When I Met Mr. Sam
 Cameron - Store Manager
In late fall of 1991, Mr. Sam and John Huey, the author of Sam's book, came to Branson, Mo., for a store visit. We were touring the store as usual with Mr. Sam; walking, asking questions, looking at merchandise, and talking to associates and customers. I cannot even remember the question Mr. Huey asked or my answer, but Mr. Huey said "So it is one of those if it ain't broke don't fix it". Before I could say anything, Mr. Sam slapped his hands on the stacked base of merchandise and said "Well the new rule is break it and see what else you can do with it".
Wow! This was just a few months prior to him passing away, at a point when he had acheived more in his career than almost anyone in America, and he was still trying to get more out of the business. He was such a student of retail even then, and we need to be also.
Jeanette - Employment Practices
Back in the late 80s, when I was a teenager, I worked at a restaurant on the MO-AR stateline called the Stephenson's Cider Mill. At the time, this was one of very few restaurants in the area. Mr. Sam and his family visited many times.
On a busy Friday night, I was elected to be the "bun girl", which meant I would have a basket of hot rolls and would hand them out to customers that wanted one.
In a hurry to get hot rolls to our customers, I left one of the dining rooms and started running quickly to the other dining room. (I knew I wasn't supposed to be running in the hall, do teenagers ever listen?) Mr. Sam was coming around the corner at the same time and I ran right into him, almost knocking myself down. Hot rolls flew everywhere! He helped me pick them up, shook my hand and said keep up the good work!
He was a wonderful person!
Lisa - Personnel
I had worked at Wal-Mart for a year in 1990 when the Eagan, Minnesota Wal-Mart was opening. I worked the overnight shift then and apparently it was customary for Mr. Sam to give a Texan Barbeque for the associates who helped open a new store.
We all knew we would be fed, but to my surprise up rolled a limo with Sam and some board members with him along with the food that was promised. He and those with him served all of the overnight associates at 2 am in the morning.
To this day, I remembered the food served, the wonderful smells and thinking it was the best barbeque I've eaten. But most of all, I remember meeting Mr. Sam. After he finished serving us, he sat down beside me. Since I was one of the only women working overnight and asked me, "Now why are you working here among a bunch of hooligans?" I will never forget that. He really cared. He really listened. And I returned to Wal-Mart years later because of that meeting him so early in the morning.
Jeff - Regional Learning Champion
I was working at store 151 in McAlester Oklahoma as a Photo Manager/Photo Installer. I would run my photo lab in the store and travel the United States installing and training our associates on how to run the photo centers.
I had been promoted to full time Photo Installer and was finishing up training a new manager and just making sure everything was done so things would run smooth when I left. We found out that Mr. Sam was coming to visit our store that day and all the associates were very excited for the visit.
When Mr. Sam showed up he was touring the store and as he made his way to the photo center he came up to the counter to search me out. I walked over to the counter to shake his hand and he said hello and that he wanted to congratulate me on my promotion and if there was anything I needed to let him know.
That day I knew that Wal-Mart was home for me. I never would have imagined that I would have that happen to me by the founder of the company. Not many people get that opportunity. I have done many things with the company through the years but have to say that that one moment when I met Mr. Sam in McAlester Oklahoma was the highlight of my career.
What a great company this is to work for!
Kevin - Merchandising Toys
These are two of the many Mr. Walton stories I have. I was fortunate enough, in my store planning days, to have Mr. Walton at many of our Grand Openings around the country. I have many good memories of Mr. Walton some of them are even good stories.
In 1985 when, I was a very young assistant manager at Store 159, Columbia Missouri, Mr. Walton would come to town often. I had been an assistant for a few weeks, fresh off the training program, when we heard he was coming to see his father, who lived in Columbia.
Well, he arrived at our store and he started his tour in lawn and garden on the patio. He began asking some questions, I distinctly remember him asking the assistant over that area about patio furniture. The assistant told him that the patio furniture came in too early. Mr. Walton pulled a small tape recorder out of his jacket pocket and recorded the note.
He then turned to me and I introduced myself. What he said next, I will never forget. He said "Is your mother Betty Evington?" I was shocked because we have different last names, she had remarried when I was very young. How did he know? I said "Yes sir, she is?" He proceeded to rave about what a good fabrics department manager she was in store 15, West Plains, Missouri when that store opened in 1969. At the time she was the invoice clerk in store 340, Checotah OK.
