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Beloved store greeter gains thousands of online friends

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Store greeter gains thousands of Facebook fans

Doris, a store greeter in Delavan, Wis., has a Facebook fan page that has quickly grown to include thousands of admirers. Click to play

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Comments on a Facebook fan page set up in honor of Delavan store greeter Doris Wild.

Doris Wild, a store greeter in Delavan, has gained thousands of new fans on a Facebook fan page set up in her honor. Dan Plutchak/staff.

DELAVAN — If you shop on a regular basis at the Walmart Supercenter in Delavan, there is a good chance you know Doris Wild.

She is that petite, short-haired greeter with the big smile who never seems to tire of welcoming shoppers.

“Hello, welcome to Walmart,” she’ll exclaim. “Need a cart? Hey, we’ve got some great specials today on rotisserie chicken in the deli right now. Check it out.”

The first time you see her, you might think this woman isn’t for real. How can anyone, day in and day out, have that much enthusiasm for their job?

But if you return, you will find that Doris’ vigor for welcoming shoppers is unrelenting.

Should you try to dodge Doris, 62, and some do, you probably won’t be successful. If there were an Olympic event for store greeters, Doris likely would be the undefeated gold medalist.

She certainly is popular with Facebook users, where more than 3,000 people have become fans of “Dorris the sweet Wal-Mart greeter.”

The fan page wasn’t Doris’ doing.

It was created by Cristian and Maritza Valadez, two teens from Elkhorn, who simply wanted to honor her. Even though her first name was accidentally misspelled, that hasn’t stopped people from far and wide from sharing how much they enjoy Doris’ unique style and effervescent personality.

Cristian Valadez said they know Wild from their frequent trips to the store.

They figured there must be others who would appreciate a fan page in Wild’s honor, but Valadez said he had no idea that it would quickly grow to be in the thousands.

So what does the computerless Doris, who has never surfed the Web, think of all the Facebook fuss?

“I am easily moved to tears,” she said, after being read some of the positive posts about how many lives she’s touched. “I think it’s so sweet for people to call that in or type that in. Do they call it in?”

No, Doris, they type it.

“Oh. Well, I had no idea I reached quite that many people. I thought I could brighten their day, but I didn’t think they’d remember me like this.”

Read the full story in the April 25, 2010 e-edition of Walworth County Sunday, PAGE 14A.

More on Wild, along with a video interview, HERE.