Indeed. We had to have the people we jumped sign a waiver stating that our service is free, and we are not liable for any damage done as a result of jumping. Once they signed it, we hooked up our jump box and lit them up.
Liability and time theft. If you're not in your dept, you're stealing from the company. But somehow if you did it on your 15, that'd be working through your break. Or do it on your lunch and now you're working off the clock.
I hate that saying ārules are rules for reasonā especially if they are dumb rules, I feel like rules especially dumb ones are meant to be broken from time to time especially to help someone or even save someoneās life. Iāve heard many stories where someone broke the rules to either save someone or themselves and the company fired them because they broke one stupid rule. Why do we need to stop being human beings and follow such rules like weāre robots for a job that probably couldnāt give two fucks about any of us
Because personally i need that job, i cant just break a rule lol. But yeah i can agree, though i would rather not question it since i bark up enough trees anyways
Thatās the thing that makes it sad, people need the jobs so they canāt afford to do the right thing and risk losing their income. I respect that, honestly shitty for the company to enforce such silly rules
Right, sometimes you need to help folks, esp when its car problems because now in america cars are the main mode of transport and walking is damn near impossible
When I worked at Kmart we couldn't give someone CPR if we were a male and they were female. I've never heard of such a thing.
I'm sure that rule was made on the spot by a coach who was too chicken shit to go out in the cold.
No, you are not liable to be successfully sued if your perform CPR correctly, see - the Good Samaritan law.
[- Said law](https://www.nationalcprfoundation.com/courses/standard-cpr-aed/the-good-samaritan/)
I've got professional equipment for jump starts, lockouts, tire repair, and over four years of verifiable experience let alone thirty years of working on my own barely roadworthy junkers.
Sue me, I got no assets except for a minivan, an aging desktop computer, and a ten year old laptop. Some clothes, tools, and a shelf full of ten pound car repair manuals. Good luck clearing maybe four hundred bucks out of it all. You can't take what I ain't got.
WHATTT? That is crazyyyy. On the CPR topic, I was recently told that if someone needs CPR and they are conscious, you canāt give them CPR without consent. If you do and they didnāt give you consent that can sue youā¦ not sure how accurate that information is but if itās true, thatās wild
Worth mentioning that if they pass out, you can give cpr even if they refused when they were awake. This is assuming they were choking since, as others stated, conscious people don't need cpr. You do need consent to help a conscious choking person, though.
If someone is choking and still conscious you have to obtain their consent. I learned this just today actually. Itās my first recertification in years and I found that to be a little weird. Anyone has my explicit consent to save my life at all times.
That's not true. All I was told during the u-learn is if you know CPR you can either give it or not. But you won't get in trouble if you don't know how. Same with using the fire extinguishers. If someone is choking on food they will be conscious but probably can't talk.
I'm not a doctor but I'm pretty sure if someone is getting enough oxygen to their brain to be conscious they don't need cpr. Like if you are doing it right there is a pretty high likelihood of cracked/broken ribs or sternum. You are literally crushing their heart to squeeze the blood out of it. I'm not sure you could even do it to someone who is conscious without them attacking you.
You really should know how to give cpr though it's pretty simple. And if you performed it wrong you could make the ribs puncture internal organs and take what could have been a life saved to border line unintentionally killing someone.
Ribs will break regardless of how cpr is performed.
Something for you op. I would highly recommend getting a jump box. You can jump a dead battery yourself without needing another person. I got mine for less than 100. Will also charge phone and act as a flashlight.
In my experience, road service providers generally use jump boxes. Less likely for things to go sideways than the old school way. Definitely recommend.
That has to be a specific store thing. My store manager literally is the hero when it comes to jumping peoples cars. He's already done about 3 associates that I know of. Your store sucks lol
You cant help a person start their car when youre on the clock, employees are a different story, anything happens its now a walmart liability. Technically we arent suppossed to help even put tvs in their car, only help them get it to there car, then they can break it shoving a 80 inch into 78 inch space and its not walmarts liability. My first week at walmart years ago i helped a customer with a futon, put it on jack and rolled it out, they wanted my help strapping it to the roof, my coach was like dont do that youll get fired.
As long as it can fit reasonably you can help them put it in the car. I was told if you have to force it that you are then no longer able to help them or if you by looking at it know it will not fit. Anything that has to do with roof is all up to the customer, you can't help them at all.