I don't know if someone gave him a card with that information on it? Or if one of our managers told him about my mother? Or maybe even if my mother told him, she was very proud that I came here to work after college. It really doesn't matter to me. He took the time to take that small minute piece of information and make an impression on a very young assistant manager. It's a day I will remember forever.
The second story happens in Tulsa OK about 1990. I was the co-manager at store 576. Mr. Walton came in before going on one of his hunting trips to Texas. He was flying out of the Tulsa Airport. He came in and wanted to buy a Stanley thermos and a pair of brown jersey gloves. We were out of both items!!! To my surprise, he was not upset and I will never know why. After touring the store, he and his very large hunting partner, left and went to the airport.
The next day Becky Elliot, Mr. Walton's assistant, called the store. She asked me to do her a favor. Mr. Walton had left his truck at the airport and the tags were expired. She asked if I would go to the airport and put the stickers on his tags so he wouldn't get a ticket. Of course, I was honored to do it.
Becky overnighted the two stickers to the store with Mr. Walton's insurance verification card. I went to the airport and put the stickers on the license plate of his pickup. Now I had a problem. I didn't know what to do with the insurance verification card? The doors to the pickup were locked. I went to the back of the truck and the camper shell was unlocked. I opened the shell and crawled into the bed of the truck. Mr. Walton had a split rear window in the truck and it was unlocked as well. I opened the window and crawled into the truck. Boy, were there a lot of bird feathers on the floorboard of that truck! I put the insurance card in the glove box and got out of the truck. I left the windows and camper shell the way they were but made sure the doors were locked.
I went back to the store and called Becky to tell her the task was completed. I explained to her that I broke into Mr. Walton's truck to put the card in the glove box. She thanked me for being creative and told me not to worry, what I did was fine. I was extremely worried about breaking into the vehicle of the worlds richest man. I still have the letter that Becky sent me thanking me for my efforts.
Kay - International ISD
The day the power went out in the Sam's Club merchandising offices, all of the associates felt their way to the exit doors. There were no windows in the building, and it was darker than a black cat at night inside the building.
A beat-up pickup truck came rolling down 8th Street, and it pulled into the parking lot. Out popped Sam Walton and another gentleman, who Sam later introduced as the man who was writing his book, Mr. Huey. Of course, Sam asked why all of the associates were outside and we quickly explained that the power was out.
He looked around the group and asked, "Do we have any vendors here?" There were several in attendance, who were visiting to show items to our Sam's Club buyers.
Sam then suggested that we have the vendor meetings up on the front steps of the building.
One-by-one the vendors made a presentation to Sam and the whole Sam's Club team. All of the associates had a vote: thumbs up, or thumbs down.
The chip supplier was a big hit, because he had small sample packages that he began hurling out into the crowd.
The bad experience of a blackout was turned into a fun, positive, and learning experience for everyone. Sam understood how to turn lemons into lemonade!
Sam Walton had a wonderful knack of randomly showing up unannounced throughout the company. Because I was working in the Home Office, I had a chance to see his random walk-throughs on many occasions.
Sam would select an associate at random and begin asking questions. Things like, "What were your sales yesterday? Was that up or down from last year?" If it was up, he wanted to know what was driving the sales up. If sales were down, he wanted to know what the plan was to improve the trend. (By the way, it was OK to have your sales noted on a slip of paper in your pocket, just in case you saw Sam in the hallway.)
Or he might ask, "What are you doing today to help our customer?"
Without Sam asking us to do so as a directive, everyone in merchandising (before getting their morning coffee) would look at their sales, and plan out what they were prepared to speak to Sam about in the event he passed through the area. We did not want to disappoint Sam by not being on top of our business.
We also has a singular and clear focus…taking care of our customers.
Vicki - Market Assistant
When I started with the company in 1981, I was at store #431 in Paducah, Ky. This store was a one of the former Big K stores that Wal-Mart had purchased. I don’t know if he was interested in this Big K purchase or we were in a new growth area, whatever the reason Mr. Sam visited the store and Paducah on several occasions.
