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I'm a 32 year old mother of 2 fantastic little boys, ages 5 and 10. I'm a retail lackey who dreams of running away to San Francisco where I'll live on my trust fund and take photographs of the city all day.

Currently Reading

  • Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Movies You Should Check Out

  • Little Miss Sunshine
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  • Eminem
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Categorically Speaking...

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Reason Number 9,732,601,485 Why I Hate Shopping at Wal-Mart: They SUCK.

Hunter & I went to Wal-Mart this past Saturday. Mind you, I rather loathe shopping at that store. I avoid it as much as humanly possible, especially on the weekends or during the prime senior citizen/soccer mom rush. As my luck would have it, though, I ended up going to Wal-Mart because I needed to get a photo enlarged and pick up a couple of grocery items for dinner, but I only wanted to make one stop. So I headed off to the ol' "Super Wal-Mart" (and I only use that term because it's on the sign...I'm working on a false advertising claim).

When Hunter & I got there, we took a look at the kiddie pools leaning up against the wall outside the door. Matt & I have talked a few times about getting one for Hunter, and he was asking me for one. So I told Hunter we could get one. We went into the store to take care of our other stuff. First, the customer usable photo computers were not working. So I couldn't get my enlargement made. Mind you, the little worker bees could have taken my disc, put it directly into the computer BEHIND the counter where the images from the customer computers and online orders go, and then filled my order, but when I suggested this to them they gave me a look like I had suggested they just empty the register into my purse. Whatever.

So Hunter and I head for the grocery section and grab our groceries. We go through the line, and have a zillion issues with paying. See, last time I returned some stuff to Wal-Mart, I was forced to put the return onto a Wal-Mart Shopping Card (long story...). So I tried to use that to pay. It wouldn't work. Cashier girl tries all her "tricks". Won't work. It's suggested that I obtained the card through nefarious means. I pull out the return receipt and jam it in her face. I'm past the point of being polite, mind you, I've been trying to pay for 10 minutes now. 2 "customer service managers" and 10 MORE minutes later, we're on our way.

Hunter & I stop to pick up his new pool. Of course, it's too big to go IN the cart, so it's kind of balancing on top with Hunter hiding underneath. And unlike when we went into the store it's now windy as all get out - not very conducive to carrying a pool when we're parked about 9.7 miles from the store. We finally get to the car and it would appear that the pool looked a lot smaller leaning up against the wall of the store than it now does leaning up against the back of my Durango. I come to the conclusion that there is no way that this pool is going to fit in there.

I tried calling Matt at home to have him come meet us in the truck, but he was outside working on the fence so he couldn't hear the phone. So I stood there in the parking lot weighing my options. I was tempted to just return it, but Hunter was SO excited about it. He was absolutely beaming at me. I couldn't break his little heart. So I called into the store (I'm sooo not hefting that thing the 9.7 miles back there) and explain my situation. I asked if they might be able to send out a cart attendant and some twine to assist me in tying this bad boy onto the roof. They said no problem, someone will be right out. 20 MINUTES AND 2 PHONE CALLS LATER...my help arrived. In the form of a little (5'2"-ish), old (60s-ish) lady. *Insert raised eyebrows here* I had my doubts on how this is going to turn out.

She greeted me with, "You're the 4th person I've done this for today!". So I had my mental fingers crossed that she knew how to do this. We got the pool up on the roof and started tying it down. I managed to talk her into running the twine through the drain hole in the pool. She didn't think it was necessary, but she obliged me. *This will be important later* The lady proclaimed the pool secured and heads back towards the store. I got in the car and started driving away.

I took a right turn out of the parking lot and the pool immediately FELL OFF the driver's side of the car. "Look Mommy, my pool!" Hunter exclaimed. Oh. Freaking. Great. I immediately threw my hazard lights on and pulled off to the side of the road DRAGGING the pool next to us by the piece of twine I made her run through the pool. I hopped out and threw the pool back on top of the car so I could get on the safe side to pull it back down. I was PISSED. I got 40 yards away and that's all the better job this lady did. I was so glad that I talked her into running the twine through the pool or it would have ended up causing a major accident. As it turns out, the lady never really tied the twine...it was more like bunched up everywhere. Grrrrr.

So as I'm trying untangle this mess, a homeless guy approached me. Homeless folks tend to gravitate towards the Wal-Mart, because of the "park" Wal-Mart landscaped between the parking lot and the road. Now normally, I'd be like, whatever, but I'm a lot more cautious when I have Hunter with me. He offered to give me a hand, and after quickly assessing him, I accepted. After all, I needed the help, and no one else was stopping to offer. Steve (that was his name) was a tremendous help. Turns out Homeless Steve used to be Navy Steve. And Navy Steve knows a little something about knots. He helped me strap that pool down so well, it didn't move a millimeter on the way home. In fact, Matt had to get a knife and CUT IT DOWN from the top of the car. LOL I was so grateful that he came over to help. Hunter was grateful, too!

*Sigh* I hate Wal-Mart.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

You and me both.. I did grin a time or two through your story though.. but I still hate them. Ours here was without a manager for 9 months.. lets say they NEVER bothered to have cashiers that were actually manning a register more than 2 at a time at any given day of the week.. and every cart they had was 9.7 miles away.. not to mention messy..and this was a brand new store! I HATE that store and don't go there unless I HAVE to..and I really try not to.. and now that I've listened to Three Days Grace like 4 times I guess I better get off your blog.. lol

Cami said...

i spent all morning in Walmart today too just wandering around :D
for no reason I guess. once it got so late, I figured I might as well stay till time to get samantha! lol

Bobbie said...

I'm with you Jen, I hate Wal Mart. Try not to go there unless I am desperate! LOL

Scrappinfor3 said...

Can I just say THANK YOU??? That was such a well written, funny story that I laughed out loud. . .really, I did. I, too, have had crappy experiences at Walmart. We have Shopko here in WI & they are 100 million billion times better with customer service.

Jen Borley