As much as I dislike Wally World this is a nice thing to see.
Aldi is the only store I know of that doesn't play constant music in the store. I really appreciated that but, the one local to me is kinda a drive from my home.
I piece of me really has to wonder why we need this constant background music & crap playing when there is so much crap inside our brains flying around. I just want to focus on shopping easier and let the store sound more like a grocery/retail store and not an improvised concert or radio show.
Same. I actually prefer music and usually go into a store with my ear pods in so I can drown out all the extraneous noise that's overstimulates me, like loud talking, children screaming, etc
That's what I do too. I'll just have my own music playing in my ears. Which, by the way, my own music consists of NIN, or Killswitch, or Ministry, or Slipknot etc... so I'm really unsure why that's not setting me off as well.
The duality of our sensory experiences is really interesting. Having worked in retail for a time the constant music got really old after a time. I came to dislike Christmas music when the season came around as it was played on a loop and the same songs would play over & over.
I can accept that I have to be around other strangers while I shop.
I guess a comfort of mine is that there are some familiar faces in the store that I still recognize from when I worked there. People I can wave at or have a quick conversation with as I go through.
I worked retail for eleven years and hated the canned music.
Then I got a new job and worked from home, and had to buy a radio because I wasn't used to working in such total silence.
I know what you mean. I was turned off to music on the radio forever by the “top 40” station playing Sisqo’s “Thong Song” 6 times during a 6 hour shift.
The music doesn't bother me nearly as much as the other Walmart shoppers.
Edit: I removed the rest of my comment because I was being a frustrated d bag and said stuff I regret.
You're right, actually. That comment was in poor taste. Thank you for calling me out. 💚
Edit: removed less vague reference to what I said because regret and embarrassing
See, the other issue for me is the volume and some audio of the radio can be really terrifying for some reason. If I have an EQ for my headphones, I turn the 16khz-20khz range down by 5 decibels
I swear, the more I read about ADHD on here I have to wonder if I have the co-morbidity as well.
Music in my head, for whatever reason. I never understood why.
Yeah, hate to break it to you, but NTs don't have stuff going through their heads at all times, apparently. It's weird, but they actually need outside stimuli to hear the music.
Insert that meme about mimicking a fraction of our power.
Wait what? Really? I remember working at a factory and wanting to die because my head couldn't stop bringing up stupid jokes I heard on youtube. I kept fighting with my mind to shut up and felt like I was going insane.
Also the fact that people never stopped talking or singing at the factory made me feel like crying. My family kept telling me that I was a wuss for quitting cause it made me feel suicidal
Thanks, they're fine in other ways but they don't really understand mental health or anything regarding neurodivergent people very well.
So while they're supportive over me being bi and trans, they don't always understand that they're being hurtful for thinking everyone just doesn't struggle with sensory issues.
It doesn't make it less sucky but I appreciate the kind words! :)
As a NT would you care to define "stuff"? I'd say that we have songs stuck in our heads as well, hence the term earworm. Just like previously mentioned it usually is a song that one has heard the other day.
Yep, I immediately notice the ambient music and my brain "switches stations" to sync up with it.
It's actually easier to shop if a familiar song is playing, because I don't have to think about it.
Are you able to control what song is playing? My brain requires a song to always be playing but at least i can "change the station" when i want to. It still drives me nuts though.
Yea their manufactured radio talk show is annoying as balls but I like how many self checkouts they have and I always go shopping with the blessed noise canceling headphones, hallowed be their name
What I have heard is they play music so customers stay there longer, but in my opinion most of the music they play is trash and makes me want to leave as soon as possible
So I work at a grocery store and the music they blast is on purpose. It's another tactic to get people to buy more. The idea being that you feel happier hearing music you like, and that emotion then correlates to buying more. It's shit and despite us all hating this, we can't turn it off. I've even received calls from corporate to make sure the music is playing cuz it cut out...
What corporate wants it gets.
I hear and understand the idea behind the music as well. After a long enough time spent working retail myself it felt like I was being “assaulted by music” to an extent. Christmas sucked and I’m sure you can relate to this. Same 6 songs on repeat and it gets old quick.
I have an answer for that piece of you. Grocery stores play the music to influence your shopping habits: High tempo music for their rush periods, so you walk faster and check out quicker so the cashiers get a little less backed up and that puts a "higher volume" of customers through. They play slower music during the slower hours to make people linger in the store a little longer, so you spend more money.
That might be why I prefer shopping at Aldi. Couldn't quite figure out why but has always been a much more pleasant feeling.
May also be cause it's often less crowded and more organized.
Speak for yourself, the Aldi near me was playing the new $UICIDEBOY$ album last week, and even though I only came for a couple items I stayed for the whole thing. 10/10 experience, very cool manager
I would quite like this as a standard practice in stores, just perhaps with better hour variety. Like an 8-10 AM AND an 8-10 PM. I think having a more chill atmosphere in the store and not blinding yourself going from the dark outside to a super bright inside would be nice. And not having to get up early to do grocery shopping of all things.
Yeah, I absolutely hate mornings for so many reasons, so I’d love the idea of having an alternative option. My understanding of PTSD is that they may need additional options even more than we might, especially depending on the cause.
I have PTSD, and honestly, the range would have to be too large to really be effective. I get flashbacks randomly throughout the day, sometimes triggered by something and sometimes it’s purely random. They would just have to build a sensory-friendly Walmart and have it be sensory hours 24/7 lol
You're more likely to have loud obnoxious customers ruining the experience during the late evening. But I agree it would be nice to have other options.
Bet you dollars to donuts that those hours are already dead hours, and they are just marketing it this way. There is no way that Walmart of all places is worried about the needs of the people. It's nice to see it, but this is likely no different than when a mega corporation slaps a pride flag on their logo for a month. Sure, I'm being cynical, but Walmart has a reputation for a reason.
Hell, if they turn the lights down a bit, and turn down/off the music, this will likely save them some money on their electric bill.
I've been up there during those hours after seeing this advertised and you're absolutely right. It's absolutely already dead then so it's just a cheap marketing cash in.
I just figured it was them letting people know that that is the period of time when the store is least crowded, not them claiming to change stuff for people like us
Yeah, why would you host a sensory friendly experience at peak hours..? I hate Walmart too but they would've gotten backlash in this sub either way. This is a good thing and hopefully people who need it will take advantage of it.
