How Wal-Mart Employees are NOT Brony Friendly (Or at Least the Ones I Run Into) · 2:48pm Jun 16th, 2014
I want to tell you all a story about some things that happened to me a while ago.
A few months ago, I went to my local Wal-Mart (well, more like my nearest Wal-Mart since I currently live in a small community with a few hundred people living in it and no Wal-Mart of its own. Oh well, not the point) and bought a few MLP dog tags and a Vinyl plush (for decoration and NOT unspeakable things). So I go up through the express checkout because I have, like, four things on me (while the chick in front of me has about forty things spread across two carts. Ugh, I hate it when assholes misuse express checkout); and eventually it’s my turn to check out. And I probably couldn’t have gotten a worse- or meaner-looking woman to check me out. The best way to describe her would be to say that she looked like your stereotypical Halloween witch, with a wart on her nose, a few missing teeth, and the chill that ran up my spine. But I’m nice, and I greet her in the closest thing to a Pinkie Pie-ish manner that I can manage and place my items onto the counter.
As this woman scans them, she gives me a scowl and says, “You like My Little Pony?”
“Uh, yeah, yeah I do,” I answer while every fiber of my being shouts “BUCK YEAH!”
Upon my confirmation that I am indeed into something originally created and marketed for little girls, her façade of disgust intensifies; and her expression makes me dislike her even more, thinking to myself that I should ‘bake cupcakes ‘ with this woman someday.
“You’re creepy,” she says under her breath, but still just loud enough for me to hear.
“And I bet you have flying monkeys at your house and would melt if I poured water on you,” I think bitterly in my head. But I stay as kind as I can possibly be while I pay for my things and leave.
Now, I know what you’re thinking, that this is an isolated incident. WRONG! This same thing happens with an umpteen number of people between two different Wal-Marts. Every time, I’m treated as if I’m some sort of strange being; and I eventually get sick of it and decide that if I’m going to get treated like a creep, I may as well give them a reason to do so.
My first chance to screw with them came about couple of weeks ago when I was digging through the plushees’ part of the MLP section of the toys aisle, looking to see if they still carried any Tavi dolls (Vinyl got lonely) when a man working there approaches me, asking if he can help me.
“Sure!” I say as I bend down and pick up a Fluttershy doll. “Which do think will attract little girls the most: ponies, Barbie dolls, or candy?”
The man blinks blankly and merely turns around and leaves without a word, and I smile and resume my digging.
I eventually dig through all of the plushees and find no Octavia, so I decide to buy the Fluttershy doll after deciding not to go home empty-handed. I get in one of the few aisles that aren’t overfilled and set Fluttershy down on the conveyor belt since I was the next in line. That’s when two parents and their son came in behind me. The boy couldn’t have been more than five or six years old. Now, I know I’ve sworn my Dan-Vs-like vengeance against the employees of Wal-Mart; but quite a few mothers have also given me dirty looks when I’m browsing through the ponies section of the toys aisle.
But anyways, the boy reaches up and pets Fluttershy while she’s on the conveyor belt; and his mother gently scolds him, “No, no, honey, don’t touch his toy.”
Without thinking, I reply, “Don’t worry; it’s going to get pet much harder when I get it home.”
Several people within earshot of me give me dirty looks; the mother pulls her son in close; and I leave behind a few people who are going to have nightmares over what I said with Fluttershy under my arms.
Since then, I haven’t gone to Wal-Mart or anywhere else really. I’ve been spending pretty much every spare second I have writing or plotting fanfiction (hehe, plot), trying to get caught up. But I hope to get there soon so I can mess with them again, hehehe….
Some people are strange. I've never had any problems with Walmart employees. At my Walmart I actually get into discussions about the older generations of my little pony with the cashier
2210844
I live in a very conservative area, so yeah, I get judged a lot.
If I hadn't followed you already this blog would have definitely earned my follow.
2210845 I know that feel all too well I live around rednecks so I know your pain.
And do they really have plushies at wall-mart?
2210944
Yeah, last time I checked. They're, like, ten bucks apiece, usually on the very bottom shelf under all of the other pony stuff. You may have to dig like I did, though.
