MARIETTA, GA – When Roland Gerhardt an employee at the Walmart in Marietta, GA decided to play a prank on his new robot co-worker, affectionately called Freddy, he didn’t realize it would cost him his job. “I thought it would be funny to put lingerie on him,” Gerhardt said.
But Freddy and the Walmart executive team weren’t laughing. “He spent the entire day like that,” Walmart Executive Ellen Tanner said. “It is completely unacceptable and against store policy. These robots work harder than our human employees and for them to be treated with disrespect will not be tolerated” Tanner continued.
A woman who witnessed the hazing but wanted to remain anonymous confirmed the unfortunate turn of events at the store.
“People were laughing at him (the robot) and he had no clue,” she said. “I felt bad but I wasn’t going to stop it or anything. I mean it’s not like it was a real person or anything.”
Effective in the coming months employees at all Walmart stores will be going through a 30 day robot sensitivity training program in order to learn how to interact with their robot co-workers and treat them as equals.
There was no mention of offering Gerhardt his job back if he attended the 30 day training.
