Hello David,
No big deal - I just thought you might find this telling and even funny (in a sense).
I'd written you earlier about a visit of mine to a Walmart a couple weeks ago where they were pretty low on common caliber ammo. Today in a different store and different town I was at another Walmart. This time the shelves were almost bare. Apart from some 50rd boxes of .22 - there weren't more than a few dozen boxes of ammo on the whole shelving unit! (none in common calibers)
I asked him with a straight face if they planned on restocking. He assured me that they did - but he wasn't sure when. He seemed to think that in a month or so they'd be back up to full stock.
He went into a rant from there - saying that it was all the fault of people being fearful of the latest regime - panic buying, etc. I thought it was kinda' funny and encouraged him to take a more optimistic view of the matter but he'd have none of it!
I didn't decide to use the title "Plug Nickel Times" for nothing - but from a certain perspective it is kinda' funny to see all that ammo and armament flying off the shelves. It's a helluva' message - restless peasants and all.
What would Ceausescu do? What would Machiavelli have advised?
(was it?)Mel Brooks - "gads - those peasants _are_ revolting!"
I submit this is the difference between a hireling, a mere employee with no vested interests other than his own, and an engaged sovereign citizen.
Too bad the manager didn't hear the exchange. The clerk deserved to be fired.
A lot of hirelings do. But somehow, I don't think the new management expects them to be all that customer-friendly.
6 comments:
I don't believe the clerk deserved to be fired because he has his rights of free speech. However he is working for a company in coming into direct contact with customers and the idea is to have the customers feel good about doing business with the store. He may have run off some customers with his personal views that the store spent money on getting into the store. Nevertheless, I would have liked hearing him and would have enjoyed talking with him. Regardless if I could have got him to open his eyes a little to see the larger picture. It would have not been a negative encounter for me.
If all I ever talk to are like minded people I leave nothing behind. But if I can meet people who are willing to talk with me I may plant some seeds.
Isn't there a similarity between the Chinese ideograms for "threat" and "opportunity"? What one percives as a threat, can be an opportunity as well.
WWCD? More like WWMD! Why, he would promise a rebirth of the nation. Give him greater power, and everything will change. If only you would recognize that a new age will come when the state is omnipotent.
David - in this case the management probably wouldn't have been all that concerned. I hadn't mentioned this to you earlier - but I had a pretty unsatisfactory experience with the same store a year or so ago. I'd been looking at one of their firearms to purchase. (yes- I know Walmart is a tool in some regards - but the price was around $100 less than elsewhere - a 20% discount...)
Since it had been awhile since I'd purchased a firearm via a licensed dealer - I asked the clerk (a different one) what all I needed to complete the transaction.
He tells me that his manager was pretty strict about firearm sales and that one thing he required was that the street address on ones ID had to match the address provided on the form. In my state it's not required that one upgrade their physical DL every time they move - only that one notifies the DMV via a postcard - so my DL didn't show a current address. When I mention this to the clerk he tells me that I'd need to bring in some sort of 'official' document with my current address on it - that they'd copy this and keep it with their form 'to cover themselves'. At that point I decided I didn't really want to do business with them under those circumstances - so the conversation ended.
Talking with other FFLs - none of them said that my DL was an issue - and that they'd all be glad to do the same transaction (for $100-150 more than Walmart) with whatever address I provided.
This same Walmart is also the only place I can recall that ever asked for ID (not for age - but citizenship) for an ammo sale. I'll grant that the store is only 10 miles or so from the US/Mexico border - but few people would mistake this guero for a Mexicano!
AvgJoe - I didn't see the encounter I'd written to David about as particularly negative - more humorous than anything else. Once he'd gotten into his rant - I could barely get a word in edge-wise. As I walked off - he'd kept up his rant with a couple customers that were behind me. It's not my problem he couldn't see any plus-side to a well-armed populace!
employee was an idiot...they have their fare share of them.
I have had to pop in to a couple wally worlds on a job lately, they have later hours. Took a stroll past the ammo and both of them made old mother hubbard's cupboard look full.
The two Walmarts that are close to me in NE Texas have bare ammo shelves and the clerks say that the warehouse is empty. I happened to be in Texarkana on the AR side, so I popped into the Walmart there to check the ammo stock. They were almost out of ammo, too, so I asked about when they might get restocked. The lady at the counter said business was great and they were restocked regularly. The problem was that people bought it all as soon as it got in. Some buying $500-$600 worth of ammo at a time. She went on to say that it was due to Obama. People think he is going to ban guns, or something, and she just wished people would relax and give him a chance.
I told her that his website had announced his plans to ban guns and that Obama had asked us to take him at his word. She scowled at me like she thought I was lying!
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