The other day, I went to Wal-Fart. Gasp! I know!!!!
It was late at night and other stores were closed. That's exactly what you guys said the niche market for Wal-Mart was, right? So I thought, what they hey. I'm already out and I only need 4 random things.
The first thing was swim diapers. They had that. I had a heck of a time finding them because they were not, in fact, by the diapers, but other than that the swim diapers were a success. The happy story ends there.
Another thing I needed was a size 24 embroidery needle, so I was prepared for them to not have that because my need was pretty specific. Then again, they do carry sewing stuff unlike Target, so maybe I'd get lucky? Nope.
I also wanted tortillas, but not nasty, pasty Mission tortillas. I was prepared for them not to carry M's preferred tortilla brand since again, pretty specific. But at this point, in theory, it was still okay. I didn't really NEED the tortillas. I could make a special trip to a craft store for the needle. I had the swim diapers. So if I could find my final grocery item, I'd be saved a trip to the grocery store after the craft store.
All I was looking for was a package of mixed dried fruit. I was a little picky because we didn't want a tropical mix or the artificially sweetened craisins in the mix, but surely they would have that. I mean, what store wouldn't carry your basic prunes, apples, apricots kinda mix? Did I have unrealistic expectations? Seriously, tell me. Is that not as normal an item as I think it is? As I stood by the dried fruit staring at just prunes, just apricots, just raisins, tropical mix, or artificially sweetened berry mix, I started laughing. I'm sure the overweight man with B.O. next to me thought I was off my rocker, but Wal-Fart is just so consistent for me. Consistently disappointing.
Well, at least I had my swim diapers and in theory they should be cheaper there than anywhere else, right? Except for the 30 minutes of my life I lost waiting in line to check out were worth more than the 7 cents I saved. The checkers must actually PRACTICE to be so slow. When I finally got to check out, the checker watched me swipe my credit card, then turned and stared off into space for a long time while the credit card machine informed me that the checker needed to push the "credit" button for the transaction to continue. The checker JUST watched me swipe my card. Do so few people pay with credit that she forgot what step came next? Funny, Wal-Fart strikes me as the place where the clientele would rack up quite a bit of consumer debt. Maybe the umpteenth millionth time doing this credit card payment process just wasn't quite enough repetition to remember what she was supposed to do next. We'll just hope she was new. Or maybe she couldn't think about anything other than that Twinkie and cigarette she was planning on as soon as she got her break. Or maybe Wal-Mart likes to punish customers who use a credit card and therefore cost them credit card transaction fees by making them wait longer. Because, you know, anything to make a buck. If that's something Wal-Mart employees are suppose to aspire to, this lady must be "Wal-Fart Employee of the Month." Why don't they have the old lady handing out carts come run a freaking cash register so that at least they could make up for in checkout lane quantity what they lack in quality????
Anyway, don't worry. You won't have to read anymore rants about Wal-Mart for a long, long time because I WILL NOT be making the mistake of trying to go there again. Now excuse me, I have to go to the craft store AND the grocery store.
OKAY... to be "fair" I do think your needs are far more specific than most. (I think you'd agree with that.) So, they didn't have the TYPE you wanted... but they DID have it. I went to frickin Target the other day and they didn't have ANY trash bags... How can that happen? They have mops, brooms, wipes, but no garbage sacks? I've also been there on an occasion where I (nor an employee) could locate a dish scrub brush or a fly swatter. SO, although you seem to come in disappointed with W every time... I do think they have almost EVERYTHING, just not the brand specification some of us would like.
ReplyDeleteNow, onto the flippin' checkers... I agree with you that they should know how it works... BUT... atleast they aren't stingy on their plastic bags. I know, that seems like a strange one, but at HEB they stack EVERY can I buy into one bag, and then can't double bag it, so it consistantly rips, every time! Also, I only end up with squished bread from HEB, because they cram it all into one bag. As well, I've also had several (SEVERAL) occasions where I choose to put away only the refridgerated items, and then come to find out they put my meat in with a shirt or two 5 lbs bags of flour? WHAT? why would they do that? I even go the extra effort to sort everything on my conveyor-belt, into like items grouping. Therefore assuming (you know that thay makes...?) assuming that if I put my lunch meat, and lunch cheese together, they might, just might end up in the same bag together... NOPE, WRONG. They don't care, they jsut get everything all squashed down at the end and pile it in a bag.
Oh, the frustration. The only thing I can say about this problem I have with this store, is that when I have called to report the problem, they have always gone above and beyond to replace my items AND refund my money... unlike some other worlwide shopping marts!
i have a really great bag of dried fruit from sams club, but that is just an extension of wal mart. i've never had trouble finding things, but the lines can be annoying. luckily they have an array of magazines for me to look through while i wait
ReplyDeleteThe Wal-Marts in our area are so ghetto and dirty and full of inconsiderate people that I have two gift cards that I probably will never ever use. Free money. To go there. And yet: NO.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've *ever* seen any store use all of those checkout line locations. I mean, they must be aware that busy times will happen because they built more checkout lines, right? But the irony of it all is that the store is only busy because they lack the checkers to man the stations -- and therefore the customers cannot escape.
ReplyDeleteOh I feel your Wal-Fart pain. I have gone in for a quick item because I thought it was not worth the gas and time to drive out of my way to Fred Meyers, only to be really mad later because maybe I did find the item quickly even though it was at the far back of that HUGE store (ours is enormous) and maybe I got in line really fast, but yes, the check-out was miserably SSSSSSSLLLLLLOOOOOWWWWWW. I have never left that store happy in the state of Washington.
ReplyDeleteI loved Walmart growing up as a kid in Oklahoma. So friendly, with the stuff you need, always run into someone I know who I want to chat with, easy to navigate thru... Those days are gone. Once they came up with Super walmarts, it has all gone downhill. I hate how the put the milk at the back of the store and the store is at least a mile long. And the baking ware is at the opposite end of the store from the baking goods. And yes, I have noticed the diaper discrepancy.
The way they have the store laid out is a conspiracy to make you walk every inch of it for your needs and impulse buy along the way. I am politically opposed to Wal-marts now.