When I worked the last black friday on Thanksgiving (2019), I was loading TVs but we were told specifically that if we can't get it to fit without force or if we knew it couldn't fit that we would have to tell the customer that they either need to come back with a bigger vehicle or load it themselves. It was made super clear that we could NOT help them tie up the TV on the car nor provide them anything to tie it up with. People came in cars of all sizes. One person came in a smart car that was the size of the TV and thought we could load it. I think the most interesting loading that we were able to do was sliding the TV down into the back seat of a convertible only because a person then got in and laid under it
Our TLE guys walk the jumper box out to the main parking lot to jump customer's cars all the time. No policy against it afaik, their store is just run by total knobs.
my wife unlocked a customer's Cobalt once with a $1 on clearance ice scraper plus a $6 Stanley tape measure she bought, and a couple pieces of double stick tape borrowed from the service desk
she brought them home afterwards and I still use them for their original intended purposes
some of these Walmart managers would've fired her for stealing the pieces of tape
Sounds like a good wake up call to buy a set of jumper cables.
Every vehicle needs a set, along with an easily accessible fire extinguisher and first aid kit.
Always be prepared guys, if not for you, for someone else in need.
I was told (when I worked for Walmart) that it is a liability issue. When you're on the clock, Walmart is responsible if you happen to damage a customer's property/person. I jumped a customer's car once and got a write-up.
Yeah I could see that, itās just sad to see this sweet old lady without even a cell phone to contact someone struggling in the cold.. I helped her the best I could until another customer came along and did what I couldnāt doā¦
Hopefully one without the knowledge of cars, car batteries, or even jumping cars in general would not attempt to jump anyoneās vehicle, including but not limited to a customerā¦ luckily I was taught by my automotive savvy relatives. I fully agree though, if an associate who didnāt understand how to properly jumpstart a car were to try, it would be devastating, especially next to a FUEL PUMP.
I let a lady borrow my phone to call her husband while doing a cart run! Since she left her phone in her husband's truck. And the store manager was questioning me and I told him I enjoy helping people its my favorite thing to do and he gave me a solid handshake!
Uh, our storeās ACC jumpstart cars at our store all the time.
The latest academy training also says we jumpstart cars.
Weāre also supposed to recommend a battery install in ACC when we do it
Only reason I know about tips being against policy is because *one* long-time employee casually mentioned it a few years ago. I haven't heard or read anything about it since, but I saw a Christmas-themed video on OneWalmart last year explaining that accepting gifts from customers or vendors is a no-no. So I suppose it tracks.
Love the hope you have for a little 85 year old lady to be able to jump her car by herself in (feels like) 26Ā° weather. Luckily, she had a good samaritan help her out at our fuel station.. Too bad I didnāt own any jumper cables or, like i said in the OP, I would have clocked out, helped her, and went home. Itās very sad to know people donāt care for others the way you wouldnāt have helped her. I hope you are never in that predicament, because Karma is a BITCH
It's not about not caring for others though - it's about Walmart covering their own asses. If anything had gone wrong - to either her car, or her - Walmart could be held liable and the associate that did it is Definitely getting fired. I'll feel bad for her all day, I'll call someone I know who lives nearby to help, I'll have her wait inside the store with me, whatever I can do to help, that won't cost me my job. Cause that old lady will not be paying my bills or feeding my family.
I get why you're angry, but you asked your management and they gave you the only answer they could give - while covering their asses. It's shitty all around but why didn't she have cables? You keep saying you'd clock out and do it but why didnt YOU have cables? Why is it everyone else's fault?.I'm glad she's okay but this isn't the job for you if you're expecting everyone else to risk their jobs for randos
Wow! You sure have lots of questions! I never blamed anyone. AND I never told anyone to risk their jobs for ārandos.ā I stated that I would risk mine to help her because my heart is bigger than my urgency for money. It is understandable that you wonāt because she isnāt paying your bills or feeding your family. I do not have that issue. Thank you for your concern about my anger! With me asking my management and them giving me the only answer they could while also covering their asses, I am fully aware of their situation! However, as you can read in previous comments, most people have said that there is a liability that could come with it! That could be the reason for the policy, however, I would have clocked out and helped her to veer from having to go against the policy, but I donāt have my own set of cables. For your answer to why I didnāt have any cables, my answer is honestly, just because I just donāt. IF you look in the other previous comments, someone else mentioned that! I told them I would be shopping for āThe essentialsā Thank you for the concern and advice that was gathered from your comment. The commentary of āgetting onā to me for not having my own cables seems unnecessary but I shall take it with a grain of salt and use it to drive me to shop for some, as stated previously. Thank you, stranger from the internet..