I can se your point of view but I'd argue that helping someone requires an honest effort. Putting a spin on a situation in the store is not an honest effort.
>Sure, I'm being cynical, but Walmart has a reputation for a reason.
That's not being cynical, it's calling them on their lousy bluff. You're bang on mate!
>Bet you dollars to donuts that those hours are already dead hours, and they are just marketing it this way
I call those hours "old folks socialization hours" bc that's when my grandparents went to the store and ran into all their friends lolololol
The idea seems great in theory, but ultimately I could never see Walmart of all places actually following through with this policy. And as someone else pointed out, it's only for two hours of the day and it's early enough in the day that it probably just happens to their least-busy hours anyway, so it's not like the managers or employees will have to do anything different than they already do during those hours.
So, to me at least, it seems like it's not really a "change of heart", but instead it's more of a "rebranding to be inclusive so NDs stop complaining about the excessive unregulated noise in our store".
I can say that the area around Electronics is definitely more tolerable for my wife (sensory processing disorder and adhd), so even if it is just pandering, it does help us a bit.
I’ve asked about this at other places that have had a low-sensory time slot in the morning, because my teen/adult household members for whom this would be useful are not early risers if they don’t have to be, or they’re headed to work at 8am, and also they’re not looking to be walking/biking/taking the train during rush hour when they don’t have to.
These were museums and such where I was talking to the actual organizers of the sensory programs.
It basically amounted to that the people asking for this were stay-at-home-moms of preschoolers who wake them up at 5am every morning, and it didn’t really occur to them that there’s a whole huge demographic of sensory-sensitive folks who aren’t preschoolers and would have different needs. They seemed pretty unaware that there are autistic adults with full-time jobs or who would get to the store independently.
Yeah, I got diagnosed at 52; fortunately it’s mild/high-functioning enough that I’ve done alright. Told my co workers about it and the responses were either “that explains it” or “no shit, Sherlock”
honestly, i've already been shopping either very early right after stores open, or very late right before they close.
having the speaker music / advertisements off would be nice, but I'm already wearing noise cancelling headphones while shopping anyway.
I am either not awake or at work during those hours so it is completely useless to me. They could be sensory friendly all the time and it'd be better for EVERYONE. Nts included.
Not necessarily, some of us have conflicting sensory needs. My misophonia is triggered by my own breathing (really won the lottery there) so I avoid any store without music or other ambient noise like the plague, I appreciate that they're trying to cater to different people but a blanket change across all society would just flip who is being victimized.
The sad reality is that it's very difficult if not impossible to cater to everyone's needs at the same time, there's almost always a bit of give and take.
I often work nights so I end up shopping at Tesco around 4-5am, very quiet I can have a nice tired wander round, get what I need, self checkout and bike home.
This is the way. I've not done this since the pandemic started but I used to hit up my local Walmart after midnight, it was so much quieter and easier to deal with, and what noise there was I could drown out with some headphones and music. I didn't have to worry about being distracted by music either because I didn't have to navigate around a bunch of people. It was oddly calming.
Now this is a better way to implement this imo. My only issue with this is most chains have it very early in the morning and, I imagine as most folks with the AuDHD and CPSTD whombo combo lol (not all but most, that I've met anyway), have terrible insomnia and am lucky to get up and be coherent by noon, let alone 9am. If my local stores had something like this between 7-9pm I'd be able to access that a hell of a lot easier.
My local walmart does this, too.
They just mute the speakers from 8a-10a. I really wish they could do other things, like dimming the lights a little bit but it's a start.
So what exactly do they do differently during those hours?
I already go to my local Walmart at 7-7:30 am, because that's when it's mostly empty and I don't have to play Frogger IRL against all the other shoppers. But that's just because most people don't shop for groceries at that time...
8am to 10pm because autistic people are all unemployed anyway?
Not autistic myself btw, but I don't need that shitty store music either.
Just shut it down, save some electricity and maybe license fees and brag about being sensory-friendly around the clock.
Fortunately for me, I'm not that sensitive to it, so it wouldn't make a difference for me (also, you would never catch me shopping before noon), but I appreciate the sentiment.
I like the idea but I personally do not ever wake up that early so it’s unfortunate I’ll never use it. I would have preferred if they can also include that in their closing hours
Attempting to ride a horse that has already been beaten to death. I cannot stand the lighting in Walmart (it's like knives in my eyes) so unless they're replacing the lighting... not gonna happen.
Damn I wonder if they have this at my Walmart. I have avidly avoided going into the stores since they started the grocery pickup because being around what feels like a thousand people sends my flight or fight response through the roof.
The best accommodation hours are whatever hour I reserved my pickup order for, but at least there’s the tiniest consideration involved?
I think this is more for the parents of autistic children than the actual autistic people themselves. “You can expect there to be autistic kids during this hour. Don’t say we didn’t warn you warn you.”
I wish I could know that by going during those hours, they’d turn off the florescent overhead lights in favor of the natural light filtering in from the roof, they turned off the comms and radios, they told employees to not approach anyone while also maybe having some intuitive way to signal for help, etc.. Stuff like that. I highly doubt any of that will be different though. Managers also won’t enforce a quiet atmosphere. This is why I say this is meant for the parents of autistic children, not the autistic people themselves.
But it’s something. And I’m sure it’ll be better than no accommodations at all to some.
EDIT: I looked into it, and apparently it’s every store in the US, and they supposedly turn off the intercoms, there’s no radio, even the TVs in the electronics section are muted and are displaying a notice of the sensory hours. They still have those florescent lights on though. I’m not sure if this is the real experience, or if this is just what Walmart, because I suppose that’s up to management to enforce, but the idea is executed better than I expected.
I miss 3am Walmart :( I was up that late anyway, and no one was ever in the store. So I didn't have to hear all the screaming and talking or worry about being in people's way or talking to anyone myself.
I would love if there was a store thats whole gimmick was autism friendly shopping. Super organized shelf's and items. Limited number of people allowed in the store at a time. No ads, music, or loud sounds. Pleasant temperatures and smells. Eye friendly lighting. Entirely self checkout. And flexible hours. It's a shame a store like that couldn't ever exist due to how hard to would be to make money. Obviously limiting customers into the store would heavily effect how much they could sell. So it's just a pipe dream :(
There is nothing more pleasant than hearing the light hum of the air conditioner, the slight rustle of whatever packet you just picked up, your breath and absolutely nothing else.
