Consumer Reports Says This Grocery Store Has The Least-Helpful Employees

Whether you're a social butterfly or more of an introvert, asking for help at the store can feel a bit unnerving. Most of the time, the employees you're encountering are busy with something else, and you don't want to be a bother — but ultimately, we know they are there to help. Not every store is keen on providing this help, though, and there are some supermarket chains with notoriously poor customer service. According to a ranking by Consumer Reports, the store with (by far) the worst "helpfulness or attentiveness of employees" is Walmart.

Customers have been vocal about Walmart's laissez-faire attitude toward helping customers for years. "I always get a bad attitude like being grumpy, and [an] I'm-forced-to-work sense from MANY Walmart employees," reads an old Reddit post from 2019. "Is terrible customer support part of the Walmart Experience or just the stores in my area. This is an honest question," reads another post on the topic, this one from 2024.

Interestingly, Walmart encourages its employees to follow the "10-foot rule," which dictates that they should greet any customer that comes within 10 feet of them. Walmart's 10-foot rule aims to promote better customer service and community values, but the workers say it's just not realistic. "If we actually interacted with every customer that was within 10 feet of us we wouldn't get much else done, especially at peak hours," explained an employee on Reddit.

It's obviously frustrating for customers when they can't get any help at the store, but those who work at Walmart have shared their point of view online as well. "We're stressed out, overworked, and underpaid," admits one commenter. People often ask the employees where to locate a certain item, which then takes them away from doing their primary work, such as restocking the shelves. It's even more frustrating when customers ask about items that are in a completely different department. And when the employees do help, there's little reward for it. "There is absolutely no positive reinforcement at all. No one notices when you do good," commented an employee.

Another frequent complaint customers make about Walmart is that customer service is almost completely unavailable over the phone. Some customers have waited over 2 hours for somebody to answer, and those who have tried to reach customer support online weren't able to speak to a human. According to the employees, the main reason for that is understaffing, which gets particularly bad during the holidays.

Walmart seems to be disappointing its customers and employees at the same time. Due to the poor working conditions, some Walmart workers have taken the company to court. In one particular case, the retailer paid a $65 million settlement for refusing to allow its cashiers to sit.