I don't think that I've ever had an experience like that at any Walmart that I've been to.
(And honestly, if I ever did, I'd most likely say, "I thought that you Walmart Associates were supposed to be polite and courteous to all your customers. Huh. Shows qhat I get for thinking, huh? Way to lose a customer". Then, as an afterthought, as I walked away, I'd probably add, "Oh, by the way, what I buy here, or anywhere else is my business, not yours, or anyone else's". Then I'd walk away.)
One Walmart Pony-merch-related experience that I did have, however, was quite pleasant. I can't remember if it was at our local (Wentzville, MO) Walmart Supercenter, or the one in Lake St. Louis, but anyway, while we we checking out, I noticed that the lady who was checking us (me and my sis and bro-in-law, separately) out was wearing a DJ-Pon3 lanyard around her neck, and a Vinyl Scratch button on her shirt, ans she even had a small Vinyl plushie near her cash register.
Seeing this, I just had a hunch that I was seeing an MLP fan like myself. (Wasn't sure if she was a Brony, because I don't really consider myself one. A serious fan, but not really a brony.) So I asked her if she was. (A fan, I mean.) She grinned, and said, "Yes, ma'am! I love the Ponies, and DJ-Pon3 is the best!" (This kinda drew a strange, but non-judgmental, look from my sis at the time. (Hey, she puts up with me, and my many obsessions! So she never does it with anyone else and theirs. She knows that we like what we like, and we ain't changin' for nobody!!!)
Well, we got to talking, and of course, she asked me which pony that I liked, and which one that I thought was best pony. Well, if you know me (and especially you guys around here), you know what my reply was. I just grinned back and said, "Applejack, all the way." She just smiled and said, "Really?! AJ's my second-favorite! Good call!"
Well, we would've talked longer, but that was about the time that she finished checking my stuff out, and we had to leave. It was one of the coolest conversations that I'd ever had in my life.
I've seen her a few other times since, too...once when she was re-stocking some shelves at the store. (I found later that she gets a discount on stuff at the Wally-world that she works at, and she tends to get a lot of Pony-stuff with it.)
She also gave me a very wise bit of advice: don't be ashamed of what you love, , no matter what it is. I never have, anyway (hey, you should have heard the flack (friendly, of course) that my family members have given me over my various obsessions over the years. (The Dukes of Hazzard (the TV show, not that stupid movie), Biker Mice From Mars, SWAT Kats, The Radical Squadron, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Young Riders. HTTYD (1 and 2), Dragons: Riders/Defenders of Berk; etc.). And I never will. So don't you be.
And, at the risk of sounding cliche, just be true to yourself, and what you like.
2211099
See? Why can't I have an experience that?!
2210965 Thanks for the advice
2210965 This is true. My big problem is that my local Walmart only had one Applejack in their stocks awhile back, and by the time that I got the money for it, it was already gone.
Oh, they had plenty of Twilight's, Vinyl's, Rainbow Dash's, Fluttershy's and Pinkie Pie's, but only the one Applejack. And after that sold, I haven't found even one of her there since.
I'm not a happy camper about that one!
2211112 I don't know, but it sounds like you just need to report that employee to the manager of that Walmart. Associates are supposed to be polite and courteous, and not treat customers like that one did you.
Besides, it's absolutely none of her business, or anyone else's, what you buy, regardless of what age or gender that you are.Your money, your business Period.
And if it was me that she treated that way, I'd look her in the eye and say, "Look, "lady"; and I use that term very, very loosely; what i like, and buy, is nobody's business but mine. Not yours, not theirs (referring to any other customers in line with you); mine. My money, so I can spend it on whatever I want to. Capiche?"
Then I'd pay for it, take it and walk away.
That's what I'd do.
That bit of your blog made my day, take all of my mustaches!
You found a Fluttershy?! Target and Kmart (we don't have Walmart around here) are always all out of those!
I think this is hilarious, you should go in there with a video camera sometime...
Fucking awesome bro. (*ﾟ▽ﾟ)ﾉ
I don't think I have the balls to say that stuff but I don't care what they think. Because I gotta pony son. ლ(´ڡ`ლ)
Holy fuck, dude :'D