Brrr… it’s cold outside. So cold that even Walmart was put on blast after offering cheap ramen noodles to its employees who had been battling the blizzard. With record-breaking cold weather and nearly 80% of the USA expecting to see below-freezing temperatures, many residents have been urged to stay indoors.
However, people whose workplaces didn’t close due to the weather, such as Walmart, had to brave the storm to trek to work.
That’s when the retail giant’s Rockford, Illinois branch took to its social media to post a picture of employees standing behind 55-cent boxes of instant noodles.
Walmart was put on blast after offering cheap ramen noodles to its employees who had been battling a blizzard
Image credits: Scott Olson/Getty Images
The company captioned the now-infamous picture: "Brrr, it is cold outside. We appreciate our associates for braving through the cold to be here.
“Stay warm with some ramen noodle soup and crackers."
As a result, TikToker Millzy (@hiitsmillzy) took it upon herself to slam the corporation in a video that has been viewed 923,900 times.
In the now-viral video, Millzy said: “Walmart, you are a Fortune 500 company—on the top of the list; you are a multi-billion dollar corporation.
“And your way to show your appreciation is to give your employees 55-cent ramen?”
She continued: “People walking to work in -18 degree weather. Some people don’t have cars.
“Some people's cars didn’t start, and they still showed up to work, somehow, someway, so they could get a paycheck.”
People whose workplaces didn’t close due to the weather, such as Walmart, had to brave the storm to trek to work
Image credits: Ash Ketchup
According to Google’s Market Summary, Walmart is worth $ 439,48 billion. The temperature in Rockford has gone as low as -20°C (-4°F).
Millzy went on to allege that the backlash in the comments of Walmart's post was so severe that the company was left with no choice but to take it down.
“I can’t imagine going to work when everything else in the city is shut down because it’s so cold outside, and they say they are having a party, and it’s this,” the TikToker added.
She continued: “I would be so mad. I would clock out and go home.”
Additionally, Walmart workers shared their own experiences in the comment section, as a person wrote: “I worked at Walmart up until a few weeks ago. We had to work on Christmas, and our Christmas ‘bonus’ was a 10-cent Temu pin.”
Temu is an online marketplace operated by the Chinese e-commerce company PDD Holdings, and it is known for selling cheap knock-off products.
“And your way to show your appreciation is to give your employees 55-cent ramen?” a TikToker slammed Walmart
Image credits: Edward
Another TikTok user wrote: “I worked 3rd shift at Walmart, and we were lucky if we got the leftover pizza from first shift that had been sitting out all day.”
A separate individual chimed in: “I remember working deli at Walmart and they forced us to cook pizza for other departments, [but] we didn’t even get any of it.”
This isn’t the first time Walmart has faced negative reactions as a result of poor rewards for its hard-working employees.
Back in 2019, calls to boycott the retailer grew after it had been offering employees discounts instead of holiday pay.
The TikToker alleged that the backlash in the comments of Walmart's post was so severe that the company was left with no choice but to take it down
Image credits: hiitsmillzy
“Some people’s cars didn’t start, and they still showed up to work, somehow, someway, so they could get a paycheck," the content creator pointed out
Walmart had reportedly offered its employees a 10 percent and 15 percent in-store discount for working the holidays.
The 15 percent discount was only available for employees for two days in December. This sparked social media outrage, with people urging others to boycott Walmart.
In 2014, a war of words had reportedly broken out between Walmart and workers angered by the retail giant’s pay scheme.
Our Walmart, an employee group, had organized a series of Black Friday protests, predicting some kind of action in front of about 1,600 stores.
"What a way to devalue their employees," a reader commented
