Letter to the Editor | Discouraged

Letter to the, Richmond County Daily Journal, Rockingham, N.C.
·2 min read

Oct. 31—On October 26th, 2023, between 3:30 and 4:05 p.m., an elderly senior citizen was in line at the Walmart here in Rockingham purchasing a 58-inch flat screen TV. After she purchased the TV, a male Walmart employee put the TV on a cart to be rolled out.

Bless her heart, the senior citizen asked the Walmart employee to push the cart out to her car. He then turned to and asked another Walmart employee who appeared to be a manager or supervisor, who responded, "Ma'am we don't do that, or he can't do that." Either way, her request was denied.

In response, the elderly lady began to tell them that she had two back surgeries and needed the assistance getting the TV off the cart and into her car. The Walmart employees still maintained "that they could NOT." The senior citizen advised the Walmart employees that they may as well refund her money, because she couldn't and wouldn't be able to get the TV in her car due to back surgeries.

At this point, a gentleman in the line behind the citizen, who waiting to check out, asked Walmart Employees for a job application. "Y'all need some help in here," he said jokingly. "Ma'am, I'll push the cart to your car and put the TV in your car for you." So the gentleman and the elderly senior citizen proceeded to her car where he put the TV in the car for her. She asked him, "How much do I owe you?" He responded, 'Ma'am, You don't owe me nothing.'

"God bless you!" she said. "I will have my neighbor take it out of the car for me when I get home."

I am discouraged that an elderly senior citizen in her late '70s, with two back surgeries, purchasing a large item at a store, could not get a common courtesy for some assistance. Even if there are policies in place that prevent such a request, that is a sad reflection on the current state of affairs in the world. What would have happened if the elderly individual would have fell or injured herself seriously in the parking lot while trying to put her newly purchased Walmart TV in her car?

The fact remains that that could have been your mother, grandmother or great-grandmother.

Walmart — please explain why this elderly senior citizen coming into your Rockingham establishment could not get assistance from an employee. We have got to do better by a situation that we, if we live long enough, will be in ourselves.

What's the policy? Inquiring minds want to know.

Sincerely — Sheila Jones