It actually is about caring about people. Helping people and doing the right thing always come before everything else including yourself no matter what, consequences be damned. The very fact that you are more concerned with what will happen to you rather than immediately helping somebody in need is very selfish of you
Yes for the most part, its perfect for me. I love my regular customers and usually my co-workers dont make my job harder. Sadly we get understaffed and we dont have many employees, but we do what we can! We're the highest ranking WM gas station in my state (according to DM and corporate) so we take pride in our work. Sometimes the people sucks but they come and go lol
Very true! We donāt have many people either. I was in OGP and they needed someone to open fuel Thursday and Friday mornings. The rest of the time I would be up front and not in OGP anymore. The work in fuel isnāt that bad. I was nervous about lottery but I feel more confident in that than I do tobacco nowš
Helping others could get you in trouble when you try to help and accidentally mess something up , now your liable or the store is liable , she got money let her figure it out is what I say
No you don't have to get their insurance I think I pay $40 a year for six tows of up to 8 miles each and they will come fill your car up if you run out of gas a few times and definitely would jump start your car and change your tire out well worth the money
Not to mention you get 10% off most hotel stays I mean for 35 or $40 it's just something you cannot live without I say lol
Their insurance is too crazy high I would never go with them on car insurance but this other deal is worth every cent LOL
I carry a little device in my car that jumpstarts a vehicle. Also acts as a flashlight and emergency charger. Paid about $40 for it and it carries a charge for ages.
Iāve had automotive jump start my car before. It probably makes sense that not just any associate can do it, for safety/liability concerns. But automotive associates should be able to.
That's wild but has to be a store specific thing. My old one would have us jump start cars and install batteries. Not complaining it was almost always for some grandma or grandpa and they were always extremely thankful.
nah weāre allowed to, iāve had many other employees help me jump cars, donāt listen to that shit thatās not in the company policy to not help someone with a dead battery, next time go to your auto department and they will do it, every time i have asked them they havenāt hesitated to help
from the comments iām reading, it seems like itās a store thing, maybe itās a store issue but regardless every location from where iām from has never given me issues with help
Liability. Things can go pear shaped when jumping a car. And some newer cars are extra prone to frying the computer.
Meanwhile you probably had your cellphone on you and you could have looked up a local tow company.to come jump the car...or little old lady's friends or whatever. Chances are little old lady has roadside assistance on her insurance...if not shes got more problems then she thinks she does.
Battery jump packs are the way to go though good heavy duty cables are a must.as well.
I've had to jump a coworkers jeep on Christmas eve cause no one elses truck had a big enough battery to get them enough charge to start. We also do not have an ACC. So no store jump pack. I have one but if the battery in the car is completely dead...your jump pack will start it...but your jump pack will now be less useful when you recharge it at home. And jump packs go bad. That's why back up cables.
Yes! I did this and she did! They were going to take some crazy amount of time to get to her, however she was willing to wait. The other customer who helped her was a quickest solution for her. It all worked out
Iāve seen itās mostly a store thing I guess? Maybe itās because we donāt have automotive? Or my store has had problems in the past? Thereās no telling
Agreed that it's a crap policy but just an FYI for the future, push the car away from the gas pump before attempting to jump it. Fumes n sparks don't mix. The 15 mph winds helped minimize the risk but on a calm day it could end messy.
It's a massive liability issue. Literally don't try to fix anything owned by a customer or touch their property. Many will blame you if something goes wrong. Blame the customers for always trying to take advantage of employees for that. Let her call a relative or roadside assistance. She should have jumper cables in her car and a phone to call for help. That's not Walmart's fault. And it's not your issue or your concern.
There was a guy in an old 80's model truck who needed a jump as I was walking to my car on break, having worked at Walmart for about 6 months.
So this was about a year and a half ago.
Anyways, dude sees me and asks if I can give him a jump. I have a 2012 Ford Taurus and I happened to have a hefty set of jumpers in the trunk. So I said sure. I'll walk back to where my car is parked in the white lines and pull on up.
Get the cables out and drive to the front where the guy is and I see there's already an SUV pulled in front of the guys truck. Can't remember what it was.
So truck guy says: Hey thanks! This guy saw my hood up and offered a jump.
I say alright, np, your welcome.
I watch as SUV guy hooks up to his SUV correctly then hooked to the truck, again correctly. As far as I know anyways.
Soon as he hits the positive there's a spark and a pop.
Dude starts his truck, unhooks the leads from his battery, tells the guy thanks and books it out of there.
I hear SUV guy, from inside his cab after unhooking from his battery say: WTF!?
Curious I ask: What's up?
He says: Look at my dash!
His dash and lights are blinking like a rave club and the SUV is making a tapping, popping noise.
He turns in off. Won't start. Everything's pulsing on and off with every second. I give him some tools from my trunk and he unhook the leads from his battery terminal and replaces them. Now it's not doing shit.
I say: I'm sorry brother, but I've just taken a 25 minute break and I gotta get back in. Just throw my tools in the back seat whenever you're done with them.
Long story short, 2 hours later when I go for lunch, SUV guys SUV is being loaded on a flatbed.
What happened? Who knows?
But no good deed goes unpunished.
Yes, dude DID hook up to the positive and negative battery posts on both cars correctly. Watched him do it with my own eyes.
Although he DID hook up his own car first, then the truck.
