Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A day in the life of a Walmart manager

wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 266 posts

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#21

Post by pixl97 »

avalys wrote: post #6

$120k base and $120k bonus, but okay. I don't like shopping at Wal-Mart but you have to respect a company that's operating a real business at massive scale and about a 2% -3% profit margin. And Nichole seems to be good at her job. It's interesting how the bulk of the decisions about displays, ordering, stocking, are apparently made in each store and not centrally.

Having worked around a particular system of Walmart I have to say they are brutally efficient and typically hire good people to run their internal systems. This would be at the corporate level and not store level, can't say much about that myself.

When working with them in measuring the efficiency of the software they were using they were getting significantly higher throughput at significantly lower hardware cost than the average large customer that uses this software. All of it because just a few well learned employees understand how the all systems work together in this workflow and optimize the process.

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#22

Post by newsclues »

havaloc wrote: post #10

"Walking every aisle is a new practice for store bosses in her area, implemented by their regional manager. It helps managers “see what your customers see,” says Hart, and pay attention to details. It also keeps her employees on their toes." I can't believe this wasn't policy already. Seems like good practice.

I had a great manager that did similar things. His education was the navy and he ran a store like a ship, and everyone loved it.

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#23

Post by switch007 »

doytch wrote: post #9

She runs a shop that employs 300 people; needs to worry about short-term and long-term logistics and planning; works cross-functionally with the trades; probably frequently needs to manage upwards; interacts directly with customers; etc etc... Damn, she deserves that $240k more than a lot of us software developers. This is a hard job.

Not to detract from her performance (I've made a top comment about how she's giving CEO vibes), but we software engineers worry about short-term and long-term, do planning, work cross-functionally, manage upwards, focus on the customer's requirements. And way more.

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#24

Post by heisenbit »

varispeed wrote: post #13
doytch wrote: post #9

She runs a shop that employs 300 people; needs to worry about short-term and long-term logistics and planning; works cross-functionally with the trades; probably frequently needs to manage upwards; interacts directly with customers; etc etc... Damn, she deserves that $240k more than a lot of us software developers. This is a hard job.

> Damn, she deserves that $240k more than a lot of us software developers. This is a hard job. Wow, this is such a nonsense view. Software development may seem easy to you, because you know how to do it and probably have been doing it for a long time. But I can assure you, software development is a hard job. If it was easy, everyone and their dog could do it. Have some respect to your profession!

Yes SW development is a hard job but she is doing a lot more than one job and the skill set required (not just knowledge but also behavior) to cover so many roles is a lot broader than most developers and also many managers in the software industry require to do their job.

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#25

Post by karaterobot »

> “I love my job,” says Hart, but “it doesn’t turn off. That is one of the hard things about it.”

I'm lucky that in my industry I can make a good living as an individual contributor, because having to actually think about my job when I'm not at my job sounds like a living nightmare.

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#26

Post by quantumfissure »

olddustytrail wrote: post #4

> Near the cereal aisle, a customer walks up to Hart while recording on his cellphone. >“Hi! Can we get some Snoop Cereal here on the shelf?” asks the man. Earlier that month the rapper Snoop Dogg sued Walmart, claiming the retailer, along with Post Consumer Brands, had worked to suppress sales of Snoop Cereal. Some fans were recording videos related to the dispute for social media. It's like you think you know Ameri…

This is not a normal human, less then probably .5% of 340 million Americans are like this.

It's called being an attention-whore and hoping to strike it big by filming a non-controversy and making it into one on Tik-Tok. You can thank social media (and regular media) for the profiting off clicks/algorithms/non-controversies and driving this nonsense. This isn't filming a cop making an arrest to keep them accountable, it's filming a store manager hoping to create controversy and rid her of her job because she 'said or did the wrong thing' on film. It's no different then filming a fat/alt-lifestyle/whomever person on the bus without them knowing and then making fun of them to drive clicks to your video.

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#27

Post by newsclues »

doytch wrote: post #9

She runs a shop that employs 300 people; needs to worry about short-term and long-term logistics and planning; works cross-functionally with the trades; probably frequently needs to manage upwards; interacts directly with customers; etc etc... Damn, she deserves that $240k more than a lot of us software developers. This is a hard job.

I think there are lots of hard jobs that go under appreciated in our society.

I think about people playing pro sports for millions and then minimum wage labourers, drivers clerks, cleaners and cooks who make minimum wages. One group are celebrated and the other are essential to society continuing to function.

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#29

Post by switch007 »

doytch wrote: post #12
ldjkfkdsjnv wrote: post #7

Unpopular opinion, more people are capable of doing well at higher level jobs than they are at low level grunt working jobs.

Time-management is probably the single most important skill in these higher-paying jobs and...well...given the amount of self-help books there are on this topic, I'm not so sure I'd agree. People who do well in higher-level jobs know /exactly/ what they're best at or uniquely positioned to do, and do that. Meanwhile, you need to delegate the rest to whoever's in the best position to do so (growing people if there are…

I'd say it's people skills and marketing/PR.

Everyone I've seen rise through the ranks has absolutely nailed communication, self-promotion, parroting the party-line, moderating their words, adapting to their audience, improving their speech techniques, giving excellent presentations etc.

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#30

Post by stefan_ »

doytch wrote: post #9

She runs a shop that employs 300 people; needs to worry about short-term and long-term logistics and planning; works cross-functionally with the trades; probably frequently needs to manage upwards; interacts directly with customers; etc etc... Damn, she deserves that $240k more than a lot of us software developers. This is a hard job.

It's hard work keeping the staff below the full time limit where they get benefits, squeeze suppliers and ensure the reliable flow of inane corporate directives downwards. Has everyone completed their mandatory union training yet?

I don't know man, I'd rather make new stuff, ya know.

Post reply on HN