Walmart Employee Shares The Disappointing Holiday Gift She & Her Co-Workers Got — 'A Billion Dollar Company & This Is What We're Getting?'
If this is all Walmart can muster for its hardworking staff, imagine what they're like the rest of the year.
ZikG | Shutterstock | annakhomulo | golubovy | Getty Images | Canva Pro Walmart has long been notorious for underpaying and mistreating its employees, but in recent years, the world's largest retailer has made real efforts to compensate its hourly workers more fairly.
This makes one employee's recent experience with a corporate holiday gift from the company all the more perplexing. The gift is so low-budget it goes way past cheap to… well, kind of insulting.
A Walmart employee shared the disappointing holiday gift she and her coworkers received from the company.
By any measure, Walmart is a behemoth — the company made $648 billion in revenue in its fiscal 2024, more than any other retailer on Earth, including Amazon.
So when the holiday season rolls around — far and away the busiest and most stressful for its workers — you'd expect the company to give their employees a bit of holiday cheer, right?
But you'd be wrong — or, at least, you'd surely have a much different definition of "holiday cheer" than the company seems to. An employee named Michelle revealed the Christmas gift she received from the company, and it leaves so much to be desired.
The gift was composed of an ornament, a candy cane, and two pieces of chocolate in a box.
Michelle held up the gift, which came in a decorative box that, though small, hinted at far more than what ended up being inside. "This is it?" Michelle said with utter mystification. "A billion-dollar company and this is all we gettin'?"
She then read the writing on the box, which said, "Thank you for all that you do, Happy Holidays from the marketing team," which Michelle pointed out is part of "the big folks that actually run" the company.
Now, Walmart isn't exactly known for lavishing benefits on its employees, but what ended up being in the box is pretty shocking. Michelle revealed a Christmas tree ornament that appeared to be Walmart-branded — so, you can think about work while admiring your tree, perhaps?
Yet, that wasn't all the box contained. There was also a candy cane and three Hershey's miniatures chocolates. It wasn't even a full-size candy cane!
Michelle stressed that she was "very thankful for the thought" on behalf of the company. Still, she couldn't believe the gift. "You ain't need to give me candy," she joked, "I got candy at home."
People could not believe the cheapness of the gift, especially given how difficult holiday retail work is.
Working retail during the holidays is an incredibly difficult job.
Analysis by CuraLinc, a provider of workplace mental health programs, found that 59% of retail employees reported being treated far worse by customers during the holiday season and that incidents of violence, robbery, and abuse from customers and coworkers soared by at least 10% in the fourth quarter of each year.
Retail is never easy, but Christmastime can make it a true nightmare — which is why many were left in shock that the world's largest retailer would toss an ornament and a couple of pieces of candy at employees and call it Merry Christmas, especially since Walmart likely gets a tax write-off from giving these gifts.
"Back in the 90s, I used to work at Walmart and we used to get at least a turkey or a ham for Christmas and Thanksgiving," one user commented, while others, including other Walmart employees, said they got nothing at all.
It certainly seems like the era of rewarding employees during the holidays has long since passed — that's likely why Michelle was so emphatic about being grateful to be thought of at all. But when you're a $648 billion company, a box of candy sends a very clear message, and it's not an appreciative one.
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.