Sometimes he just dropped in, unannounced. This was always a great surprise for everyone as he always picked up the PA and thanked the customers and associates in the store. One of the things I always admired about Mr. Sam was the attention to the detail of the stores…I want to stress the stores, maybe not other things as you will note in my story.
On one of his visits, the back hall of the store was not in the best of conditions. There was freight stacked in the area, etc. I worked in the invoice office at the time and he came through the hall and stuck his head into the window of the office to say hello. Mr. Sam said to me "Vicki, when are you going to get them to clean up this hallway?" he smiled and left. Almost one year later, he came back into the store, back by the office and said, "I see you finally got them to get this hall looking good". I could not believe he had referenced this almost a year later.
Now, on this same trip Mr. Sam had flown into the small airport in Paducah. He borrowed the car of one of the maintenance men at the airport so that he could drive to the store. He spent time at the store and when he was ready to leave, he had forgotten what kind of car he had driven and where he had parked it. It took quite a while for Mr. Sam, the store manager, and the assistant managers to find that car. They all had a big laugh about having to hunt down the car in the store parking lot with customers wondering what in the world they were doing.
So, every time I am working and stop to attend to a small detail that may seem insignificant or every time I lose my car in the parking lot…I smile and think of Mr. Sam.
Candy - Shared Services
I began working for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. at the end of August 1980. At that time, there were not many Associates in the Home Office. Warehouse 1 was a working warehouse and there was no cafeteria or auditorium as there is now. There were just four tables at the top of the landing on the 2nd floor where I worked. If you didn't get one of those tables at lunch, then you sat on the stairwells, outside on the picnic tables, or in your car to eat your lunch. As you can imagine, there were not enough Associates to need a cafeteria back then.
As there were not many Associates in the Home Office, we were able to have a Wal-Mart Company picnic at Blowing Springs and our families were also invited. It was held on a Saturday in September or October, and this picnic was on a bright sunny day. Since there are not many tables at Blowing Springs many of us brought blankets and sat on the ground. While we were eating our barbecue lunches, a man was working his way around Blowing Springs Park and visiting with everyone. He approached our blanket from behind me, so I didn't see him coming. As I was talking to someone on our blanket, much to my surprise, I felt someone pat me on the head. I turned around and here was a man I didn't know. He then introduced himself as Sam Walton. He said that hoped we were enjoying our lunches and were having a good time. He had such a great smile that just spread cheer all over the park. He asked our names and our family's names, he also wanted to know where we worked in the company. He told us to be sure to get some ice cream from the truck for dessert. He took a genuine interest in all of us that were there that day. Needless to say, I never forgot my first meeting with Mr. Sam!
Darlene - Asset Protection
When I started my first career go around with Wal-Mart about 23 years ago, I was a receptionist for Warehouse Four. Mr. Sam came in to visit our facility several times. The first time I met Mr. Sam, he came in and saw my name plate. He started asking me about every Lane he knew and if I was related to them. He went through about 5 or 6 of them, and we batted a zero. The next time he came in a few months later, we had the same conversation. Once again, several months later, I looked up to see Mr. Sam standing in front of my desk and he was starting down his list of Lane's again. I finally looked at him, laughed, and said, "You realize we have had this conversation before, right?" He looked at me and winked, and said, "Yes, you are right, we have". He was the most down to earth, natural guy to talk to. He would always arrive unannounced and it would always take a few minutes for word to get around to the GM that he was in the building. He would walk around the building, grabbing the first person he came to and walk around with them asking questions. He didn't care if he was talking to the General Manager or an order filler.
I also spent several grassroots sessions with him, and was always amazed at how he could motivate and "fire up" a large group of people. He was an amazing individual.
Jenna - Organizational Effectiveness
My Grandmother worked at a clothing store named Blacks, along with a few of the Walton's good family friends. Helen would come into the store when Sam was away hunting claiming she was bored. My grandmother grew to know the Walton family from her Saturday visits with Helen. On Saturday June 22, 1991, I was staying with my Grandparents and they took me to the Phillips Golf Convention in Bella Vista, where my Grandmother saw Sam sitting alone under the tree. My Grandmother had never actually met Sam in person, only spoke to him on the phone. She walked up to him and introduced herself, then one thing led to another and we took a picture with him. In the photo is was my aunt, my cousin, Sam and I.
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