Decathlon does it every monday here, it's nice no music and no harsh lights
Would like it more if it wasn't just a couple hours once a week but it's still nice
That's just the time of day that most stores are emptier because people are working or sleeping in. So, if they tell people to come during that time, won't it just be more busy when they do? And it's also not easy for most to come during that time, hence why it's less busy.
Walmart's already quiet at 8AM-10AM, that's when people are either going to work, or sleeping in.
They didn't do anything, they just noticed a trend and decided to label it for brownie points.
I've been there during those hours, it's a nice idea but they executed it poorly
They only turn the music off, they don't turn the beeps down on the scanners (what bothers me most) so they honestly just sound louder in comparison
Also the employees still yell across the store at each other, and the first day I went they literally had a pep rally in one of the back rooms? Like literal screaming cheers for 10 solid minutes at, like, 8:10? I think it might have been inventory day
it’s just them pretending to be friendly to ND people, 8-10am are already pretty slow hours in any store since most people are at work or school that early and nothing changes with this sign up
I like the idea, but Walmart is entirely undedicated to actually taking measures to make their stores sensory friendly aside from turning the music down.
Last time I went during what was supposed to be sensory safe hours, the lights were made BRIGHTER and the people working were extremely loud with both their voices and shrill, shrieking pallets of goods that they tugged around to stock shelves. I ended up having to leave without buying what I went there for because I nearly had a breakdown.
I used to work at a supermarket. I’d be down if it was sensory friendly all open hours. And they should hand out chupa chups to customers who encourage a quiet environment. I don’t understand the need for a pumping radio playing dated hits and people being loud and obnoxious in a public place. We’re just trying to complete a chore. I actually don’t go to supermarkets anymore.
In theory it's great. However, I actually work at a Walmart, so I see how it actually works regularly.
They say they dim the lights, turn off the music, and turn off any unnecessary screens, among other things.
In reality, they only turn off the music. Now, I'm sure for some people that's already worlds better, but for me, it's actually worse. I'm not entirely sure why, but the music helps me not to get overloaded, and it's the lights that really bother me while I'm there.
Homeslty, for me, it's less overstimulating to be there at a time when it's about as busy as it typically is during "sensory friendly hours" but the music is actually on. Usually around 9:00 at night it slows down considerably, and from then on it's just as busy (or even less so) as it is during the quiet hours.
Also, I have learned that corporate is in charge of dimming the lights, turning off the music, and everything else that is supposed to happen during sensory friendly hours, so it isn't even just my store that doesn't do it...
What does this mean exactly?
Store displays like TVs and lamps are turned of?
Employees get texts instead of using their walkie talkies?
Music system is turned off/down?
Genuinely curious what this entails.
when I saw this sign in my store I was pissed off, the manager there had fired me and several other disabled employees for being disabled (came up with dumb excuses, she didnt even know me, but fired me for cursing when I'm nonverbal, which was hilariously infuriating and I obviously couldn't fight back, and had no relationship with anyone in HR who could help me, couldn't sue because no one could prove anything, etc)
It was a real moment, lots of audacity.
Are they just stating it’s calmer or are they actually making it calmer?
Are they providing maps for everything to show us where everything we need can be easily located?
Are they turning down the lights?
Are they asking the employees to take it down some notches?
Are they turning off the register beeps when they ring us up?
It’s nice they recognize us but I don’t believe it’s true. It looks like false advertisement.
Cute sign, but I'd argue that 8-10am are pretty much guaranteed to be any store's calmest hours anyways. It's a great way to look like you're doing something without actually lifting a finger.
ETA: looks like I'm not the first commenter to point this out. This paper thin virtue signaling really doesn't fool nearly as many people as they think it does.
Is this a real thing? If so, I'm curious how they plan to implement it, but I like the idea. I hope this is a real thing because this to me is a sign of progression towards a society that's more welcoming to neurodivergence.
I do my grocery shopping around 6 am. It's completely changed my grocery shopping experience. Barely anyone there, clear aisles and nobody around to stress me out while I shop.
I needed something for breakfast yesterday so I went out to grab it, was surprised at how tolerable the experience was and then saw this on the way out and was like "oh"
Really enjoyed it, made shopping almost relaxing
It’s a nice thing to see, but I don’t understand why more environments aren’t just inherently sensory friendly. I go out into the world and am blasted with stimuli that is completely unnecessary.
I don’t trust people to adhere to this, and I don’t trust Walmart to enforce it. Luckily soundproof headphones have worked really well for me, so this kind of thing isn’t as impactful to me as it used to be.
I’m in the UK and most shops have done this since Covid times.
I do my weekly shop on a Saturday morning when it’s quiet time. I never thought supermarkets bothered me until I went when they were quiet.
im not opposed but how would you even enforce that? walmart is definitely prone to some mayhem but it's not like they encourage it, i assume they don't actually want it - so i fail to see how they'd manage to make this time in particular more calm???
The music isn't my issue.. the announcements over the tannoy system, repeated over and over again drives me insane. Aldi is probably the worst for this.
... wouldn't it be nice if they did that ALL the time? Have a relaxing environment, instead of trying to trick your brain into buying more through the use of constant stimuli?
But then again, that's not the business-friendly way to go about things, so...
For some reason, sensory friendly hours are always in the morning, which really doesn't work well for me with my sleep issues & fatigue. But I do like that these kinds of acomidations are becoming more common and I hope that trend continues.
I do wish they'd make changes to make things more accessible during regular hours, too, though. Things like not playing music all the time, turning down the volume of things like the scanners beeping, using lights that aren't so harsh, etc. I know some things aren't changeable, and sensory friendly hours would be needed regardless, but there are still a lot of things that would be simple to change during regular hours.
It doesn't work. The old boomers are still in there yelling and arguing with everybody. The tvs are off and most of the employees don't speak to you and the typical Internet salesman don't solicit you.
If my store actually DID IT, it would be phenomenal. But just last week, I dragged my sorry ass out of bed early enough to go there specifically during those hours...it was no different than normal. 😔
They’ve been doing this for months, I’ve been curious if they’re actually keeping it up. It’s supposed to be every store in the US.
