I'll say it....I *hate* shopping at Walmart. Upon entry to said ticky tacky bunker of Chinese chatchki, I am immediately reminded of how badly humans can and will act in public places. Now, when I say that people are rude....I mean it. Walmart seems to be the place to let all of that out on our fellow humans....big, small, black, white, purple with yellow polka dots.....it doesn't matter.....there is so much rudeness in one spot, I can barely handle it. It's almost worse on a Sunday than Costco. I'm talking about grown adults. General Public: holy crap, get it together and remember what your mothers taught you about manners. It would make the experience much better for everyone. Calm your tits, buy your pillows and canned cheese in peace.
I have chatted with some wonderful employees, and it is always such a pleasure to be followed by your super obvious LP folks (it's also fun to follow them back or strike up a conversation...while they're uselessly profiling me for likely my funny hair) That is the one redeeming quality....but the story I came here to tell in regards to one particular situation (before I went on a tangent) shall proceed:
It was a hot and sunny afternoon in September, and my five year old and I meandered to the line with the least multiple of ten queued for checkout. While we were shopping, my child had asked if I would purchase a certain toy, so I told him that if it were under ten dollars (plastic piece of Paw Patrol crap), that I might, if he were to behave himself.
Lo and behold, he did behave himself....until we were in said line. Now, it wasn't at his own behest, as some lady in front of us in line decided to strike up a chat with my child about the toy that we had yet to find out the price for. She did this without acknowledging me first (extremely creepy), or at all, until she asked if she could "see the toy and have it scanned to see how much it was for her grandchild". I hesitated, as she had clearly heard our conversation in regards to the toy (I could see what she was up to)....which turned out to be $15, a price I wasn't willing to pay for cheaply made product (not for a lack of funds). So, I wasn't going to buy it. It would have been a very teachable moment.
Wouldn't you know, this lady, who has already violated every stretch of the Stranger Danger rule, decided to lie, and ignore my parenting procedure....decided to take it all the way to the limit and buy the toy. She left it with the cashier, who tried to push it on me....again ignoring my parenting procedures. Now, there were probably ten more people in line behind me, to whom I apologize to....but also who hopefully understood what was going on and that it needed to be taken care of accordingly.
This cashier, obviously either being entirely defiant or completely ignorant of the situation, tried to give the toy to my child while very obviously keeping it away from me, at one point, jerking it away from my grasp. Sorry, but this was not okay....I had to become terse, and explain to this cashier what had just transpired and that we would not be taking the toy. All of this esalated my son's tantrum, in the meantime. So she tried to make me feel guilty by saying she'd have to run after the lady to give her the toy if I wouldn't take it. So I told her I'd wait.
Apparently she'd found the lady, so we completed the purchase and went on our way....but you bet my unecessarily confused son got a lecture in:
1. Reaffirming Stranger Danger
2. Making solid decisions with a purchase
3. Why it's not OK to lie or manipulate
4. Not judging a book by it's gothy cover in regards to finances, character, etc.
5. When minding one's own business is appropriate
I'd like to thank the Strange Lady and Miss Cashier for completely, unecessarily escalating a situation that never would have ended up where it was if they hadn't minded their own business.
I'll still show up when I need batteries. At least the LP staff makes for a pleasant trip. :/ read more