Walmart review: Walmart staff, Bathurst NB

My daughter has asked that I write on her behalf. She was very triggered by an incident that happened at the Walmart in Bathurst, NB, last night around 9:55 PM. Her Ipad stopped working last night and she wanted a new one to complete projects she was working on. We did call customer service prior to going to Walmart and asked if we could have the item at the customer service desk ready for purchase because my daughter has a disability and she did not think she would have time to pick it up at the back of the store. The lady who I spoke with on the phone informed me that they would have someone from electronics bring it to customer service when we arrived. I dropped my daughter off at the door, then went to park my car. When I walked into the store, which was likely not more than a minute or two later, my daughter was backed against the wall and two guys were talking to her. I could see by the look on her face that she was feeling very uncomfortable. I managed to walk between her and the two guys and there was barely enough space. I just said to her “let’s go, we don’t have to talk to these guys”. One of the guys just walked away, and the other guy just stood there. My daughter paused. She seemed frozen with fear. We walked to customer service. It triggered my daughter so much that she got dizzy and ended ip sitting on the floor at customer service. She reports that the guys told her the store was closing and asked her why she was in the store. They were standing too close to her and she became very afraid of what they were going to do. I would like to mention here that on one other occasion we did go to Walmart five or 10 minutes before it was supposed to close. The doors were open and as were walking in an employee tells us the store is closing. He told us we couldn’t go in and we didn’t. Your employee should not be able to block customers out before your advertised closing time. But my main concern here is how those two guys who we presume were employees (not wearing Walmart vests and did not say who they were) approached, intimidated, and triggered her PTSD. I do not have PTSD, but such an incident would trigger me as well. Not as severely as someone who does, but it would trigger me. My daughter is now afraid to go into Walmart by herself. The incident was a huge emotional trigger. I believe you can view the whole incident on store video.

The loss is the emotional damage and effect on my daughter’s mental health. She did not sleep last night and she now states that she will never go into Walmart by herself.

The incident was a huge emotional trigger for my daughter. Your employees need to be trained on when they need to approach a customer, how to approach customer, the number of staff who need to approach a customer, and how close they can get to a customer without invading their personal space. A second least important desired outcome is stop blocking customers from entering the store before your advertised closing time.