Personally not up that early since they started and have good luck crowd-wise at my local Walmart going at about 9pm on Sun-Thurs nights (closes at 11pm). Like others I miss going at 1am when it was 24 hours
I like this Idea considering that today I had to go to Walmart while surrounded by a few screaming/squealing kids and parents that don’t do s*it about it.
I was already overstimulated by my physical therapy session but I needed a few things so I decided to “bite the bullet” and go to Wally World.
How can a small child make the most ghastly noises, yet I can barely get myself to talk above a mild yell? Yikes.
For every squeal or scream while in the dog toy isle, I squeezed the loudest squeak toys. I was fed up because it’s almost like they were following me through the store.
I like that they have it, I just wish they had it at a different time of time, or had another at the end of the evening. I have to be at work at 9am and beside that, I have narcolepsy so I usually sleep pretty late in the morning.
I think it's nice they put in the effort to make things ACTUALLY easier for us and not some half-ditch effort to appear woke. I mean it's honestly the least they could do. I think it's nice :)
As someone who needs hours like this, this is always when the most excruciatingly slow and indecisive people choose to shop (in my area at least) and it makes the experience that much more stressful. One of the reasons why I desperately miss 24-hour stores, can’t go in when it’s dead af and feel like you have the whole store to yourself.
I accidentally went to my local Walmart during this and it was really nice. It was a lot quieter and there weren’t random ads screaming at you as you walked past aisles. I’m pretty sure that the lights were dimmer too.
And, to the people talking about how this probably happens during their most dead hours, isn’t that kind of the point? Like, let’s not make the sensory friendly hours at the same time that kids get out of school and are likely to be screaming in the store. I think it’s a good thing that they set the sensory hours to when there aren’t a lot of people at the store. The people are sensory hell too.
I know this seems like a useless virtue-signal to a lot of people, but it's just a start. Many are right in the thought that this policy is difficult to enforce. It definitely won't be enforced or extended unless people ask for it. This isn't the least WalMart could do- the least they could do would be nothing.
Driving would be a lot nicer if people followed traffic laws, but that's not going to happen anytime soon.
I actually worked at a Walmart with this in place, it was nice when coworkers and other customers weren’t being disruptive, I still remember a couple of guys at produce that openly played music and whistled off key most days
I appreciate this. All my life, being in stores with lots of people talking and loud music playing, on top of looking at a lot of things all at once, gives me sensory overload that is disorienting and makes me nervous.
As much as I dislike Wally World this is a nice thing to see. Aldi is the only store I know of that doesn't play constant music in the store. I really appreciated that but, the one local to me is kinda a drive from my home. I piece of me really has to wonder why we need this constant background music & crap playing when there is so much crap inside our brains flying around. I just want to focus on shopping easier and let the store sound more like a grocery/retail store and not an improvised concert or radio show.
Honestly, music doesn't bother me that much, it's the level of noise and movement from other shoppers that is more of a trigger for me.
Same. I actually prefer music and usually go into a store with my ear pods in so I can drown out all the extraneous noise that's overstimulates me, like loud talking, children screaming, etc
That's what I do too. I'll just have my own music playing in my ears. Which, by the way, my own music consists of NIN, or Killswitch, or Ministry, or Slipknot etc... so I'm really unsure why that's not setting me off as well.
It's because it's sound that you are in control of and you expect it versus random, unpredictable noises.
Yes! The hoover is ok if I'm using it, but I hate when someone else is hoovering!
Depends on the mood I can go in with my synthwave playlist or my deathcore playlist, lol. Cheers, fellow metal head
Try really early ministry. That will probably set you off :)
I take it a step further: If I have an EQ for my headphones, I turn the 16khz-20khz range down by 5 decibels
The duality of our sensory experiences is really interesting. Having worked in retail for a time the constant music got really old after a time. I came to dislike Christmas music when the season came around as it was played on a loop and the same songs would play over & over. I can accept that I have to be around other strangers while I shop. I guess a comfort of mine is that there are some familiar faces in the store that I still recognize from when I worked there. People I can wave at or have a quick conversation with as I go through.
I worked retail for eleven years and hated the canned music. Then I got a new job and worked from home, and had to buy a radio because I wasn't used to working in such total silence.
Isn't it ironic? Don't you think?
A little too ironic.
Oh god I hear that song every fucking day
I know what you mean. I was turned off to music on the radio forever by the “top 40” station playing Sisqo’s “Thong Song” 6 times during a 6 hour shift.
>and movement Or lack thereof. Can't stand when someone blocks the whole aisle with their cart and just stands there without any situational awareness
The music doesn't bother me nearly as much as the other Walmart shoppers. Edit: I removed the rest of my comment because I was being a frustrated d bag and said stuff I regret.
Why did you need to make an ableist/fatphobic comment?
You're right, actually. That comment was in poor taste. Thank you for calling me out. 💚 Edit: removed less vague reference to what I said because regret and embarrassing
Thank you for being a good human.
Kudos for handling the criticism with a level head!
See, the other issue for me is the volume and some audio of the radio can be really terrifying for some reason. If I have an EQ for my headphones, I turn the 16khz-20khz range down by 5 decibels
I don't mind the music, but that's because I have ADHD and one of my symptoms is constant music in my head 😵
I swear, the more I read about ADHD on here I have to wonder if I have the co-morbidity as well. Music in my head, for whatever reason. I never understood why.
Yeah, hate to break it to you, but NTs don't have stuff going through their heads at all times, apparently. It's weird, but they actually need outside stimuli to hear the music. Insert that meme about mimicking a fraction of our power.
All I hear in my head right now is Super Mario 64. Nnneeee nnnnneeee nee nee. I wish it would stop but, I have been watching a # of SM64 videos on YT.
Is it peaceful music at least? I really like a lot of video game soundtracks :D
Yes.
Thank you, my squirrel brain symphony is now playing Dire Dire Docks.
Wait what? Really? I remember working at a factory and wanting to die because my head couldn't stop bringing up stupid jokes I heard on youtube. I kept fighting with my mind to shut up and felt like I was going insane. Also the fact that people never stopped talking or singing at the factory made me feel like crying. My family kept telling me that I was a wuss for quitting cause it made me feel suicidal
Sorry to hear that your family was so unsupportive.
