Showing posts with label Walmart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Walmart. Show all posts

Thursday, June 27, 2024

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...


Thursday, January 24, 2013

I've Had Better Days

I don't mean anything serious went bad.  No family problems, no accidents, no injuries.  But you know how some days just go "off"...

Yesterday started well.  I slept well after getting up at dawn for the tree removal crew the day before, and got up early enough to make Dad and myself an actual breakfast omelet (with sauted red and green bell peppers, onion, mushroom, and cheese), toasted english muffins, bacon, and cottage-fried potatoes.  He usually eats cereal because I tend to sleep late.  So when I'm up early, I try to give him a change of pace.

I knew I had a vet appointment for Marley to get a 2nd of 3 shots for "something".  All the cats shots seem to have similiar initials.  But I had other shopping to do and enough time, so off I went.

A foot-pedal compost can for Dad (to make it easier) and a wooden toast tong so Dad can get those small english muffins out - after I saw him get at one with a fork), kitty litter at Petsmart, an ATM visit, and then a trip through WalMart!

I was looking for camo jeans (no luck), rechargeable batteries (got them), calendars (got them), candy/tea/V8 (got them), locktite screw-holder (no luck), and aquarium fish (thereby hangs the tale)...

I'm not sure how to say this.  I know some people are not as capable as others and have some difficulties in life.  I understand that, and I am patient.  I have had friends and relatives in my younger years like that.  I was the kid who told the other kids to calm down (or back off) around other kids who had problems.

The local Walmart has this one guy who works in the pet department.  He tries well, but he is slow to do things.  Walmart does not make it easier for him.  They put several kinds of fish in the same aquarium, they don't put pictures of the fish on the labels and its seems they don't provide any training at catching fish in aquariums.

I have dealt with the guy before.  I stay polite and patient.  I know he is doing the best he can.  I had an appointment to bring Marley to the Vet at 3 pm, but it was only 2 pm, and I had some other things to buy.  I got him to write down the 3 fish I wanted.  6 tiger barbs, 6 serpa tetra, and one small plecostomus.  I made sure he saw which fish they were.



 He got the tiger barbs just fine, so I went to finish my shopping.

10 minutes later, he was struggling to get the serpa tetra.  They are coralish-orangy-colored and were in a tank of several kinds of black fish.   He kept taking black fish out of the tank.  I suggested several easier ways of getting them, but he didn't understand what I suggested.  My brain was screaming "just take the net and get them", but I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  It took 35 minutes!!!  I felt sorry for him, but I didn't know what to do.  I could have netted all the fish in 3 minutes. 

Exactly when he was done, another guy in the pet dept called out to him "you need some help?" and "hope you didn't kill any this time".  I felt very bad.  So after I got my fish, I went over to the guy and asked him why he didn't volunteer to help the other guy when he first saw he was having trouble.  He said it was funny watching him.  I said it wasn't funny to ME!

I'm not pure on this.  I just wanted to get my cheap fish from Walmart and get the heck out of the store as fast as possible and put them in the quarantine tank to see if they are healthy after a week.

But the delay meant I was seriously behind schedule getting Marley to the vet.  When I got home, I had to toss the bag of new fish into the main aquarium to stay warm. get out the cat carrier, and get Marley into it.

Naturally, he had to see me take out the cat carrier and he hid.  I HATE sitting around the vet office.  If you are late, you have to sit around through 2 more appointments.  So I got after Marley aggressively.  By the time I got ahold of him and him into the carrier, we were BOTH seriously aggravated.  Marley clawed me good on the neck...

I gave Marley extra attention last night.  But I wonder if that guy at Walmart will be getting any attention.  He needs it.

*Sigh*

My new fish seem OK in the quarantine tank.  Marley has calmed down and is back looking for scritchies and chin rubs.  Dad is happily watching a replay of the golf tournament he watched this past weekend.  I am managing my odd household...

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