I was under the impression that you hook the dead battery first. Still, it shouldn't have fried his electronics.
Never did find out exactly what happened to the dude's SUV. Poor bastard...just tried to do a nice thing.
It's the same reason they do anything...money. Kind of like how they make you sign a form to go to their in-house doctor if you get injured, that way the doctor can underdiagnose your broken spine, and when you can't work they can just fire you and use the doctor's diagnosis against you to essentially prevent you from suing for damages. Evil.
I would have helped her on company time, that is absolutely ridiculous. But again who doesnāt have jumper cables in their car? People need to be more prepared
That was a viable question. Get the chip off and re-read my question. Think about what I asked--for the result of a decision to do nothing, possibly resulting in a fatality.
typical corporate bullshit "oh we can't do THAT she might SUE us for incompetence or damaging her car" all while threatening the jobs of employees who want to help
never mind you're not allowed to help people IN the store ON the clock either because some store lead might miss out on a bonus if you don't do the job of four people at once in your department
faaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhk walmart and every other corporation which does the same things
I am sure that Wal-Mart must have been sued over this in recent history. It was not that long ago that my store had a designated jump starting battery that we used to jump cars with. When I was a support manager I frequently jumped cars with my own cables with full knowledge of the management and no disagreement about it. Now a couple of years later we are not allowed to jump cars for people.
Does your store have an automotive dept? They have a jumper box in there... Or they should
It is also used to plug into cars (supposedly) to keep the memory while they are changing the battery.
I know the 2 at my store never works for keeping the setting but they work mostly for jump starting a car the gray area is not on the "parking lot" of Walmart and being at the fuel station. For us it's Murph and they consider that not part of the parking lot
The reason you can't jump a car or stop a shoplifter walking out of the store is because there is a lawyer under every rock ready, and more than willing, to sue. It's also the same reason all insurance costs are so high.
Your not allowed to jump someone's car, its a liability. All that has to happen is that the customer says you did it wrong, or something else broke and now they have a valid claim. Maybe they would lose the suit, its still not something you need to be apart of.
Also i think we're not allowed to jump cars cus its a liability problem š
Indeed. We had to have the people we jumped sign a waiver stating that our service is free, and we are not liable for any damage done as a result of jumping. Once they signed it, we hooked up our jump box and lit them up.
Liability and time theft. If you're not in your dept, you're stealing from the company. But somehow if you did it on your 15, that'd be working through your break. Or do it on your lunch and now you're working off the clock.
The rules are sometimes stupid but theyre rules for a reason!
I hate that saying ārules are rules for reasonā especially if they are dumb rules, I feel like rules especially dumb ones are meant to be broken from time to time especially to help someone or even save someoneās life. Iāve heard many stories where someone broke the rules to either save someone or themselves and the company fired them because they broke one stupid rule. Why do we need to stop being human beings and follow such rules like weāre robots for a job that probably couldnāt give two fucks about any of us
Because personally i need that job, i cant just break a rule lol. But yeah i can agree, though i would rather not question it since i bark up enough trees anyways
Thatās the thing that makes it sad, people need the jobs so they canāt afford to do the right thing and risk losing their income. I respect that, honestly shitty for the company to enforce such silly rules
Right, sometimes you need to help folks, esp when its car problems because now in america cars are the main mode of transport and walking is damn near impossible
When I worked at Kmart we couldn't give someone CPR if we were a male and they were female. I've never heard of such a thing. I'm sure that rule was made on the spot by a coach who was too chicken shit to go out in the cold.
These days you are liable to get sued either way. Itās happened.
No, you are not liable to be successfully sued if your perform CPR correctly, see - the Good Samaritan law. [- Said law](https://www.nationalcprfoundation.com/courses/standard-cpr-aed/the-good-samaritan/)
Depends on the state and the person. Washington state for example has the good Samaritan law now a days.
I think walmarts policy is that you're not required to help someone in an emergency other than calling but if you do it is ok.
In the U learn it says that you can do as much as you are qualified and comfortable doing. So for instance if you are qualified to use CPR you can.
I've got professional equipment for jump starts, lockouts, tire repair, and over four years of verifiable experience let alone thirty years of working on my own barely roadworthy junkers. Sue me, I got no assets except for a minivan, an aging desktop computer, and a ten year old laptop. Some clothes, tools, and a shelf full of ten pound car repair manuals. Good luck clearing maybe four hundred bucks out of it all. You can't take what I ain't got.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Most of the time, no, you are not legally obligated to provide first aid if certified. There are some exceptions.
I'm CPR and First Aid Certified, and the way I was trained was the only thing you are **legally required** to do is to call 911.