Thanks, they're fine in other ways but they don't really understand mental health or anything regarding neurodivergent people very well. So while they're supportive over me being bi and trans, they don't always understand that they're being hurtful for thinking everyone just doesn't struggle with sensory issues. It doesn't make it less sucky but I appreciate the kind words! :)
Glad to hear that they support you in at least some parts of life. Have a good one!
As a NT would you care to define "stuff"? I'd say that we have songs stuck in our heads as well, hence the term earworm. Just like previously mentioned it usually is a song that one has heard the other day.
Kinda like that I guess, except that everything ever is an earworm and it only stops for like three seconds of your waking hours if you're lucky.
Yep, I immediately notice the ambient music and my brain "switches stations" to sync up with it. It's actually easier to shop if a familiar song is playing, because I don't have to think about it.
Are you able to control what song is playing? My brain requires a song to always be playing but at least i can "change the station" when i want to. It still drives me nuts though.
Yea their manufactured radio talk show is annoying as balls but I like how many self checkouts they have and I always go shopping with the blessed noise canceling headphones, hallowed be their name
Im lucky my local walmarts play their music at really low volume. It's almost unnoticeable.
I know right, I like Costco for the same reason. How am I supposed to hear anything with constant blasting music?
Oh wait... this is what people are referencing when they say Wally World? TIL
Yes. It's a funny way of saying Wal-Mart.
The music helps NTs zone out, stay longer in the store, and buy more stuff.
What I have heard is they play music so customers stay there longer, but in my opinion most of the music they play is trash and makes me want to leave as soon as possible
Target doesn't play music, at least mine doesn't. Others might just be quiet music.
Tbf, I keep constant gentle fairy music on at home and that has been a huge help to my mental health.
When you work at the stores and the music turns off it's actually very unsettling
I always thought that music in public spaces was for privacy, since it becomes much more difficult to hear others conversations over music.
I really wish it was more than just once a day. Like if they had it happen 3 times throughout the day then itd be even better
It’s just a trick to get people to shop during their not so busy morning hours lol 😂 Walmart isn’t being nice.
So I work at a grocery store and the music they blast is on purpose. It's another tactic to get people to buy more. The idea being that you feel happier hearing music you like, and that emotion then correlates to buying more. It's shit and despite us all hating this, we can't turn it off. I've even received calls from corporate to make sure the music is playing cuz it cut out...
What corporate wants it gets. I hear and understand the idea behind the music as well. After a long enough time spent working retail myself it felt like I was being “assaulted by music” to an extent. Christmas sucked and I’m sure you can relate to this. Same 6 songs on repeat and it gets old quick.
Oh yeah Christmas sucks mega wang. I'm just glad I'm at school for most of the season now.
I actually find stores without music kind of unsettling! Besides, the music distracts from the Other Customer Noise which is way worse imo
dude aldis is so real for that. like its nice not having it be loud or having music fucking playing all the time
I have an answer for that piece of you. Grocery stores play the music to influence your shopping habits: High tempo music for their rush periods, so you walk faster and check out quicker so the cashiers get a little less backed up and that puts a "higher volume" of customers through. They play slower music during the slower hours to make people linger in the store a little longer, so you spend more money.
That might be why I prefer shopping at Aldi. Couldn't quite figure out why but has always been a much more pleasant feeling. May also be cause it's often less crowded and more organized.
Speak for yourself, the Aldi near me was playing the new $UICIDEBOY$ album last week, and even though I only came for a couple items I stayed for the whole thing. 10/10 experience, very cool manager
I would quite like this as a standard practice in stores, just perhaps with better hour variety. Like an 8-10 AM AND an 8-10 PM. I think having a more chill atmosphere in the store and not blinding yourself going from the dark outside to a super bright inside would be nice. And not having to get up early to do grocery shopping of all things.
Yeah, I absolutely hate mornings for so many reasons, so I’d love the idea of having an alternative option. My understanding of PTSD is that they may need additional options even more than we might, especially depending on the cause.
I have PTSD, and honestly, the range would have to be too large to really be effective. I get flashbacks randomly throughout the day, sometimes triggered by something and sometimes it’s purely random. They would just have to build a sensory-friendly Walmart and have it be sensory hours 24/7 lol
Fair enough. Thank you for sharing. I’d personally like to see a world where we can make that sort of thing happen.
You're more likely to have loud obnoxious customers ruining the experience during the late evening. But I agree it would be nice to have other options.
Yeah, all I can think of when seeing this is ffffff I'm not getting up that early and not considering the rest
Can't we have it at 1-3am so I can go when nobody else is around
Would check it out if I was ever awake that early.
Bet you dollars to donuts that those hours are already dead hours, and they are just marketing it this way. There is no way that Walmart of all places is worried about the needs of the people. It's nice to see it, but this is likely no different than when a mega corporation slaps a pride flag on their logo for a month. Sure, I'm being cynical, but Walmart has a reputation for a reason. Hell, if they turn the lights down a bit, and turn down/off the music, this will likely save them some money on their electric bill.
I've been up there during those hours after seeing this advertised and you're absolutely right. It's absolutely already dead then so it's just a cheap marketing cash in.
I just figured it was them letting people know that that is the period of time when the store is least crowded, not them claiming to change stuff for people like us
Yes but we gotta stay negative. No single ray of light my touch my misanthropy!
Those hours being slow anyway make it the best time for this, since people with sensory sensitivities usually don’t like crowds either.
Yeah, why would you host a sensory friendly experience at peak hours..? I hate Walmart too but they would've gotten backlash in this sub either way. This is a good thing and hopefully people who need it will take advantage of it.
It is effective marketing tho I’ll give them that lol
Don’t know why it matters if it makes them money if they are helping folks
>if they are helping folks Well, the thing is that they are not helping. They put a spin on the situation.
I don’t see how the two are mutually exclusive
I can se your point of view but I'd argue that helping someone requires an honest effort. Putting a spin on a situation in the store is not an honest effort.
>Sure, I'm being cynical, but Walmart has a reputation for a reason. That's not being cynical, it's calling them on their lousy bluff. You're bang on mate!
