Walmart Incident

I know, with such a broad title you're probably wondering what the heck happened to me at Walmart. I mean, it could be anything from finding strawberries on sale for less than a dollar to witnessing a woman giving birth in the parking lot to getting rear-ended by a crazed close=parking-spot-searching person.

In actuality, I had a...bad-person moment. It was kind of an overwhelming trip to Walmart. I like to go there sometimes because I can get food and stuff all in one trip. With G3, this is much easier than taking him in and out of the carseat two or even three times. Makes no sense to go to Walmart, the grocery store, and Lowe's when I can get everything at Walmart.

Which is not to say Walmart is my favorite place or anything. Its often crowded with crazy people...drivers who speed around haphazardly looking for the best spot, entire multi-generational families doing their monthly shopping with 8 carts, crochety old ladies buying holiday decorations and arguing with the salespeople that they've been overcharged.

Yesterday I was tired from the weekend and the amount of things I needed to get, and G3 was running on 5 hours of being awake with no nap. I managed to get everything I needed except the play kitchen I wanted to buy him--it was too big for the cart and I was too lazy to find someone to help me. I got in line and waited behind 1 customer before it was my turn. As I was loading my stuff on the belt, my cashier's boyfriend showed up.

She pretty much ignored me, did not say hello or anything, was bagging my stuff without even looking at what she was putting in, which annoyed me for two reasons. One, she was doing things like putting cans and bread together and two, she was not even remotely filling the bags, which irritated my inner green-ness (which was already irritated because I forgot my canvas shopping bags.) Her boyfriend stood right where I, the customer, should have been standing, in front of the credit card machine. It was slightly awkward. While he did step aside when it was time for me to pay, they did not stop conversing and batting their eyes. She basically interupted her sentence to tell me my total, sort of like "Oh hot sexy boyfriend blah blah blah--oh, $120.25--back to you hot sexy boyfriend!" So I paid and was really annoyed by the lack of respect--particularly as she handed me my receipt without even LOOKING at me or breaking stride in her mile-a-minute dictation of her weekend to her her decidedly not-so-hot-and-sexy boyfriend.

I am not the type of person to go to customer service or a manager and complain. In fact, the only time I have ever done so to my knowledge was at a TGIFriday's when I went into the bathroom and there was blood on the toilet. We can pause here so everyone can collectively dry-heave. But I always dream about complaining to customer service. I almost left and then thought, "NO, she was really rude to me!" I promised G3 it would only take a minute, as he was whining and looking like a meltdown was brewing. Fortunately there was no line.

I very nicely told the lady of the service I received, told her I didn't want the cute little cashier to get in trouble but felt I had to say something. She agreed with me, thanked me for being honest and said they need feedback. She offered to replace anything that had gotten squished in my bags and I said it was all right, I had already saved the bread and other squishables. She asked me to confirm my register number and I said with confidence, "27". She wrote it down, thanked me again, and I left.

By now G3 was whining so I carried him, pushed the cart (which was heavy due to potting soil) with 1 hand, and made it all the way to the other end of the store to leave. As I was passing by my chatty cashier, I noticed her boyfriend had left. And then, with horror, I noticed she was NOT in aisle 27, but rather aisle 25. My eyes drifted back to 27 and I saw a tiny hispanic grandmotherly type checking people out with speed and a smile. My heart sunk.

However, at this point I was practically dropping G3 and already on my way out the door. So instead of doing the right thing and going back to correct my mistake, I just left. I was tired, my cart was heavy, and my baby was whining and arching his back dangerously. I drove home feeling terrible and hoping that when they went to reprimand poor old Grammy in aisle 27, they would be able to figure out that I'd been talking about the teenybopper in aisle 25.

Lesson learned. I will no longer complain about bad service unless I'm dedicated to following through. I will probably also not be shopping at Walmart again anytime soon--well at least for a few weeks. I think the hassle of hitting 3 stores instead of 1 will be punishment enough!!