My friend and college classmate Cam McWhirter requested a print of my Christmas Eve star trails at the Sacandaga Lake. And since he was kind enough to send me a copy of his excellent book Red Summer, a history of racial tension and riots in post-World War I America, I was more than happy to oblige.
And on Wednesday night, I was at the Walmart Supercenter in Rensselaer – and I had a digital copy of the star trails photo with me. Normally I would take the digital chip to Ritz or McGreevy Pro Lab and have them do the printing, but Walmart offered poster printing of sizes up to 24″x36″. So I figured, what the heck, I’ll take care of it here and all will be well.
I went to the Photo Center section of Walmart, and used their kiosks to get an instant print of the star trails photo. The Photo Center worker at Walmart, a nice girl named Alycia, told me that the print would take about 20 minutes to finish.
No problem, I replied.
But as the picture came out of the printer, she noticed something on the print. “Sir,” she said, “are these lines supposed to be on your print?”
Initially I was ready to reply, “Yes, that’s actually a shooting star that I captured at the same time as the star trails were captured – ”
But it wasn’t the shooting star Alycia was noticing. It was actually scrape marks on the print, caused by the printer head gouging the photograph.
Oh great, I thought. Just what I need.
“Don’t worry, sir,” she said with a smile. “I’ll have it reprinted for you.”
I looked at my watch. “It’s 10:30 now, are we going to have time to take care of this before this part of the store closes?”
“I’ll check the printer and have it reprinted tonight,” she replied, still smiling, “and when you come in tomorrow, it’ll be right here on the counter. You’ve already paid for the photo, so this will be reprinted at no additional charge. Just come back here tomorrow – since I won’t be here tomorrow – and the attendant on duty will take care of you.”
“Thank you,” I replied.
Fast forward.
It’s Thursday evening, and I have just enough time to get to Rensselaer, pick up the picture, and then zip over to Elbo Room for trivia.
I entered Walmart, and immediately went to the store’s photo center. Alycia was not there; another technician was on duty. I didn’t get his name, but the guy had some seriously muscled arms. Looks like he could have spent his free time by tearing phone books in half.
“Hi, I had a print that was supposed to be reprinted last night, I’m here to pick it up.”
“Sure,” he said. “Last name?”
“Miller.”
“Oh yes,” he said. “Well… I have something to tell you.”
Great. Can’t wait for this one.
“When we tested our printer, and we were in contact with our printer technician, I had to print your picture twice as a test to make sure everything was fine. So you have two copies in this tube instead of one, at no additional charge.”
Well now. That’s a nice touch.
“Actually,” he said, “I’m trying to convince my manager to have a photo contest here at Walmart, where people can bring in their photos and they can get displayed and maybe the winner would receive a prize.”
Not a bad idea.
I looked at the plastic baggie that held my picture – er – pictures. The words “CHECK POSTER TO MAKE SURE THERE IS NO BANDING” and “NO CHARGE” were clearly written on the price tag.
And when I got home and opened the bag, the print quality was just what I had hoped for. A clean picture with no scrape marks or fingerprints or gunk or anything else. Success. I signed the back of the picture for Cam, placed it in a mailing tube, and sent it off to him this morning.
I know that there are people out there who like to gripe about and goof on Walmart. But when Walmart goes above and beyond what anyone would normally expect a store to do – to the point where they actually want me to return as a customer, based on their customer service – then that has to be applauded.
So if anyone from Bentonville, Arkansas is monitoring the blogs these days, and they see this little blog about the pleasant service I received at the Walmart Supercenter in Rensselaer – including the work by Alycia and the guy with the big arms at the Photo Center in that store – feel free to give them some applause, too.
Chuck The Writer 
I KNEW I recognized you in a People of Wal-Mart email I received…
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From all the horror stories I’ve heard about Walmart, I’m thinking that if Bentonville, AK does get wind of this, two things will happen. Alycia will get written up for the gouging happening in the first place, and her hours will be cut. And muscle man will have his next paycheck docked the amount of one poster because he failed to get proper authorization BEFORE he made the second print, and decided HIMSELF to give it to you at no additional charge!
I’m glad you had a great experience, but I’m still not a fan of Walmart and doubt if I ever will be.
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I think you should call the manager to compliment the service you received. All too often people complain and never think to report the good.
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That Walmart is absolutely horrible, so if you had a good experience there I’d send a letter to Bentonville, AR rather than the manager of the store. Yes, those photo people do need to receive feedback that they went above and beyond because the workers in that particular store are not that good. And that includes the management. I will not shop at Walmart because of that store. And I really haven’t had a bad experience, it’s just the apathy at that store seems greater than at any other Walmart.
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Walmart is what it is – but when you actually get good service like that, it puts a little spring in your step. When Todd and I bought our flatscreen TV there, the associate was totally awesome (and a gamer, which really helped the professor in deciding which tv would be best for the playstation), and provided some good advice. She wasn’t trying to sell us the most expensive blu-ray player or tv. We didn’t have to wait around long, either – she and another associate helped us load up the goods immediately and we were on our way. She also recognizes us whenever we return to the Electronics dept. For that, I’m appreciative.
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