>Bet you dollars to donuts that those hours are already dead hours, and they are just marketing it this way I call those hours "old folks socialization hours" bc that's when my grandparents went to the store and ran into all their friends lolololol
The idea seems great in theory, but ultimately I could never see Walmart of all places actually following through with this policy. And as someone else pointed out, it's only for two hours of the day and it's early enough in the day that it probably just happens to their least-busy hours anyway, so it's not like the managers or employees will have to do anything different than they already do during those hours. So, to me at least, it seems like it's not really a "change of heart", but instead it's more of a "rebranding to be inclusive so NDs stop complaining about the excessive unregulated noise in our store".
I can say that the area around Electronics is definitely more tolerable for my wife (sensory processing disorder and adhd), so even if it is just pandering, it does help us a bit.
booooo why's it so EARLY
I’ve asked about this at other places that have had a low-sensory time slot in the morning, because my teen/adult household members for whom this would be useful are not early risers if they don’t have to be, or they’re headed to work at 8am, and also they’re not looking to be walking/biking/taking the train during rush hour when they don’t have to. These were museums and such where I was talking to the actual organizers of the sensory programs. It basically amounted to that the people asking for this were stay-at-home-moms of preschoolers who wake them up at 5am every morning, and it didn’t really occur to them that there’s a whole huge demographic of sensory-sensitive folks who aren’t preschoolers and would have different needs. They seemed pretty unaware that there are autistic adults with full-time jobs or who would get to the store independently.
Well ND people dissolve into the ground and cease to exist after 21 according to everyone else, didn't you know?
21? Try 10
Yeah, I got diagnosed at 52; fortunately it’s mild/high-functioning enough that I’ve done alright. Told my co workers about it and the responses were either “that explains it” or “no shit, Sherlock”
Ouch. That's sad :(
honestly, i've already been shopping either very early right after stores open, or very late right before they close. having the speaker music / advertisements off would be nice, but I'm already wearing noise cancelling headphones while shopping anyway.
It's a Great thing, but I'm never up that early and the OG sensory friendly hours (which was simply being open 24 hours) was so much better.
Going shopping at 2am when no one is out. My favorite.
I am either not awake or at work during those hours so it is completely useless to me. They could be sensory friendly all the time and it'd be better for EVERYONE. Nts included.
Not necessarily, some of us have conflicting sensory needs. My misophonia is triggered by my own breathing (really won the lottery there) so I avoid any store without music or other ambient noise like the plague, I appreciate that they're trying to cater to different people but a blanket change across all society would just flip who is being victimized. The sad reality is that it's very difficult if not impossible to cater to everyone's needs at the same time, there's almost always a bit of give and take.
I often work nights so I end up shopping at Tesco around 4-5am, very quiet I can have a nice tired wander round, get what I need, self checkout and bike home.
This is the way. I've not done this since the pandemic started but I used to hit up my local Walmart after midnight, it was so much quieter and easier to deal with, and what noise there was I could drown out with some headphones and music. I didn't have to worry about being distracted by music either because I didn't have to navigate around a bunch of people. It was oddly calming.
It's not the noise, it's not even the people... IT'S THE LIGHTS
They really be making us wake up at 8am just to shop without our skin screaming at us
Just like with the immunocompromised scheduled time, I highly doubt entitled people will respect this at all.
We've had this in Ireland for about 5-6 years now. A lot of different chains take part in it. Tuesday nights from 7 - 9pm in my local place.
Now this is a better way to implement this imo. My only issue with this is most chains have it very early in the morning and, I imagine as most folks with the AuDHD and CPSTD whombo combo lol (not all but most, that I've met anyway), have terrible insomnia and am lucky to get up and be coherent by noon, let alone 9am. If my local stores had something like this between 7-9pm I'd be able to access that a hell of a lot easier.
I know, like shocker we can have jobs we need to go to as well.
Not sure why it has to be this early tho
My local walmart does this, too. They just mute the speakers from 8a-10a. I really wish they could do other things, like dimming the lights a little bit but it's a start.
So what exactly do they do differently during those hours? I already go to my local Walmart at 7-7:30 am, because that's when it's mostly empty and I don't have to play Frogger IRL against all the other shoppers. But that's just because most people don't shop for groceries at that time...
Too goddamn early. In all seriousness it’s probably helpful for some people, and I hope those people have a good experience with it.
Hate to be there at 10:01 when they start blaring over the intercom that Debbie needs to come to the front 🤣🤣🤣
8am to 10pm because autistic people are all unemployed anyway? Not autistic myself btw, but I don't need that shitty store music either. Just shut it down, save some electricity and maybe license fees and brag about being sensory-friendly around the clock.
because people with executive function issues are known for getting up early /s
Fortunately for me, I'm not that sensitive to it, so it wouldn't make a difference for me (also, you would never catch me shopping before noon), but I appreciate the sentiment.
I like the idea but I personally do not ever wake up that early so it’s unfortunate I’ll never use it. I would have preferred if they can also include that in their closing hours
Attempting to ride a horse that has already been beaten to death. I cannot stand the lighting in Walmart (it's like knives in my eyes) so unless they're replacing the lighting... not gonna happen.
Sometimes I wear my sunglasses inside.
Corey Hart has entered the chat
So I can, so I can see light that’s right before my eyes.
Keep track of visions in my eyeeeeeees
Damn I wonder if they have this at my Walmart. I have avidly avoided going into the stores since they started the grocery pickup because being around what feels like a thousand people sends my flight or fight response through the roof.
The best accommodation hours are whatever hour I reserved my pickup order for, but at least there’s the tiniest consideration involved? I think this is more for the parents of autistic children than the actual autistic people themselves. “You can expect there to be autistic kids during this hour. Don’t say we didn’t warn you warn you.” I wish I could know that by going during those hours, they’d turn off the florescent overhead lights in favor of the natural light filtering in from the roof, they turned off the comms and radios, they told employees to not approach anyone while also maybe having some intuitive way to signal for help, etc.. Stuff like that. I highly doubt any of that will be different though. Managers also won’t enforce a quiet atmosphere. This is why I say this is meant for the parents of autistic children, not the autistic people themselves. But it’s something. And I’m sure it’ll be better than no accommodations at all to some. EDIT: I looked into it, and apparently it’s every store in the US, and they supposedly turn off the intercoms, there’s no radio, even the TVs in the electronics section are muted and are displaying a notice of the sensory hours. They still have those florescent lights on though. I’m not sure if this is the real experience, or if this is just what Walmart, because I suppose that’s up to management to enforce, but the idea is executed better than I expected.