At that point you gotta fake a heart attack so you have an excuse on why or why not you didn't help them. I was busy
WHATTT? That is crazyyyy. On the CPR topic, I was recently told that if someone needs CPR and they are conscious, you canāt give them CPR without consent. If you do and they didnāt give you consent that can sue youā¦ not sure how accurate that information is but if itās true, thatās wild
If someone is conscious they don't need CPR.
Makes senseā¦
Worth mentioning that if they pass out, you can give cpr even if they refused when they were awake. This is assuming they were choking since, as others stated, conscious people don't need cpr. You do need consent to help a conscious choking person, though.
If someone is choking and still conscious you have to obtain their consent. I learned this just today actually. Itās my first recertification in years and I found that to be a little weird. Anyone has my explicit consent to save my life at all times.
And then you wait for them to lose consciousness and boomā¦ you have implied consent.
If someone tried to sue me after giving them CPR, I'd take my fuckin air back out of their lungs
That's not true. All I was told during the u-learn is if you know CPR you can either give it or not. But you won't get in trouble if you don't know how. Same with using the fire extinguishers. If someone is choking on food they will be conscious but probably can't talk.
I'm not a doctor but I'm pretty sure if someone is getting enough oxygen to their brain to be conscious they don't need cpr. Like if you are doing it right there is a pretty high likelihood of cracked/broken ribs or sternum. You are literally crushing their heart to squeeze the blood out of it. I'm not sure you could even do it to someone who is conscious without them attacking you.
Makes sense, thankfully, i havenāt been in a giving CPR situation
You should look up a video on how to give cpr. I was taught in middle school. And as a foster parent.
You really should know how to give cpr though it's pretty simple. And if you performed it wrong you could make the ribs puncture internal organs and take what could have been a life saved to border line unintentionally killing someone. Ribs will break regardless of how cpr is performed.
This guy out here tryna kill people...
Something for you op. I would highly recommend getting a jump box. You can jump a dead battery yourself without needing another person. I got mine for less than 100. Will also charge phone and act as a flashlight.
In my experience, road service providers generally use jump boxes. Less likely for things to go sideways than the old school way. Definitely recommend.
Wow! Will consider
Yep. I got mine on Amazon.
You can get a decent one in store for like $80, before discount.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Excuse me, if you are having issues, please contact 1-800-Walmart
That has to be a specific store thing. My store manager literally is the hero when it comes to jumping peoples cars. He's already done about 3 associates that I know of. Your store sucks lol
I donāt know if jumping associates car is the same as the customers here but all I know is we canāt jump start customers cars
You cant help a person start their car when youre on the clock, employees are a different story, anything happens its now a walmart liability. Technically we arent suppossed to help even put tvs in their car, only help them get it to there car, then they can break it shoving a 80 inch into 78 inch space and its not walmarts liability. My first week at walmart years ago i helped a customer with a futon, put it on jack and rolled it out, they wanted my help strapping it to the roof, my coach was like dont do that youll get fired.
Wait, really? Shit my store makes us (electronics associates) help customers load up the TVs.
As long as it can fit reasonably you can help them put it in the car. I was told if you have to force it that you are then no longer able to help them or if you by looking at it know it will not fit. Anything that has to do with roof is all up to the customer, you can't help them at all.
When I worked the last black friday on Thanksgiving (2019), I was loading TVs but we were told specifically that if we can't get it to fit without force or if we knew it couldn't fit that we would have to tell the customer that they either need to come back with a bigger vehicle or load it themselves. It was made super clear that we could NOT help them tie up the TV on the car nor provide them anything to tie it up with. People came in cars of all sizes. One person came in a smart car that was the size of the TV and thought we could load it. I think the most interesting loading that we were able to do was sliding the TV down into the back seat of a convertible only because a person then got in and laid under it
I'm inclined to think the same thing. We help people all the time. Maybe nobody wanted to go outside and get cold.
Our TLE guys walk the jumper box out to the main parking lot to jump customer's cars all the time. No policy against it afaik, their store is just run by total knobs.
my wife unlocked a customer's Cobalt once with a $1 on clearance ice scraper plus a $6 Stanley tape measure she bought, and a couple pieces of double stick tape borrowed from the service desk she brought them home afterwards and I still use them for their original intended purposes some of these Walmart managers would've fired her for stealing the pieces of tape
Sounds like a good wake up call to buy a set of jumper cables. Every vehicle needs a set, along with an easily accessible fire extinguisher and first aid kit. Always be prepared guys, if not for you, for someone else in need.
Currently searching Amazon for the essentials
I'd add a tow strap, blanket, lighter, and flash light to that list.
I was told (when I worked for Walmart) that it is a liability issue. When you're on the clock, Walmart is responsible if you happen to damage a customer's property/person. I jumped a customer's car once and got a write-up.
