Standards

Daily Meditation 1,050–1/19/2025

I was giggling. This couple did an entire photoshoot in the Walmart parking lot.

A short Meditation today.

Allowing standards to lower are a very slippery slope, generally, to worse outcomes.

Perhaps an odd or interesting example, I like to look at Walmart.

For those who don’t know, Sam Walton remained highly involved in Walmart until he died in 1992. When he was building up his massive and legendary company, he’d do things like go to competitors’ stores, lay on the ground and measure aisle widths. He was obsessed.

The thing he was most obsessed with, however, was customer satisfaction.

It’s why he created the “Door Greeter” role in 1980 — to differentiate and make it clear; “Wal*Mart is about customers.”

For those of us who experienced Walmart in the 90s, 00,s 10s, and now in the Roarin’ 20s 2.0, we all have noticed — customer service is functionally nonexistent, now.

When I worked there, it was my passion. I’d wear a dress shirt and tie to stock shelves like an egghead, but became known as “Mr. Walmart” in my town because how absurdly focused on customers I was. I haven’t worked there, now, for 9 years or so but some people still know me by this name.

Even then, I had managers get after me for “spending too much time helping customers.”