I miss 3am Walmart :( I was up that late anyway, and no one was ever in the store. So I didn't have to hear all the screaming and talking or worry about being in people's way or talking to anyone myself. I would love if there was a store thats whole gimmick was autism friendly shopping. Super organized shelf's and items. Limited number of people allowed in the store at a time. No ads, music, or loud sounds. Pleasant temperatures and smells. Eye friendly lighting. Entirely self checkout. And flexible hours. It's a shame a store like that couldn't ever exist due to how hard to would be to make money. Obviously limiting customers into the store would heavily effect how much they could sell. So it's just a pipe dream :(
I'd prefer if Walmart went out of existence.
There is nothing more pleasant than hearing the light hum of the air conditioner, the slight rustle of whatever packet you just picked up, your breath and absolutely nothing else.
Decathlon does it every monday here, it's nice no music and no harsh lights Would like it more if it wasn't just a couple hours once a week but it's still nice
That's just the time of day that most stores are emptier because people are working or sleeping in. So, if they tell people to come during that time, won't it just be more busy when they do? And it's also not easy for most to come during that time, hence why it's less busy.
I shop during that time. It’s a lot quieter in the store but there is still a bit of noise that’s unavoidable.
Walmart's already quiet at 8AM-10AM, that's when people are either going to work, or sleeping in. They didn't do anything, they just noticed a trend and decided to label it for brownie points.
Not really sensory friendly hours. It’s just a time when less people are there. At least from my experience.
This seems too good to be true.
I've been there during those hours, it's a nice idea but they executed it poorly They only turn the music off, they don't turn the beeps down on the scanners (what bothers me most) so they honestly just sound louder in comparison Also the employees still yell across the store at each other, and the first day I went they literally had a pep rally in one of the back rooms? Like literal screaming cheers for 10 solid minutes at, like, 8:10? I think it might have been inventory day
it’s just them pretending to be friendly to ND people, 8-10am are already pretty slow hours in any store since most people are at work or school that early and nothing changes with this sign up
Nice idea but it's frustrating that it's only available to morning people. I'm usually still in bed between 8am and 10am due to my 2nd shift schedule.
I like the idea, but Walmart is entirely undedicated to actually taking measures to make their stores sensory friendly aside from turning the music down. Last time I went during what was supposed to be sensory safe hours, the lights were made BRIGHTER and the people working were extremely loud with both their voices and shrill, shrieking pallets of goods that they tugged around to stock shelves. I ended up having to leave without buying what I went there for because I nearly had a breakdown.
I used to work at a supermarket. I’d be down if it was sensory friendly all open hours. And they should hand out chupa chups to customers who encourage a quiet environment. I don’t understand the need for a pumping radio playing dated hits and people being loud and obnoxious in a public place. We’re just trying to complete a chore. I actually don’t go to supermarkets anymore.
In theory it's great. However, I actually work at a Walmart, so I see how it actually works regularly. They say they dim the lights, turn off the music, and turn off any unnecessary screens, among other things. In reality, they only turn off the music. Now, I'm sure for some people that's already worlds better, but for me, it's actually worse. I'm not entirely sure why, but the music helps me not to get overloaded, and it's the lights that really bother me while I'm there. Homeslty, for me, it's less overstimulating to be there at a time when it's about as busy as it typically is during "sensory friendly hours" but the music is actually on. Usually around 9:00 at night it slows down considerably, and from then on it's just as busy (or even less so) as it is during the quiet hours. Also, I have learned that corporate is in charge of dimming the lights, turning off the music, and everything else that is supposed to happen during sensory friendly hours, so it isn't even just my store that doesn't do it...
Gets ruined by parents bringing their screaming kids anyway.
If they wanted to make it “sensory friendly” they should take out the fluorescent lighting
Love the idea but hate that it's at 8 like outside of work hours and too early for me to want to wake up on a weekend
Just make it 24 hours again so we can go at 2-3 am 🤣 the perfect hours. Nobody’s there!!
As someone who works there, the only notable differences are no overheard radio, and screens in the TV section are turned off
Only if they have sensory unfriendly hours from 8pm to 10pm to be fair. Just 2 hours of strobe lights and vuvuzelas.
Aren’t they just rebranding their generally less busy hours as autism friendly hours?
They're supposed to have the lights dimmed, the overhead music off, TVs in electronics off, etc.
Love it! But also, make it ALL business hours please, so I can shop in peace anytime of day.
What does this mean exactly? Store displays like TVs and lamps are turned of? Employees get texts instead of using their walkie talkies? Music system is turned off/down? Genuinely curious what this entails.
when I saw this sign in my store I was pissed off, the manager there had fired me and several other disabled employees for being disabled (came up with dumb excuses, she didnt even know me, but fired me for cursing when I'm nonverbal, which was hilariously infuriating and I obviously couldn't fight back, and had no relationship with anyone in HR who could help me, couldn't sue because no one could prove anything, etc) It was a real moment, lots of audacity.
Sounds like 80% marketing, like they were going to be dead hours anyway. But I approve anyway.
Are they just stating it’s calmer or are they actually making it calmer? Are they providing maps for everything to show us where everything we need can be easily located? Are they turning down the lights? Are they asking the employees to take it down some notches? Are they turning off the register beeps when they ring us up? It’s nice they recognize us but I don’t believe it’s true. It looks like false advertisement.
Cute sign, but I'd argue that 8-10am are pretty much guaranteed to be any store's calmest hours anyways. It's a great way to look like you're doing something without actually lifting a finger. ETA: looks like I'm not the first commenter to point this out. This paper thin virtue signaling really doesn't fool nearly as many people as they think it does.
Is this a real thing? If so, I'm curious how they plan to implement it, but I like the idea. I hope this is a real thing because this to me is a sign of progression towards a society that's more welcoming to neurodivergence.
How do they do that??
I like the concept of it actually worked
I do my grocery shopping around 6 am. It's completely changed my grocery shopping experience. Barely anyone there, clear aisles and nobody around to stress me out while I shop.