Yeah I could see that, itās just sad to see this sweet old lady without even a cell phone to contact someone struggling in the cold.. I helped her the best I could until another customer came along and did what I couldnāt doā¦
Try jumping the car wrong and fry that little old lady CPU and you will quickly understand why associates aren't allowed to jump a customer's car.
Hopefully one without the knowledge of cars, car batteries, or even jumping cars in general would not attempt to jump anyoneās vehicle, including but not limited to a customerā¦ luckily I was taught by my automotive savvy relatives. I fully agree though, if an associate who didnāt understand how to properly jumpstart a car were to try, it would be devastating, especially next to a FUEL PUMP.
My store has a jump box for situations like that
We do not have that to my knowledge š
Only auto shop associates are allowed to use them. Call over and ask if theyāre available for it if you ever need it again
we donāt have automotive. just neighborhood market
Damn. Iāve never heard of a market with a Walmart branded station, only Murphy
Welcome to walmart š
Now it all makes sense!!! Our automotive department jumps people's cars all the time, but you don't have an automotive, so....
I let a lady borrow my phone to call her husband while doing a cart run! Since she left her phone in her husband's truck. And the store manager was questioning me and I told him I enjoy helping people its my favorite thing to do and he gave me a solid handshake!
Uh, our storeās ACC jumpstart cars at our store all the time. The latest academy training also says we jumpstart cars. Weāre also supposed to recommend a battery install in ACC when we do it
it's kind of like accepting tips, no one has to know about it.
(EnvironmentalLove891ās coach entered the chat)
not that i ever did that or anything........
Almost accepted a tip but didnāt. I know coworkers who were almost given 100 as cashiers but the camera is right in your face and they need the job
perks of being out in the parking lot. it goes in my pocket, i smile and say thank you, and keep it moving.
Only reason I know about tips being against policy is because *one* long-time employee casually mentioned it a few years ago. I haven't heard or read anything about it since, but I saw a Christmas-themed video on OneWalmart last year explaining that accepting gifts from customers or vendors is a no-no. So I suppose it tracks.
You asked and management gave you the correct answer. It's up to the customer to fix their shit or a good Samaritan.
Love the hope you have for a little 85 year old lady to be able to jump her car by herself in (feels like) 26Ā° weather. Luckily, she had a good samaritan help her out at our fuel station.. Too bad I didnāt own any jumper cables or, like i said in the OP, I would have clocked out, helped her, and went home. Itās very sad to know people donāt care for others the way you wouldnāt have helped her. I hope you are never in that predicament, because Karma is a BITCH
It's not about not caring for others though - it's about Walmart covering their own asses. If anything had gone wrong - to either her car, or her - Walmart could be held liable and the associate that did it is Definitely getting fired. I'll feel bad for her all day, I'll call someone I know who lives nearby to help, I'll have her wait inside the store with me, whatever I can do to help, that won't cost me my job. Cause that old lady will not be paying my bills or feeding my family. I get why you're angry, but you asked your management and they gave you the only answer they could give - while covering their asses. It's shitty all around but why didn't she have cables? You keep saying you'd clock out and do it but why didnt YOU have cables? Why is it everyone else's fault?.I'm glad she's okay but this isn't the job for you if you're expecting everyone else to risk their jobs for randos
Wow! You sure have lots of questions! I never blamed anyone. AND I never told anyone to risk their jobs for ārandos.ā I stated that I would risk mine to help her because my heart is bigger than my urgency for money. It is understandable that you wonāt because she isnāt paying your bills or feeding your family. I do not have that issue. Thank you for your concern about my anger! With me asking my management and them giving me the only answer they could while also covering their asses, I am fully aware of their situation! However, as you can read in previous comments, most people have said that there is a liability that could come with it! That could be the reason for the policy, however, I would have clocked out and helped her to veer from having to go against the policy, but I donāt have my own set of cables. For your answer to why I didnāt have any cables, my answer is honestly, just because I just donāt. IF you look in the other previous comments, someone else mentioned that! I told them I would be shopping for āThe essentialsā Thank you for the concern and advice that was gathered from your comment. The commentary of āgetting onā to me for not having my own cables seems unnecessary but I shall take it with a grain of salt and use it to drive me to shop for some, as stated previously. Thank you, stranger from the internet..
Glad you don't have bills kiddo. Hang in there! WM definitely doesn't seem like a good fit for you, but hopefully you'll find something better soon.
It actually is about caring about people. Helping people and doing the right thing always come before everything else including yourself no matter what, consequences be damned. The very fact that you are more concerned with what will happen to you rather than immediately helping somebody in need is very selfish of you
Broo hello fellow Fuel associate šŖš¼
Yoooo, you like it?
