theboondork's RV blog

my plan worked..... Until it didn't.

7/4/2018

my 3 1/2-year-old grandson and 18 month old granddaughter strike a fearsome superhero pose. My granddaughter doesn't fully understand the fearsome aspects of the pose.

My cunning plan to have Walmart change the oil in my truck this Fourth of July morning worked great, except they didn't change the oil in my truck.

The plan itself worked just as I had hoped. I got there before 7 AM so I was the only customer there when the automotive part of Walmart opened for business. They did the required paperwork and sent me to wander aimlessly through the store for about 30 minutes promising to page me when the deed was done.

30 minutes later when I hadn't heard anything over the intercom I moseyed back to the auto area and was told that they couldn't change the oil in my truck because my truck wouldn't fit on the lift that picks the truck up so they can work underneath it. Since I've been having oil changed in my diesel trucks at various Walmart's for many years I had never heard of anything like this before so they brought the auto department manager over to explain it to me.

The manager said that the lift has an automatic chocking mechanism that blocks the tires so the vehicle can't roll forward or backwards while it's on the lift, and my short bed GMC truck with average size tires on it wouldn't fit between the front and rear chocks. He also went on to explain that one or two trucks A DAY have the same problem and have to be rejected.

Hearing that brought a couple of fairly obvious questions to my mind such as, before your truck customers disappear into the bowels of the store why don't you ask them to wait a minute until you see if their truck will fit on the rack ? And by the way, why didn't you page me when you found out my truck wouldn't fit on the rack ? The manager didn't have an answer for these questions but mumbled something and said he was sorry.... Well so am I.

theboondork

6 Comments

Barney Ward link

7/4/2018 04:32:48 pm

I thought you and I had the same wheelbase truck except yours is a 2500. The crewcab 5 foot short bed from the looks of your truck in photos. I get my lubricant changed at walmart every time without any trouble but never in Colorado.

Tom

7/4/2018 07:37:26 pm

I too have had my oil changed in numerous Walmarts in several states and have never run into this problem before. And the problem is so weird that I tend to believe it's possible that the guys working at Walmart don't know how to properly use the lift.

It just doesn't make any sense to me that the manufacturer of the very large and expensive lift would give it the ability to safely lift the weight of a truck and yet not give it the size to fit a short bed pickup.

But it was early in the morning and I hadn't had any breakfast nor even a cup of coffee so I was in no mood to argue the finer points of hydraulic lifts. I would like to think I learned a lesson this morning but for the life of me I don't know what it would be. So I will just file the experience away as a story to tell the grandkids during that very short period of time when there old enough to understand, but have not yet reached the age where they don't care.

Tom, having toooo much fun on the fourth of July.

Old Fat Man

7/4/2018 07:47:49 pm

Personally I think they need to be properly trained on the equipment as well as a bit of attitude adjustment.

7/5/2018 11:34:02 am

Yeah that's true, but a lot of the jobs there are entry-level jobs and the pay is minimum wage or barely above. So I imagine they get a lot of fresh out of high school kids, old geezers like me who need to supplement their Social Security, or people whose lives have not gone well for one reason or another. So getting an ambitious, easily trained, hard-working, go-getter will be hit and miss it best. And by the way, I don't even consider myself qualified to be a door greeter at Walmart.

Tom

Linda Sand

7/5/2018 02:09:05 pm

Your grandkids are adorable.

I was amazed to discover those door greeters are part of the security team. They're there to help stop shoplifting.

7/5/2018 03:21:19 pm

Thank you, and I completely agree, they are indeed.

Yeah I figured they were there for a better reason than to tell me good morning. But I assume they're not the kind of security guards that chase you through the parking lot and beat you to a pulp with the roasted chicken that's so easy to forget to pay for. Cause I really hate it when that happens.

Tom

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my plan worked..... Until it didn't.

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