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Dissed By Walmart Workers Over Brand Generalization
R. Alex Whitlock
This post turned out to be a bit ironic.
I was at Walmart yesterday, looking for some
Tupperware plastic containers to keep food fresh. I wasn't aware, or had forgotten, that Tupperware was a registered trademark of a company, much like Kleenex. I'd also forgotten, or was unaware, that Tupperware is sold by alternative means ("Tupperware Parties" I guess).
So I went into Walmart and asked an employee where I could find the tupperware. She howled in laughter. "We don't sell Tupperware!"
"Uhhh..." (thinking of lower-case t-tupperware).
"We sell
Rubbermaid, but not Tupperware!"
"Oh, okay. Where's the Rubbermaid."
She showed me the way. Then, less than ten feet away from me, she told a coworker "I just got a customer asking for
Tupperware!"
"HAHAHAHAHA! We don't sell
Tupperware! We sell
Rubbermaid!"
I can't remember ever being made fun of or berated by Walmart employees before. Much less over a subject I was discussing with coworkers and here only a couple days before.
Observations
It marks my (internal, not actual) age to say this, but it's so exciting that you can buy Tupperware at a few of those little pushcarts in malls now -- and online! And, while I use the brand name for everything else, I was brought up with the idea of Tupperware as a mystical plastic container only available at special places, so I'd never dream of using it as a generic. Then again, my family all says "thingy" or "ticket" (depending on shape -- a TV remote is a ticket, for example), so I don't know what normal people are supposed to say where we'd say "put the leftovers in a thingy."
Heh, I always think of it as tupperware too... guess I'm going to get Wal-Mart Heckled at some point.
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