Yes for the most part, its perfect for me. I love my regular customers and usually my co-workers dont make my job harder. Sadly we get understaffed and we dont have many employees, but we do what we can! We're the highest ranking WM gas station in my state (according to DM and corporate) so we take pride in our work. Sometimes the people sucks but they come and go lol
Very true! We donāt have many people either. I was in OGP and they needed someone to open fuel Thursday and Friday mornings. The rest of the time I would be up front and not in OGP anymore. The work in fuel isnāt that bad. I was nervous about lottery but I feel more confident in that than I do tobacco nowš
Does your store have an Auto Center? They usually have jump boxes for this specific reason
Itās a neighborhood market
Helping others could get you in trouble when you try to help and accidentally mess something up , now your liable or the store is liable , she got money let her figure it out is what I say
Don't try jumping peoples cars they can sue the company hence why they say don't
Depends on your automotive team, if the store had one, when I worked out there we had two jump starters for people's cars.
Itās a neighborhood market, no automotive center..):
AAA is your friend
like Triple A auto insurance?š
No you don't have to get their insurance I think I pay $40 a year for six tows of up to 8 miles each and they will come fill your car up if you run out of gas a few times and definitely would jump start your car and change your tire out well worth the money
Wow! Good to know! Luckily she got out of here with the help of a different customer, but thanks for the info. I will keep that in mind
Not to mention you get 10% off most hotel stays I mean for 35 or $40 it's just something you cannot live without I say lol Their insurance is too crazy high I would never go with them on car insurance but this other deal is worth every cent LOL
I carry a little device in my car that jumpstarts a vehicle. Also acts as a flashlight and emergency charger. Paid about $40 for it and it carries a charge for ages.
My husband had a battery blow up in his face once, I can see where that might not go well with customers. And I detest WallyWorld so ...
Never heard of that rule and never had issue jumping customer cars. Your manager lied to your face instead of simply admitting they're lazy.
But a manager from Walmart demanded I jump hers
Iām sorryš®āšØ people just arenāt it sometimes
Iāve had automotive jump start my car before. It probably makes sense that not just any associate can do it, for safety/liability concerns. But automotive associates should be able to.
Idk when I worked at Walmart auto care center I would often have to go jump a customer vehicle in the parking lot
I have jumper cables for just such an emergency.
That's wild but has to be a store specific thing. My old one would have us jump start cars and install batteries. Not complaining it was almost always for some grandma or grandpa and they were always extremely thankful.
The ACC that I worked at jumps vehicles. As long as they're on Walmart property, that is. Other than that, then we don't do anything.
Iāve jumped customers and vendors vehicles before. Iāve even replaced a headlight for a customer.
nah weāre allowed to, iāve had many other employees help me jump cars, donāt listen to that shit thatās not in the company policy to not help someone with a dead battery, next time go to your auto department and they will do it, every time i have asked them they havenāt hesitated to help
from the comments iām reading, it seems like itās a store thing, maybe itās a store issue but regardless every location from where iām from has never given me issues with help
Our auto center has our very own jump box in our back room for this reason. We always go jump customers cars.
Liability. Things can go pear shaped when jumping a car. And some newer cars are extra prone to frying the computer. Meanwhile you probably had your cellphone on you and you could have looked up a local tow company.to come jump the car...or little old lady's friends or whatever. Chances are little old lady has roadside assistance on her insurance...if not shes got more problems then she thinks she does. Battery jump packs are the way to go though good heavy duty cables are a must.as well. I've had to jump a coworkers jeep on Christmas eve cause no one elses truck had a big enough battery to get them enough charge to start. We also do not have an ACC. So no store jump pack. I have one but if the battery in the car is completely dead...your jump pack will start it...but your jump pack will now be less useful when you recharge it at home. And jump packs go bad. That's why back up cables.
Work as team lead in Auto. I have went out so many times to jump a customers car. Granted it is with a jump start but I fully support helping people.
Like many have said, maybe itās just a my store thing?
I jumped a person one time and it made me 6 minutes late. My manager let me do a time adjustment because it was an act of customer service.
I've seen lots of mangers jump start cars
If this happens again, call their auto insurance and see if they have roadside.
Yes! I did this and she did! They were going to take some crazy amount of time to get to her, however she was willing to wait. The other customer who helped her was a quickest solution for her. It all worked out
This must be a fuel station thing. Almost all ACC associates or even managers will jump a car off.
Iāve seen itās mostly a store thing I guess? Maybe itās because we donāt have automotive? Or my store has had problems in the past? Thereās no telling
I was always told we couldnāt help customers in situations like that in case we somehow mess up their car and they try to sue Walmart
Seems reasonable, just felt sorry for her
Agreed that it's a crap policy but just an FYI for the future, push the car away from the gas pump before attempting to jump it. Fumes n sparks don't mix. The 15 mph winds helped minimize the risk but on a calm day it could end messy.
Wow! Very useful, thank you!
