WAL MART, AGAIN

James and I had to go to Wal mart yesterday for stuff to cook on the new grill he finished building a few weeks ago and while we were there I added reason number 1,556 for my adamant distaste for that place.

Buggy loaded to the gills, we had to go to the north 40, way over in the garden section, to find charcoal so, it being totally empty over there save for a couple of check-out persons, we decided to check out there. Everything was going along quite well until the man scanned the 4 pack of tomatoes that I'd picked up because the sign said they were $2.94. They scanned in at $7.79! I said, "Whoa,,,back up there,,,I'm not buying gold buddy,,, it's 4 tomatoes and the sign said $2.94. If you can really get that much for 4 tomatoes, I'll be back around July 1st and sell you some." The man and the lady who was standing there agreed that it way too much for tomatoes so they scanned them again, $7.96, (holy shit, they're gaining weight on the scales), then again, $7.96.

By this time, my grocery total includes $23.71 for those 4 tomatoes that I now, really, had no intention of buying. I finally said, "enough, please, enough. Take em off!", so the man picked up the little pager phone to page a supervisor to come remove the charges. 10 minutes later the man paged again. This paging thing went on for 20 minutes. By this time we'd been trying to check out for 30 minutes total and I was getting a tad aggravated but finally the photo developing supervisor lady came strolling back there and took the tomatoes off so all was nearly well until I looked on the ticket and found yet another charge of$7.96 for those 4 danged tomatoes.

Because we'd already checked out and paid, I had to go, with the checker, to the customer service desk to receive cash for those solid gold tomatoes that I didn't buy. There were two service desk folks there and one was helping another customer and just as we walked up the second one grabbed her purse and started to leave. I said, "Oh no, no, no! I've just spent 30 minutes back there being robbed for 4 danged tomatoes and still got charged for them and I want my money back and you can get this checker guy to buy your supper for your time or WHATEVER, but you are not leaving until I can leave!"

They really need to find someone to work at that customer service desk who doesn't look so positively sour and vengeful when it comes to actually having to help a customer cause this woman frowned up like a kid who'd had their sucker swiped and grabbed my receipt out of my hand, counted the number of times (like the checker and I didn't know this already) I'd been charged for the tomatoes I didn't buy, and counted the number of times they'd been voided, and decided, "Well yeah, I guess you did get charged for them anyway."

Well Duh, why else would I STILL BE IN THIS HELLISH PLACE????

Anyway, we finally got out of there, drove home, and discovered, after we drove into the drive, that we'd left a 20 lb bag of Purina Puppy Chow under the cart. Waves of dread engulfed me but I called them in hopes that someone had found it and turned it in. They had, and after I rattled off the numbers from my receipt, was told that "Yes, they'd put my name on it, and Yes, I could pick it up at the customer service desk if I stopped by the next day (which was today)". Call me surprised.

Sounds easy enough, doesn't it?

Not on your life, NOT in this ESTABLISHMENT from HELL.

I stop in today after I get off work to get a few things I really didn't need and to pick up the 20lbs of Puppy Chow that's supposedly being kept for me at the customer service desk, and guess what? It wasn't there. I had to go all the way back to the critter food isle to get another bag of puppy food, one of only 2 bags on the shelf I might add, and lug it back up to the customer service desk so I could leave with it.

I am now having vengeful thoughts about finding a band of terrorist to go to that place and hold everyone who works there HOSTAGE until they learn how to SMILE!

I knew I should have stayed out of Wal mart.