Conversation with Walmart employee about guns

[Hkindiana]

I just got back from the Bedford Walmart and had an interesting discussion with an employee in the sporting goods section. It went like this:
Me "I see you have started selling firearms again"
Him "yeah, and I hate it"
Me "what do you mean?"
him "more Walmart employees get fired from mistakes selling guns than for any other reason. I'm just gonna find any reason not to sell them"
me "do you mean you are going o try and talk people out of buying them?"
Him "no, I just will refuse to sell to people if I don't like the way they look, ir don't like the way they act, or even if they are wearing a yellow shirt. I can, and will refuse to sell to anyone"
I explained that the customers would then complain to the manager, and he said he wouldn't get in trouble for that. It was OK with management for him to refuse to sell to anyone.

 

[christman]

Did they have anything worth buying? Or just the usual crap they used to sell in .22 or single shot 12 gauge NEF?

I can't blame the guy really, but I definitely think its wrong. I think the solution lies in proper training in their sporting goods department so they don't need to worry about getting fired for effing up paperwork.


Then again...It's Walmart.

 

[Colt556]

I'd talk to the manager and see if that were true and if so I'd go up the chain of command filing complaints all the way. I've heard of this practice being done at other stores but can't remember if it was a Wal Mart or another chain.

 

[ljadayton]

I just got back from the Bedford Walmart and had an interesting discussion with an employee in the sporting goods section. It went like this:
Me "I see you have started selling firearms again"
Him "yeah, and I hate it"
Me "what do you mean?"
him "more Walmart employees get fired from mistakes selling guns than for any other reason. I'm just gonna find any reason not to sell them"
me "do you mean you are going o try and talk people out of buying them?"
Him "no, I just will refuse to sell to people if I don't like the way they look, ir don't like the way they act, or even if they are wearing a yellow shirt. I can, and will refuse to sell to anyone"
I explained that the customers would then complain to the manager, and he said he wouldn't get in trouble for that. It was OK with management for him to refuse to sell to anyone.

legally he has the right to refuse service to anyone. I'd hope his management would have half a brain cell and fire him for refusing service for stupid reasons like that though.

 

[Bunnykid68]

He wont have a job for long

 

[lovemachine]

Meh, I refuse to buy from anyone if I don't like the way they act and look. And I'll never buy from someone wearing a yellow shirt

 

[ljadayton]

He wont have a job for long

sad thing is, at Walmart, he might make management

 

[ragnar]

sounds like your average every day d-bag

 

[japartridge]

sounds like Walmart!

 

[sparkyfender]

Head down to the Paoli Wal-Mart. They have no problems selling you one of their guns.

 

[38special]

Well crap. I have a yellow shirt on right now. I have 50 yellow t-shirts (not kidding) and I drive a yellow car.

This guy would hate me.

 

[eatsnopaste]

We all hate you, and it has nothing to do with your shirt color!

 

[Hornett]

Can you give a description?
There is a younger black headed guy and a more middle aged guy with a bushy mustache that I talk to quite a bit, but I don't know their names.
I have only had good experiences with the sporting goods staff.
I am just wondering if it's some clown from another department.
If I was from another department, it seems that is exactly how I would feel about it.

And I saw the empty gun rack about a week ago and thought it was cool that Bedford was going to be part of the gun selling experiment but I didn't talk to anyone that day.

 

[PistolBob]

He wont have a job for long

I bet he does. They're paying just barely more than minimum wage, the working conditions are not all that pleasant, and if they don't have people dedicated to gun/ammo/licensing sales then this poor slob is probably being bounced around from department to department because the whole store is running on short staff to increase profitability.

I honestly think Walmart doesn't mind missing a sale of one kind to make another sale somewhere else in the store.

I was at Gander in Hasselton last week....8 customers at the gun counter, 2 guys waiting on them. One couple had been there for an hour (so they told me).

Retail is so dog eat dog...no fun.

 

[Titanium Man]

I was at Gander in Hasselton last week....8 customers at the gun counter, 2 guys waiting on them. One couple had been there for an hour (so they told me).

That couple waited 59 minutes and 59 seconds longer than I would have waited for those "firearm marketing professionals" ( ).

 

[davek22]

Another reason to dislike WalMart!

 

[ElsiePeaRN]

I guess I feel pretty fortunate. With all the negative stories I hear about Walmarts, I think the folks that work at our local Walmart seem to be the cream of the crop. They are friendly, as knowledgeable as I have ever needed them to be, and give good customer service. Maybe because the unemployment rate is so high, we have better folks than average working at our Walmart I feel blessed in some small way by that

 

[Brad C.]

And this is why i refuse to shop at walmart!

 

[Love the 1911]

In the name of freedom, this idiot needs to be forced to sell me a gun!!!

 

[redneckmedic]

The problem isn't with this kid, he has a bad attitude and that won't change. He will fail in life no matter what he does as long as that is his attitude. The problem lies with the system in gun sales. Wal-mart or the ATF has made it so complicated on the back side that people actually loose their jobs because of the liability in making a mistake. I know a few folks that have FFLs and sell firearms without any issues at all, of course they don't have a boss that looks over their shoulder all the time either. This won't effect me at all, most of my guns come from INGO