This Week in Walmart: Gift card gratuities, melon-picking hack, too many bananas


There’s no shortage of Walmart-related content floating around on TikTok posted by both customers, shoppers, and folks from other industries whose lives intersect with Walmart in some way.

This week, like many others, has seen a deluge of videos pertaining to Walmart going viral on the platform. Here are some of the more prominent stories about the chain that were popular this week on the Daily Dot.

Tips on deck

A discussion about restaurant customers handing servers gift cards to popular retailers in lieu of a cash/card tip broke out in the comments section of a viral TikTok posted by TikTok user Kaitlyn Best (@kaitlynbest6).

In the video, she shows off all of the different gift cards and their dollar amounts in her video, including two (2) to Walmart totaling up to a combined value of $33.69.

While there were some users who said that they would appreciate gift cards, there were others who remarked they thought the move was “bullsh*t,” but acquiesced that because the server ultimately ended up raking in a good amount of cash value from the gift cards, that helped to make matters better.

Solitary cake-finement

Walmart worker and TikTok user Ray (@.ray_mtz03) recorded himself sitting in his car all by his lonesome and cracking open a chocolate ring cake, which he ate in solitude. The somber video highlighted his loneliness as he said that none of his co-workers remembered his first work anniversary.

Other users on the platform sympathized with his experience, while some blasted his fellow store associates for not at least congratulating him, as there are reminders in Walmart systems that let workers know of these milestones.

The finger melon method

A TikTok user and Walmart shopper named Michelle (@michellebellexo) said that there’s a better way at finding the best watermelons at the supermarket, and it doesn’t involve shoppers holding their ears up to one like they’re about to crack a safe or eavesdrop on their parents’ strange wrestling match in the middle of the night they heard that one night when they were kids.

Michelle says that her husband recommended she use the finger method on the fruits, which compares the width of the stripes on the melon to the size of her fingers. A two-finger-wide stripe is supposed to yield a better melon.

One Watermelon farmer responded to her video by saying there’s a better way: Look for a big yellow spot on the bottom and you’re good to go.

Another angle

If at first your time off is denied, try and try again…with a different manager. At least that’s what happened with a TikToker named Thalia (@thaliasanmiguel) who posted about getting denied a time off request from one of her managers at Walmart.

However, she didn’t give up and instead just took the same request to another manager and was able to get that shift time off. Some commenters who saw her posted remarked that their time off requests weren’t asks, and that they take the approach of just telling their managers that they aren’t going to be coming into work that day.

Pickers vs. shoppers

A Walmart “picker” highlighted a struggle that other personal shoppers appear to have experienced as well: Competing against other customers who take items that they need to fulfill online orders. Williana (@williana_2001) uploaded a viral TikTok about spotting another shopper in the store going for an item they’re in the process of tossing into their respective bin for a customer who ordered remotely.

One of the commenters said that a customer got into a fight with them “over goldfish,” while other said that they’ve been put into this same exact situation, with items that were low in stock/quantity.

Bathroom hideaway

Ray (@.ray_mtz03) posted another trending Walmart clip this week where he recorded himself hiding in the store’s bathroom because he was working too hard. He writes in his post that he doesn’t appreciate the fact he was getting paid the same amount for his efforts as an employee “who doesn’t do anything.”

Other commenters replied, stating that they knew exactly where Ray was coming from, with another stating that they were doing exactly that and scrolling on their phone when they came across his post.

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

Another Walmart personal shopper highlighted a common problem when fulfilling customer orders for the online service: quantity confusion. Carolina Trevizo (@thecarolinatrevizo) recorded herself putting 10 hands of bananas into an order for a customer, even though they thought that the person ordering it only wanted 10 individual bananas, leaving them with a lot more of the squishy, peel-encased fruit than they probably anticipated.

Some TikTok users replied that they too have been in similar situations, but have encountered customers that actually wanted gratuitously large amounts of the items they requested.

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Source: https://www.dailydot.com/news/walmart-news/