A Pleasant Surprise

Sometimes I get lucky.  Sometimes I forget stuff but get away with it.  For example decades ago, I abandoned a grocery cart full of food.  Not deliberately, of course.  The store was trying to prevent people stealing carts, so they install pylons around the entrance that prevented customers from rolling the carts to their car.  Instead, you had to drive to drive to the front of the store, wait in line and load your groceries from the imprisoned cart directly into your car.  

Well, one time, I walked to my car and simply drove home.   When I got there, no groceries!  I drove back immediately and the cart was still there.  👍.   The store abandoned the policy soon and removed half the pylons.  Too much negative feedback I assume.

Well, today I did something like that again.  Walmart has a self checkout area that is way faster than waiting in the cashier lines.  Unless I am buying cases of cat food (where each one has to be scanned individually) I go there.  A cashier can scan one can and enter "24" but customers can't do that in self-checkout.  

I wasn't buying cat food and I am used to the quicker self-checkout anyway.  Loaded my bags, but them in the cart, but the bags in the car and drove home.  But unloading everything I realized I didn't have the milk and 3 other items.  I had left 1 bag at the checkout station!

About $10 worth of stuff.  So there was a dilemma...  Was it worth driving back to Walmart?  The next customer might have simply taken the bag along with their own stuff (innocently or not).  The clerks might have just taken the stuff and restocked the shelves.  And gas isn't free.  And it was hot outside.  And I had other things to do.  And I didn't want milk that had been sitting around for 45 minutes...  👎

But I decided to drive back.  I stood in line at Customer Service for 10 minutes.  I explained to the clerk there about leaving a bag behind and showed him my receipt with the missing items.  He checked some place in an adjoining room, then simply walked away halfway across the store.   

I didn't follow him because I didn't want to lose my place in the line.  But I watched him.  He finally waved at me and pointed down.  So I went.  3 of the 4 items were there in a bag but no milk (which I wasn't sure I still wanted anyway - I am very careful about perishable items).

But he said "just grab another and you can leave".  Cool!  Literally, nice fresh-cold milk!

So many parts of that could have just not worked.  So as I said, I am lucky sometimes.  Just thought I would share this...