Now I’m not going to get on the topic of Wal-Mart’s Bicycle Shaped Objects (or BSO from now on) in this post, no, this topic is about my odd sense of stewardship involving the parts and accessories section of the store.
Am I Crazy?
Every time I go into Wal-Mart in my neighborhood, I have to go to the bike section to see if the bikes are properly assembled or not. If they are not, I take a permanent marker and write on the big plastic instruction package or price-tag that the bike is screwed up do to assembly failure. Just my quirkly little contribution to society… Not only that, but I take time to organize the accessories shelf in a way that makes it manageable for any person with a pulse to be able to find what they need. I did not take photos of the local walmart’s bike section, but parts were strewn around, and tons of random items from all over the store; doggy toothpaste, miniature basketballs, shoes, and a cooking pan was left on top of the bike section… like it was some kind of dumping ground for unwanted cart items.
I place these items on the ground for an employee to hopefully notice, since they sure as heck didn’t notice them crowded on top of the shelf. This led way to being able to organize the tubes and tires back by size, and hang up any products that fell off their display hooks. I try never to spend more than five or ten minutes doing this since I am not an employee, I may get yelled at for doing these actions, and it is just a little public service to unexperienced bike riders.
If I was Johhny Second-grader’s mother and needed to get a tube for his flat wheel while out getting items for dinner, I may be stressed byt seeing a pile of tube boxes and junk strewn around like there was some kind of drug raid in the area. With my little bit of time, I’m hoping that Johnny Second-grader or whoever else will be able to find what they need in order to get back riding.
I should just complain to the managers that the store is in disarray, but I’m a little too passive-agressive for that; I would rather leave a pile of rubbish on the ground that didn’t belong there, and have all the little BSO accessories easy to find.
Maybe I should ask Wal-Mart to hire me and build their bicycles PROPERLY for them. Buckhannon might be a better place if this happened.
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