Next time you walk in to Wal-Mart and pass the greeter, make sure you make eye contact with him or her, smile, and say hello. It will make their day, and yours too.
Most people walk right in, hurrying past and blowing off or ignoring the greeter. The job of greeting is probably one of the most difficult at Wal-Mart. The door greeter is a contrived position and a forced social interaction; for most people, it’s unwanted or at best an inconvenience.
But the door greeter is human too. They have feelings and want to be loved and accepted. After a few days of being blown off and disregarded, I can only imagine the plummet in self-esteem a greeter must experience. In the face of apathy, how can greeters be expected to continue being enthusiastic and making personal connections with Wal-Mart shoppers?
This probably explains why every time I have been to Wal-Mart the greeter is spacing off and avoids eye contact with customers. They’ve been conditioned, and no one expects more of them.
Wal-Mart isn’t about personal connections. It’s never been “small town.” The people that work there are often from a low-income situations and work there because it was an easy job to get or they had difficulty finding other work. The environment doesn’t facilitate good service and community building. Despite this, next time I am at Wal-Mart, I will be greeting the greeter because they are human, with emotions and doubts, and need to be acknowledged and validated as such.