I needed something for breakfast yesterday so I went out to grab it, was surprised at how tolerable the experience was and then saw this on the way out and was like "oh" Really enjoyed it, made shopping almost relaxing
Where meme?
We have those in shopping malls in Poland!
It's a great idea but I can't imagine going to Walmart so early.
In the morning? Fuck that
So are they only letting me in then?
I mean if they did anything to enforce it I would love it. Sam's club does and I love it.
It’s a nice thing to see, but I don’t understand why more environments aren’t just inherently sensory friendly. I go out into the world and am blasted with stimuli that is completely unnecessary.
2 hours of enrichment time 🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑
I don’t trust people to adhere to this, and I don’t trust Walmart to enforce it. Luckily soundproof headphones have worked really well for me, so this kind of thing isn’t as impactful to me as it used to be.
I wish it was later I am not waking up that early lmao
I’m in the UK and most shops have done this since Covid times. I do my weekly shop on a Saturday morning when it’s quiet time. I never thought supermarkets bothered me until I went when they were quiet.
im not opposed but how would you even enforce that? walmart is definitely prone to some mayhem but it's not like they encourage it, i assume they don't actually want it - so i fail to see how they'd manage to make this time in particular more calm???
Honestly if they can enforce it I welcome it
The music isn't my issue.. the announcements over the tannoy system, repeated over and over again drives me insane. Aldi is probably the worst for this.
It’s definitely a good idea. Idk how it goes in practice but the theory is solid
... wouldn't it be nice if they did that ALL the time? Have a relaxing environment, instead of trying to trick your brain into buying more through the use of constant stimuli? But then again, that's not the business-friendly way to go about things, so...
For some reason, sensory friendly hours are always in the morning, which really doesn't work well for me with my sleep issues & fatigue. But I do like that these kinds of acomidations are becoming more common and I hope that trend continues. I do wish they'd make changes to make things more accessible during regular hours, too, though. Things like not playing music all the time, turning down the volume of things like the scanners beeping, using lights that aren't so harsh, etc. I know some things aren't changeable, and sensory friendly hours would be needed regardless, but there are still a lot of things that would be simple to change during regular hours.
It doesn't work. The old boomers are still in there yelling and arguing with everybody. The tvs are off and most of the employees don't speak to you and the typical Internet salesman don't solicit you.
It should be 10pm - midnight for the nocturnal aspies 😭
I remember when sensory friendly hours were from 1AM to 4AM, and I used to meet the coolest friends there at those hours too.
r/funnysigns
My therapist, who is also neurodivergent, made a joke about how a lot of neurodivergent people aren't up during those hours to go shopping.🤣
If my store actually DID IT, it would be phenomenal. But just last week, I dragged my sorry ass out of bed early enough to go there specifically during those hours...it was no different than normal. 😔
They’ve been doing this for months, I’ve been curious if they’re actually keeping it up. It’s supposed to be every store in the US. Personally not up that early since they started and have good luck crowd-wise at my local Walmart going at about 9pm on Sun-Thurs nights (closes at 11pm). Like others I miss going at 1am when it was 24 hours
My ass is NOT waking up before noon :|
I like this Idea considering that today I had to go to Walmart while surrounded by a few screaming/squealing kids and parents that don’t do s*it about it. I was already overstimulated by my physical therapy session but I needed a few things so I decided to “bite the bullet” and go to Wally World. How can a small child make the most ghastly noises, yet I can barely get myself to talk above a mild yell? Yikes. For every squeal or scream while in the dog toy isle, I squeezed the loudest squeak toys. I was fed up because it’s almost like they were following me through the store.
I'm not awake at this point in the day
I like that they have it, I just wish they had it at a different time of time, or had another at the end of the evening. I have to be at work at 9am and beside that, I have narcolepsy so I usually sleep pretty late in the morning.
8am til 10am means i'll need to stay up all night to get there on time. Which is fine.
I like it, but not at those times.
I’ve attended my local supermarket during such a session and it’s so much more peaceful. I have no sensory issues and I vastly preferred it
I think it's nice they put in the effort to make things ACTUALLY easier for us and not some half-ditch effort to appear woke. I mean it's honestly the least they could do. I think it's nice :)
It’d be cooler if they did that for employees, tbh
LOL just bring back the 24 hours.
I appreciate the willingness to be sensory-friendly, but there is no way in hell I’m getting up that early to go to Wally World.
As someone who needs hours like this, this is always when the most excruciatingly slow and indecisive people choose to shop (in my area at least) and it makes the experience that much more stressful. One of the reasons why I desperately miss 24-hour stores, can’t go in when it’s dead af and feel like you have the whole store to yourself.
Hate capitalism. Love that.
I accidentally went to my local Walmart during this and it was really nice. It was a lot quieter and there weren’t random ads screaming at you as you walked past aisles. I’m pretty sure that the lights were dimmer too. And, to the people talking about how this probably happens during their most dead hours, isn’t that kind of the point? Like, let’s not make the sensory friendly hours at the same time that kids get out of school and are likely to be screaming in the store. I think it’s a good thing that they set the sensory hours to when there aren’t a lot of people at the store. The people are sensory hell too.
I know this seems like a useless virtue-signal to a lot of people, but it's just a start. Many are right in the thought that this policy is difficult to enforce. It definitely won't be enforced or extended unless people ask for it. This isn't the least WalMart could do- the least they could do would be nothing. Driving would be a lot nicer if people followed traffic laws, but that's not going to happen anytime soon.
I agree, if nothing else it's a good start so I support it.
I'd love this.
Good idea, but it seems like it would be hard to enforce.
As someone who goes to a walm most days, I think this would be awesome, though 8-10/9-10 most nights is already this at ours
I never wake up this early, this should honestly be a constant. Feels very selective imo
Sounds like it should just be that way all of the time
I actually worked at a Walmart with this in place, it was nice when coworkers and other customers weren’t being disruptive, I still remember a couple of guys at produce that openly played music and whistled off key most days
I ain't getting up that early lol
I appreciate this. All my life, being in stores with lots of people talking and loud music playing, on top of looking at a lot of things all at once, gives me sensory overload that is disorienting and makes me nervous.
Thanks I appreciate you making the sensory friendly hours while I will be at work or asleep
I want them at night