# Tell me about WalMart **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 20, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863 "2013-05-20T20:16:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863/1 "2013-05-20T20:16:51Z")
Over my many years here on The Dope, I’ve heard plenty of horror stories about the infamous WalMart. Since the advent of FB, I also get sent occasional ‘photo albums’ of WalMartians and still continue to gasp and groan about the sheer freakiness of the customers. Is it really that bad? Can you go to your local WalMart and **not** encounter a situation or person that makes your eyes roll upwards? Or is the reputation well deserved? Gimme the lowdown on WalMart folks! ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863/2 "2013-05-20T20:28:18Z")
If in search of the true dregs of society, Walmart is your best bet for viewing. My new game I play when I have to shop there is to spot the ridiculous parking jobs that are so common. Despite all that and all the negative press and the shady business practices, I still prefer Walmart over Target. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotGrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PatriotGrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotGrrrl)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863/3 "2013-05-20T20:41:27Z")
It’s just an elitist thing. People want to think they’re better than “those people”. And since nowadays, it’s not acceptable to define “those people” by the color of their skin, some other criteria must be chosen. If you go to anyplace where there are a great number of people, you will eventually be able to take some pictures of people whose appearance you disapprove of. ---
**Author:** ![hopesperson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e95f7d/32.png) [@hopesperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hopesperson)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863/4 "2013-05-20T20:42:49Z")
Walmart stores are enormous, and there is an enormous number of them. In many areas, they have supplanted all or virtually all other options for discount stores or grocery stores. So you end up with a pretty broad sampling of a given community, perhaps (no cite) skewing to some extent toward the lower socio-economic end of the spectrum. Included among that sampling are often a variety of poor people, odd looking people, mentally ill people and generally weird people. Taking pictures of them and posting them on the internet makes the rest of us feel better about ourselves. Think of any venue that attracts a large number of people across diverse economic strata – state fairs, for example – and you can see a similar distribution. At a Walmart in a middle class or more affluent suburban setting, you’ll probably end up with a more homogeneous, more “normal” looking customer base. Anyway, that’s always been my take. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863/5 "2013-05-20T20:45:07Z")
Some walmarts are in very upscale neighborhoods and you wouldn’t find many weirdos or wackos. The Walmart just down the street from me is in a pretty iffy neighborhood (not the worst in Houston but far from a great one), and you can routinely find gross and terrible people. However, due to the stigma and the meme, you’re just more likely to notice them when you are at Walmart. I doubt statistically it’s worse there than others. Confirmation bias, in other words, is definitely at work here. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863/6 "2013-05-20T20:48:10Z")
My wife and I hit the Walmart at Ocean City, Md. on our way in for supplies for a week’s stay, and it was jammed with people either arriving at or leaving a week at the beach. It was a sweaty, underdressed, sunburned mass of humanity, but it turns out that all of Ocean City is like that. I checked out one closer to me recently for baby clothes, and I may have hit a good time, because it was quite empty and almost tranquil. There was apparently a kid named “Marco” nearby, and his little sisters kept shouting his name; for a few minutes I thought someone was playing “Marco Polo” in the aisles. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863/7 "2013-05-20T21:29:35Z")
Only twice in all my many trips in to Walmart have I seen anyone dressed as bizarrely as on the People of Walmart website, and that was in stores in affluent neighborhoods. The Walmarts around here are almost all newer stores and are clean, well-stocked and well-staffed. One store has been having some huge staffing problems apparently because the shelves are often empty and theailes sometimes strewn with merchandise. But it is also the only store in downtown Cleveland, and the grocery side is always pristine. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863/8 "2013-05-20T21:46:51Z")
