TheSauce05

All the Wal-Marts around here have also always passed out maps. I just know what was in the training video that we had to sit through. I guess maybe our stores are a little less rural then some. Like I said, it will most likely depend on where the store is located and how many customers they expect to see in the store that morning as to how they will set things up. If your store has already been handing out items, then there probably won't be much change other than the line that they will form. All of the stores around here are independent from themselves, so "big item pickup" around the back of the store is possible. I'm not really happy about them making the associates hand out items. It just seems to me that it will allow customers to place blame on somebody because they didn't get the item they wanted, but I don't know. Of course, having an associate in the middle of a mob of people fighting to get into a pallet is probably less safe. There's usually always a fairly large crowd at all the stores here and some people do go crazy, but I'd say people stay fairly calm. I'm no lawer and I'm no "event coordinator" so I can't really say how it will work out. We'll see next month, I guess.

I work at Wal-Mart. Yep, it's true. Internally it was called blitz day (I'm guessing because the stores get blitzed by customers) and now it's called "The Yearly Event." One of the managers at my store said he guessed the word "blitz" had a negative conotation. Anyway, if you really want to know the details (except for the ad. I have no idea what's going on sale) here they are: I'm sure you're all familiar with the way Black Friday was at Wal-Mart. I know at all the stores I've been to, there were covered pallets of merchandise placed throughout the store and at a certain time they were uncovered and customers fought like hell to get those "hot" items. It was kind of a grab and go like a bunch of vulchers. Now, I live in Kentucky, and all of the stores I've been to have been pretty rural, so they've never locked the doors before the sale started, they just let people in as usual and when the time came they uncovered the pallets and the sale started. This year, for the stores that have their doors closed until the sale starts, there will be organized lines outside the store with associates and outside hired help guiding people into the store. Customers will be given a map and a set of instructions (and rules, believe it or not) of where things are located. Instead of pallets just being out in the store waiting to be uncovered, they will be located at the end of queue lines where customers will line up and be handed merchandise by an associate one customer at a time. There will be organized queue lines everywhere, including going to and from the registers and out the doors. You will also notice a lot more staffing and a heavier law enforcement and emergency personel presence. Also, large items like TVs will not be handed out directly. Customers will be given a tag and I'm guessing barcode that they will take to the register. After that, they will drive their car around to the back of the building and give the tag and show the reciept to an associate who will load the item into their car. So, Black Friday is going to be a hell of a lot different, at least at Wal-Mart. They're friggin training us on rowd control, if you can believe that crap. I deserve a raise!