE, as it cut --- four edges! 😳 After a while, I suggested that he could maybe finish the permit process, and let the machine continue to automatically cut!? He then turned to me and became somewhat belligerent. He finished cutting the keys anyway.

He tossed them, and my keyring, onto the counter. He rang up the cost of the permit, the two keys, and a fishing reel that I had time to shop for. He almost rang up my own water bottle! He accused ME of being impatient, as I explained to him, that my concern was for the poor customers waiting so long BEHIND me.

I eventually left the store, with items in hand... or so I thought... I realized, when I got to the lake, that he had NEGLECTED to print out the Launch Permit! (since it's temporary, I assumed it was on a print-out receipt). So, here I am, kayaking around, without a permit. 😕 And... BTW... NEITHER CAR KEY WORKED! 🤬

Thank goodness my return visit was...

I dont do this often. But the way I just observed a manager treat children who were being quiet, patient, and polite was deplorable. I understand the tension with customers and insane fads a la furbies, cards and squishmallows. But when you have a quiet organized line comprised mostly of respectful adults and behaved children patiently waiting for an hour and YOU then cause the problem? No ma'am, not ok. Accusing them of loitering and threatening to call the police? What kind of example did you make? What memories do those children have now? A dad DID get aggressive with the manager but only after she escalated the situation. If it is such a problem then shouldnt the store form its own line policy in order to sell high demand items? The management team needs a refresher on conflict resolution, deescalation, and certainly threat assesment. And the line even politely moved out of the way. The manager attempted to cite that other customers could not reach products but there were empty product carts between the line and the product in question! As customers shouldnt be touching these things anyway there was no accesibility period. Just horrid. I left without purchasing anything as i was just casually shopping as well and was told i must wait for a single product. Not a scalper. Not aggressive. Just a compliant customer made to feel like a criminal just like the children were. The main reason i WAS waiting that long for a single pack was to make sure the girls got what they wanted as well since I formed a bond with them while we waited 45 minutes. Hopefully they got their cards. I didnt need any i just wanted a pack of cards and a pack of cookies. Im sorry to the staff that had to restock the cookies. I set them...

Like others have said it's not a Super Walmart so the food selection is not what you'd be used to if you normally shop at a Super Walmart. There are the essentials though. Employee at self checkout was no help at all when we had trouble getting our scooter scanned. The machine message said we needed an associate to complete the acceptance of the UPC and then needed to enter the serial number. We didn't know where the s/n was on the box and there were several numbers, upc's, QR codes posted. We asked the worker where it was and she pointed at the box from about 8 feet away. We said whick one could you show me or tell me what it starts with and she just got more and more of an attitude like we were interrupting her break. She was posted in the self checkout so it wasn't someone we flagged down that was busy doing something else. Maybe she was just having a bad day or something. Its not gonna cause me to stop shipping at Walmart. I think you know what to expect with the public these days after the Cov19. It's given people more of an excuse to be rude and...