> [@PatriotGrrrl](#): > > It’s just an elitist thing. People want to think they’re better than “those people”. I _am_ better. I shop at Target. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863/9 "2013-05-20T21:49:24Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Is it really that bad? Can you go to your local WalMart and **not** encounter a situation or person that makes your eyes roll upwards? Or is the reputation well deserved? The vast majority of people who shop at Walmart don’t really look any stranger than the average American. Are there a lot of fat people there? Well, yeah, because there’s a lot of fat people in America. I don’t shop there as often as I used to but I rarely saw anyone there who would have merited a spot on the People of Walmart page. But keep in mind that nearly 140,000,000 Americans shop at Walmart every week. 140,000,000. Walmarts vary in quality depending on their location. The Walmart off of Baseline Road in Little Rock, Arkansas typically has trash littering the parking lot and the ambiance doesn’t improve when you go inside. The Walmart on Cantrell road always has a clean parking lot, the exterior is nice and the interior is well maintained and orderly. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863/10 "2013-05-20T22:05:29Z")
I’ve never seen any of the interestingly-dressed individuals in any WalMart I’ve shopped. I don’t shop there all that often, tho, so my chance of seeing Walmartians is pretty slim. Unless _I’m_ the Walmartian… :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863/11 "2013-05-20T23:03:57Z")
In my experience Walmart does have a higher concentration of people displaying all kinds of indicators of low socioeconomic status than the other big stores. I’ve never seen anyone as bizarre as People Of Wal Mart, though. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863/12 "2013-05-20T23:31:05Z")
I’ve been inside of various walmarts hundreds of times, I have never encountered people like the ‘people of walmart’. I don’t think Walmart is really much/any worse than any other low end retailer. I wish they would offer better wages and benefits to their workers, but is it really better anywhere else (other than Costco, which does treat its workers well)? They all offer part time, low paying work with no benefits. And if they had Walmart’s clout I’m sure they be pushing hard negotiations with producers too. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863/13 "2013-05-20T23:35:21Z")
For some reason I feel poor when I go in there. I mean, I am poor, but I don’t like feeling like I am. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863/14 "2013-05-20T23:53:37Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I _am_ better. I shop at Target. I, too, \*am \*better. But, I still shop at WalMart. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863/15 "2013-05-20T23:57:52Z")
The trophy wife of one of my wealthy friends had an interesting quote about Wal Mart. When we mentioned buying something there, she looked concerned, and said: “Oh, I never shop _there_. That’s where all the broken people go.” It was a snobbish comment, but there’s a small grain of truth to it. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2013, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863/16 "2013-05-20T23:58:18Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > There was apparently a kid named “Marco” nearby, and his little sisters kept shouting his name; for a few minutes I thought someone was playing “Marco Polo” in the aisles. I highly doubt that I could have resisted yelling “Polo.” ---
**Author:** ![Rowanchilde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a698b9/32.png) [@Rowanchilde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rowanchilde)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863/17 "2013-05-21T00:08:36Z")
I was there last week. I’d like to patronize more local businesses but sometimes you just can’t justify paying 30% more for exactly the same product in a mom & pop. Sucks… Don’t tell anyone I shop there. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863/18 "2013-05-21T00:09:28Z")
I shop at Walmart every week. I’m definitely not a snob, but yes, People of Walmart is quite accurate, at least the one in our (recently former) neighborhood. Then again, that entire neighborhood is quite colorful, and I’m not referring to skin tone. We encounter at least one person with a sob story about how they have no money for Pampers or formula every single time we shop there, often the same people. If you say no they turn right around and go hit someone else up for money. This time of year you’ll find people shopping in swimwear instead of pajamas and it’s almost always too small. And the loathsome flip-flops slap about here and there. It’s not the shoe I dislike, it’s the accompanying shuffle-step. But they’re cheap and I’m poor so what can ya do? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863/19 "2013-05-21T00:12:36Z")
[People of Wal-Mart](http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/photos/) (Possibly NSFW.) They are often known as ‘Wal-Martians’. ---
**Author:** ![Rowanchilde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a698b9/32.png) [@Rowanchilde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rowanchilde)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2013, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863/20 "2013-05-21T00:45:09Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > \*\*This time of year you’ll find people shopping in swimwear instead of pajamas and it’s almost always too small. \*\*And the loathsome flip-flops slap about here and there. It’s not the shoe I dislike, it’s the accompanying shuffle-step. > > But they’re cheap and I’m poor so what can ya do? Oh, this made me laugh! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-walmart/658863.md?page=2)