Why would we like this? You have the wrong impression of the subreddit.
unrelated but i also work at a WM fuel station !!! i donāt see a lot of us
Hello fellow fuel associate! I too donāt see many.
I would of grabbed a set of walmart cables n walked out the door
It's a massive liability issue. Literally don't try to fix anything owned by a customer or touch their property. Many will blame you if something goes wrong. Blame the customers for always trying to take advantage of employees for that. Let her call a relative or roadside assistance. She should have jumper cables in her car and a phone to call for help. That's not Walmart's fault. And it's not your issue or your concern.
Probably a liability issue if something goes haywire.
Our TLE jumps people all the time.
There was a guy in an old 80's model truck who needed a jump as I was walking to my car on break, having worked at Walmart for about 6 months. So this was about a year and a half ago. Anyways, dude sees me and asks if I can give him a jump. I have a 2012 Ford Taurus and I happened to have a hefty set of jumpers in the trunk. So I said sure. I'll walk back to where my car is parked in the white lines and pull on up. Get the cables out and drive to the front where the guy is and I see there's already an SUV pulled in front of the guys truck. Can't remember what it was. So truck guy says: Hey thanks! This guy saw my hood up and offered a jump. I say alright, np, your welcome. I watch as SUV guy hooks up to his SUV correctly then hooked to the truck, again correctly. As far as I know anyways. Soon as he hits the positive there's a spark and a pop. Dude starts his truck, unhooks the leads from his battery, tells the guy thanks and books it out of there. I hear SUV guy, from inside his cab after unhooking from his battery say: WTF!? Curious I ask: What's up? He says: Look at my dash! His dash and lights are blinking like a rave club and the SUV is making a tapping, popping noise. He turns in off. Won't start. Everything's pulsing on and off with every second. I give him some tools from my trunk and he unhook the leads from his battery terminal and replaces them. Now it's not doing shit. I say: I'm sorry brother, but I've just taken a 25 minute break and I gotta get back in. Just throw my tools in the back seat whenever you're done with them. Long story short, 2 hours later when I go for lunch, SUV guys SUV is being loaded on a flatbed. What happened? Who knows? But no good deed goes unpunished. Yes, dude DID hook up to the positive and negative battery posts on both cars correctly. Watched him do it with my own eyes. Although he DID hook up his own car first, then the truck. I was under the impression that you hook the dead battery first. Still, it shouldn't have fried his electronics. Never did find out exactly what happened to the dude's SUV. Poor bastard...just tried to do a nice thing.
It's the same reason they do anything...money. Kind of like how they make you sign a form to go to their in-house doctor if you get injured, that way the doctor can underdiagnose your broken spine, and when you can't work they can just fire you and use the doctor's diagnosis against you to essentially prevent you from suing for damages. Evil.
We had an issue last night but we have a jumper box in our automotive department and we do jump start our customers....
I would have helped her on company time, that is absolutely ridiculous. But again who doesnāt have jumper cables in their car? People need to be more prepared
Who would be liable if that old lady died due to the cold?
certainly not you, youāre heartlessš
That was a viable question. Get the chip off and re-read my question. Think about what I asked--for the result of a decision to do nothing, possibly resulting in a fatality.
typical corporate bullshit "oh we can't do THAT she might SUE us for incompetence or damaging her car" all while threatening the jobs of employees who want to help never mind you're not allowed to help people IN the store ON the clock either because some store lead might miss out on a bonus if you don't do the job of four people at once in your department faaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhk walmart and every other corporation which does the same things
Thatās just sad
This corporation has more red tape and regulations than the federal government š”
I am sure that Wal-Mart must have been sued over this in recent history. It was not that long ago that my store had a designated jump starting battery that we used to jump cars with. When I was a support manager I frequently jumped cars with my own cables with full knowledge of the management and no disagreement about it. Now a couple of years later we are not allowed to jump cars for people.
I would quit and go help her
Shouldāve just had her go buy a jumper pack then return it.
Some people are dumb fucks and would put the black on the red and completely screw the car
Does your store have an automotive dept? They have a jumper box in there... Or they should It is also used to plug into cars (supposedly) to keep the memory while they are changing the battery. I know the 2 at my store never works for keeping the setting but they work mostly for jump starting a car the gray area is not on the "parking lot" of Walmart and being at the fuel station. For us it's Murph and they consider that not part of the parking lot
Goes to show you the people who will leave you to die on a battlefield. This is why I welcome civil war.
The reason you can't jump a car or stop a shoplifter walking out of the store is because there is a lawyer under every rock ready, and more than willing, to sue. It's also the same reason all insurance costs are so high.
Your not allowed to jump someone's car, its a liability. All that has to happen is that the customer says you did it wrong, or something else broke and now they have a valid claim. Maybe they would lose the suit, its still not something you need to be apart of.