Re: What are Wal-Mart Greeters?

Well, yes.  Choirs are not being replenished by younger singers, as they
must have been for generations past.

Other than your age?

When I joined my first real-world choir (outside educational
establishments) at the age of about 25, I was one of the youngest
members.  I stayed with that choir for 25 years, at the end of which I
was one of the youngest members.  I have had to find other choirs to
join, and in many cases, at the age of 52, I am one of the youngest
members.  This Saturday I'm helping out a local choral society at their
concert because the conductor considers me to be a younger addition to
his line of basses.

Something has changed during my lifetime.

I'm one of the babies of AUE, and I'll be 40 next year.

Come to think of it: I've been one of the babies of AUE for over a
decade. This really isn't fair.

How many youths (surly or otherwise), read AUE, I wonder?  I'm 55, and I
imagine most readers of AUE are in a similar age-bracket (I would be
delighted to be proved wrong).   After forty years of not teaching grammar
"because it confines young minds", we have nearly two generations of people
who (whatever their interest in language) find it hard to articulate their
instinctive objections to this or that locution.  Years ago I asked a class
of students (mainly teachers) engaged in a  postgraduate certificate course
in English to identify the verb in a number of sentences written on a
blackboard, and most of them were bafffled by the question.

Peter Groves (Melbourne, Australia)

My most frequent encounter with 'greeters' is in the larger B&Qs - a DIY
chain - where surly youths press baskets and catalogues upon one. This
is odd as many B&Q employees are of mature years and are knowledgeable
and helpful. I suppose it may be the only thing that surly youths can do
without great damage.

Forunately we don't have these "greeters" over here.

I suppose it is because of higher minimum wages. But it could
also be because Europeans don't buy standardized superficial
friendliness as easy as Americans do.

Lars
Stockholm

The practice is very old. Department stores had floorwalkers whose
tasks, in part, was to greet customers.

Perhaps Wal Mart started it?

Jan

While Wal Mart does employ Greeters, it's not a practice limited to
Wal Mart.  Other stores have Greeters.  

If the entire nation is composed of greeters, there are presumably no
customers and no goods for sale.

They have nothing to do but greet each other.  

So perhaps the evil is the end of productivity. Ron Paul fans seem to be not
far removed from being Ayn Rand fans, and Ayn Rand deplored non-productive
"busy" work, perhaps epitomised by "greeters".

Just guessing here -- I'd never heard of Walmart Greeters until reading this
thread.

The evil aspect isn't related to the answer given Jan. Wal Mart has been
strongly criticized for treating their employees badly (I'll leave the
details to someone else) and union busting. As you say, Tony, the
greeters are usually retirees who like having the opportunity for
something to do and having contact with people. Provided the work isn't
necessary for livelihood, I agree that it may be a nice way for some
retirees to pass their time.

Wal Mart employs elderly men and women to stand by the doors and greet
people with a friendly "Hello" when they walk in the door.  They also
direct people to the Returns and Exchanges desk if necessary, and
request that knapsacks and other carriers be checked before entering
the store.

The job is minimum wage, but Wal Mart never has trouble filling open
positions.  Many older people really want to have contact with other
people, a function in life, and an extra income.  

I don't see the "evil" aspect.  The Greeters are not being exploited.
They take the job because they want something to do with their time
and to have some human contact.  They seem to enjoy what they do.

The customers seem to like it.  Sometimes they stop and chat with the
Greeter, and they usually return the "Hello".

 

A question about American folklore: what are Wal Mart greeters?

Taken from a nutty poster (a fanatical Ron Paul follower it seems)
who infests the ebooks groups with longish Subject headers like
"D.C has converted the U.S. into a Nation of Wal-Mart Greeters <real
subject>"
(or idem comments about Obama, Bush, trillions of debt, hyperinflation)

Anyway, what is a 'Wal Mart greeter'
and why it is supposed to be bad that them evil guys in Washington
have converted the USA into a nation of them?

Jan