I did it. I went back to the new Wal-Mart today. Took my Mama. With her driving, I am glad to say that we parked without incident. (Thanks Mama!)
As part of yesterday's visit, I purchased two bags of Valentine Marshmallows. If you know my child, Christian, then you surely know he's a huge fan of the marshmallow. I bought these to be used for a school thingy next week but when he got home and saw the Cinnamon Toast Crunch I'd also bought, he decided he wanted to take that for the school thingy instead. Fine with me. I'll get my $2.50 back. I don't mind. Or do I?
So, we grab a cart and go into the new Wal-Mart and right there before my eyes is a line of folks stretching from my immediate right to all the way across the main entrance foyer area. That was the line I had to get in. The Customer Service line. Initially I counted 16 people in line, but as my mama (or anyone who halfway knows me) will tell you--I'm not the best with numbers. The second time I counted 12, but the number was growing. And no, 4 people did not get through the line in between my counts.
I stand on my tippy toes and crane my neck to get a good look at the counter. One worker. One. Oh no, that shit wasn't gonna work. I looked around at one lady a couple of people behind me and said, "Oh no. This shit ain't gonna work." OK--that's not really what I said. I said, "Oh no, this ain't gonna work. Especially when I see employees standing around not doing anything." It's about that time that I see three women who are casually walking around, chatting in their navy shirts and khaki pants so I figure they must be some sort of managerial type people. They are probably about 20-30 feet away. I was not getting of that line so I said, "Excuse me. Excuse me." The big lady in the center raised her eyebrows at me so I knew she heard me so I continued, "Can you please get somebody over here to help this girl?" To make my point more obvious, I made sure to gesture at the length of the line, which was still growing. I don't recall the verbal response and that's not important anyway. What was important is that she turned around and went and found someone to send over to Customer Service. A couple of my line friends thanked me. To which I responded, "I do not have all day to stand here and wait for my two dollars and fifty cents."
Another employee comes over, actually TWO employees come over. The line gets excited. I can see the feet shuffling, the slight surge forward...and then it happens. Some nut, two people behind me takes it upon herself to get out of line, walk towards the front to Cashier #3. Oh, HELL no. I look behind me at the lady who was behind The Cutter and said, "Don't you think we ought to all stay in line take turns getting helped as they call the next customer up?" "I though that's how it always worked." "Me too. " I turn forward again and reach out my arm in quite the same manner one would if they were trying to get someone's attention, which I was, and I say " Ma'am. Ma'am." The Cutter turned around and looked at me. "Ma'am, the back of the line is this way. That is not the line. The line is back behind me." The Cutter looks at me with an expression much like Mrs. SUV did yesterday--one of disbelief. She protest, not very well, but nonetheless, "Well, this lady cut." Oops. This Lady spun around and said, "No I did not. I am in between this man and this lady." I jump in to diffuse the situation, "Ma'am, the back of the line is this way." She wasn't happy, but she got her ass back in line.
All was right in the world. The elderly lady behind me asked if I could look on her receipt and find where she paid for the shirt she was returning. (I found out she was getting a whopping $3.00 back!) It wasn't her eyesight I'll tell you that, because it was kind of hard to locate which line was the shirt, but I found it and she seemed to be relieved. We stood there for a moment and her cart was beside me and she slightly bumped me. She stood back and said, "Sorry ma'am. I'm not trying to get in front of you." I laughed at the thought of this little old lady trying to get in front of me and replied, "Oh that's alright. I know you're not. Can't you just see tomorrow's headline? Cancer patient knocks down little old lady in line at Wal-Mart?" And maybe she did have bad eyesight because she said, "You're a cancer patient?" We proceeded to have a nice little chat.
At some point during all this a FOURTH customer Service person arrived! The line moved quick. Lightning quick. Well, lightning quick by Wal-Mart standards. It wasn't too terribly long before I had my $2.50 back.
So now you must be wondering what my mama thought of all this. Well, she didn't think anything of it. Not a thing because as soon as she saw the line when we walked in she just kept going with her cart. Going and going and going. Exploring the new Wal-Mart. I can't say I blame her.
Mother, daughter, sister, neice, cousin, and friend
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Opening Day At Wally World
Let's think about this. One would, normally I would like to think, be in a good mood when visiting a new Wal-Mart on opening day. Let's face it, there are many other Wal-Mart's in Central Arkansas. If you don't WANT to go to the new one, go to your OLD one. I went to just scope it out. But before I could even get in, here's what happened:
I was driving around the full parking lot looking for a parking spot. Amazingly, though the lot was full, there were not a bunch of cars backed up down the aisles. In fact, there were no cars backed up at all. Anywhere. It's worth noting here that the parking lot directly in front of the store is not as big at the parking lots of the Benton, Bryant, Chenal or Bowman locations. I am at the back of the parking lot (which each go in both directions) casually driving and evaluating whether or not there is an available spot on the row I am approaching. I FIND A SPOT--And Heaven's to Bestsy it's about 4 spots from the front!!!!! I turn to go down the aisle and there beside my spot is a big SUV of some sort with a woman standing on the passenger's side along with her cart.
