Walmart worker says he was promised a manager job, but what happened after he was passed over made him quit

Promotions in retail are often presented as rewards for hard work, but one former Walmart employee says his experience was anything but that. A TikTok video by a former employee named Rusty has sparked a conversation about workplace favoritism, missed promotions and the awkward position of being asked to train the person who was chosen over you.

Rusty said he spent more than five years working at Walmart, much of that time in the deli department. So when the department manager position opened up, he believed he had a good shot at getting the job. He said he had already been trained for the role and that upper management had verbally assured him that the position would eventually be his.

That didn’t happen.

The arrangement created tension

Instead, the store opened the position to an internal interview process, and management ultimately chose someone from the bakery department, according to Rusty. He said the employee had no experience working in the deli or dealing with its specific regulations, safety requirements and day-to-day responsibilities.

The explanation Rusty says he received was that management wanted to “give her a chance” because she had applied for several other positions within the company.

Missing out on a promotion was frustrating enough. But what happened next was what ultimately pushed Rusty to leave.

According to his account, management asked him to train the employee who had just been promoted to become his manager.

Rusty said his new manager lacked experience with the deli’s operations but began micromanaging his work and accusing him of insubordination. Eventually, the situation involved an assistant manager.

Rusty said he was assured that he wouldn’t be fired, but by that point, he had already decided that he didn’t want to stay. He eventually resigned, describing the day he walked out of Walmart as “one of the happiest days” of his life.

His story resonated with other Walmart workers and former employees in the comments, many of whom claimed they had experienced similar situations.

“Work there rn, would’ve quit already if the job market wasn’t terrible,” one user wrote.

Another commenter said Rusty’s experience should actually serve as a warning to Walmart’s management.

“What you are saying…should actually be a commercial for working for Walmart. They must train upper management to do this! I’ve been at Walmart for 8 years. And I have seen this issue countless times! And they wonder why they can’t keep employees!” the user wrote.

Another user added, “Oh my god! Yes!!! I worked at Walmart for 10 years and my store had the worst management who kept sleeping with people in the store!”

He doesn’t regret his decision

Rusty’s experience is, of course, one employee’s account of what happened at his store. But it raises a question that many workers will probably recognize: what happens when a company decides that the person with the most experience isn’t the right person to lead?

For Rusty, the answer was eventually to take his experience somewhere else. And judging by his description of his final day at Walmart, he doesn’t appear to regret it.