I recently wrote about my experience with Walmart stores as Susan and I traveled cross country on our vacation. If you haven't read it, you may find those comments on my blog. My comments were not especially complimentary. However, at the request of a friend, I visited a newer Walmart in town where her husband is the co-manager. Let me share with you what I found.
Before visiting with the co-manager I took a couple of walks through the store. To my knowledge, none of the employees knew I was coming. I was just another shopper. I was greeted at the door with a smile and hello. Nothing unusual there. As I began my walk through the store I was greeted by the first three associates that I saw. As I began looking at merchandise associates came up to me and asked if there was something in particular that I was looking for or told me that if they could help in any way to let them know. Refreshing.
I made my way to the men's room. Yes, there were paper towels on the floor and one of the towel dispensers was empty. But, while I was in the restroom an employee came in and checked the paper towel dispenser and turned right around and left. He could not have gone far as his custodial cart was right outside of the entrance of the restroom. I'm fairly certain I know where he went.
The floors were not spotless, but they were cleared of debris. Twice I saw a man about 6'-3" pushing a push mop around the store. I did not want to tangle with him. He looked quite serious about doing his job.
Associates were straightening shelves. I saw a couple of associates with shopping carts filled with merchandise of various sorts going throughout the store and placing items that had been discarded by shoppers back onto their shelves.
I had seen enough. I went to the customer service desk and asked to speak to the manager. He was immediately contacted. Within a minute an assistant manager was standing in front of me asking if there was anything he could help me with before the manager arrived. He shook my hand, smiled, and introduced himself. After I told him that I wanted to talk specifically with the manager he assured me that if there was anything he could do to assist me to let him know. He then excused himself.
The manager arrived shortly after he was paged. I could see through the expression on his face that he was expecting yet another problem. Still, there was a smile on his face and he acted as if he was ready to help me in any way possible. Now, in full disclosure I should tell you that the manager was a former student of mine; however, he did not recognize me right off. I suppose it had been seven or ten years since I had seen him last and at lest 14 or 15 years since I had seen him in class.
We walked through part of his store together. As we did, associates came up to him and called him by his first name, smiled, and went on about their business. He stopped once and gave some very short instruction to an employee and then moved on. Another employee stopped him and gave him a short report. He introduced the employee to me and told me of an honor that she had received.
He ignored the text messages that he was receiving while we visited.
We talked about his management philosophy. In essence, he saw his job as making his employees happy, understanding that if they were happy the store's customers would be happy. He stressed customer service and explained that the corporate line was that when an employee is on a break that they are to be on break. His take on that policy was different. He told me that if somebody asked for assistance while the employee was on break that he would make sure that it was made up to him/her. He elaborated more, but I won't bother you with the details. The short version is that he genuinely cared for his employees. It showed.
He would have spent more time with me if I had asked, but it was obvious to me that he was a busy man. He didn't "telegraph" or signal to me that he needed to get back to work, but I could tell by the sheer volume of interactions he had (and the text messages that he kept getting) that he needed to get back to work.
He went his way and I hung back to buy a couple of items. To be sure, there were a couple of malingerers in this store, but they were few and far between. THIS store was an exception to what I've seen at other Walmart stores, but I think THIS Walmart store has an exceptional manager.
I want so badly to mention his name here, but because he takes a little different spin on the corporate mantra I feel it is important to protect him. But, he knows who he is, and his wife knows who he is, and I know for certain that his employees know who he is. If he is O.K. with me listing his name here, I'll do so because he deserves recognition as a model manager and an exceptional person.
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