And her cart is in my parking spot. Yes, the entire cart. It's right on the line and going into my spot from there and I probably could have whipped my little G6 in there, but with the damn cart and BOTH of her passenger side doors open (which extended out further than the damn cart), it's was an obvious no go. So, I assess. Do I move on? Do I wait? What I do is check my rear view mirror to make sure I'm not blocking someone or hindering anyone else's efforts to park. It's clear. I wait. And I wait. Mrs. SUV is rummaging around the back seat of her car. She finally comes out and looks at her cart, back into the car, at the cart, back into the car.
You know how when you are out somewhere and you don't have your makeup on or you see someone you don't really care to talk to (for whatever reason)? You know how you avoid eye contact at all costs? (Dang that is mighty fine selection of motor oil!) Well, that is exactly what Mrs. SUV was doing. She was obviously not going to look at the little white car less than 10 feet away.
Still, she is unloading jack. So, I do what a nice person would do and roll my window down and ask, "Ma'am, do you mind moving your cart for a second so I can pull in there?" (A not-so-nice-person would have pulled up right on her cart and nudged it when she didn't get the hint to move it. But that's not how I roll.)
But I digress. She looks around at the empty parking spot she is standing in (she's standing in an EMPTY parking spot!) and with a look of disbelief (at me, not the empty parking spot) replies, "I'm unloading MY stuff." Which, of course, she wasn't.
She blankly stares into her car for a second, two seconds, three seconds and in the nick of time (before I become not-so-nice) grabs a bag to unload. She also calls her son (who should have been in school one would think--well, that's what I think anyway) out of the car to help. I shook my head and said, "Ma'am that's just hateful. Hateful." and roll up my window. She didn't take too long putting up her shit, and as soon as her kid moved the cart wheeled that cart out of the way (while she was slamming the car doors.), I pulled in. Sheesh.
Welcome to the Shackleford Wal-Mart.
Now, how was the Wal-Mart you ask? BIG. It is big. Of course everything is fully stocked and items aren't out of place. The shopping carts worked. The floor was clean. It's brightly lit. The inventory was all symmetrical hanging there on the displays. They had plenty of checkers so they also had no long lines. No lines actually.
I wonder how long that will last.
I was driving around the full parking lot looking for a parking spot. Amazingly, though the lot was full, there were not a bunch of cars backed up down the aisles. In fact, there were no cars backed up at all. Anywhere. It's worth noting here that the parking lot directly in front of the store is not as big at the parking lots of the Benton, Bryant, Chenal or Bowman locations. I am at the back of the parking lot (which each go in both directions) casually driving and evaluating whether or not there is an available spot on the row I am approaching. I FIND A SPOT--And Heaven's to Bestsy it's about 4 spots from the front!!!!! I turn to go down the aisle and there beside my spot is a big SUV of some sort with a woman standing on the passenger's side along with her cart.
And her cart is in my parking spot. Yes, the entire cart. It's right on the line and going into my spot from there and I probably could have whipped my little G6 in there, but with the damn cart and BOTH of her passenger side doors open (which extended out further than the damn cart), it's was an obvious no go. So, I assess. Do I move on? Do I wait? What I do is check my rear view mirror to make sure I'm not blocking someone or hindering anyone else's efforts to park. It's clear. I wait. And I wait. Mrs. SUV is rummaging around the back seat of her car. She finally comes out and looks at her cart, back into the car, at the cart, back into the car.
You know how when you are out somewhere and you don't have your makeup on or you see someone you don't really care to talk to (for whatever reason)? You know how you avoid eye contact at all costs? (Dang that is mighty fine selection of motor oil!) Well, that is exactly what Mrs. SUV was doing. She was obviously not going to look at the little white car less than 10 feet away.
Still, she is unloading jack. So, I do what a nice person would do and roll my window down and ask, "Ma'am, do you mind moving your cart for a second so I can pull in there?" (A not-so-nice-person would have pulled up right on her cart and nudged it when she didn't get the hint to move it. But that's not how I roll.)
But I digress. She looks around at the empty parking spot she is standing in (she's standing in an EMPTY parking spot!) and with a look of disbelief (at me, not the empty parking spot) replies, "I'm unloading MY stuff." Which, of course, she wasn't.
She blankly stares into her car for a second, two seconds, three seconds and in the nick of time (before I become not-so-nice) grabs a bag to unload. She also calls her son (who should have been in school one would think--well, that's what I think anyway) out of the car to help. I shook my head and said, "Ma'am that's just hateful. Hateful." and roll up my window. She didn't take too long putting up her shit, and as soon as her kid moved the cart wheeled that cart out of the way (while she was slamming the car doors.), I pulled in. Sheesh.
Welcome to the Shackleford Wal-Mart.
Now, how was the Wal-Mart you ask? BIG. It is big. Of course everything is fully stocked and items aren't out of place. The shopping carts worked. The floor was clean. It's brightly lit. The inventory was all symmetrical hanging there on the displays. They had plenty of checkers so they also had no long lines. No lines actually.
I wonder how long that will last.
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