Walmart

I'm starting to dislike Walmart. And no, not for all the reasons most people do - I happen to love saving some money on things, so if people are unfortunate enough to make the decision to apply for a job at Walmart, then I simply can't feel sorry for them if they aren't being paid well or getting good health care. But that's a whole thing in and of itself.

This is why I'm starting to dislike Walmart:

More often than not, when I get home and unpack my bags full of Walmart goodies, it'll dawn on me that something is missing. Not only has this happened to me, but it's happened to my husband as well, and he's one of those people who hates Walmart for the humanitarian / bad business ethics reasons, so you can imagine how that goes when he realizes something is missing from his purchases. This is the man who gets mad at inanimate objects for falling when he touches him. It doesn't go over so well.

I went yesterday and bought a bunch of stuff, one item in particular for Mateo because he's just starting to get used to eating solid foods vs. pureed slop: Sweet Potato Puffs. YUM!

He's already tried the fruity puffs and likes those, so I thought it would be good to get a veggie one.

For a few different reasons, I didn't completely unpack all the bags when I got home, and it wasn't until 2:30ish that I finished unpacking and realized his puffs were missing. Maybe I already put them away and just forgot, I thought. I checked, couldn't find them. Maybe they rolled out of the bag in the car, I thought. When I left to go pick him up from daycare, I checked, couldn't find them.

Grrrrrrr....Darn Walmart. Got me again.

Now the thing I don't get it this: In my case, the lady must have put the single container of puffs in its own bag, which makes no sense because 1. it's as light as a cotton ball (hello - they're PUFFS) and 2. they're in a container where they can't easily be crushed. But I'm assuming that's what she did, and since they use that crazy spinner bag thing, and each cashier does their own thing (in this case, she handed me some bags and pointed to others - apparently I missed the bag with a single container of light as cotton ball PUFFS. I just incorrectly assume I'm getting all my items.

And what about the little 80-year old Filipino lady who comes up to my waist that stops customers as they exit? Why didn't she, as she glanced quickly at my receipt and never once at my bags, and then swipe a green pen line on my receipt, tell me that I'm missing an item? If these ancient door checkers are there to eliminate theft, then how come they can't also take inventory of what's in my bags and compare to my receipt for me? They're stopping me as it is, even though they have no legal right to, and if I was a crazed thief, I could easily push her down and the other guy who stands around forcing shopping carts and umbrella bags on people, and run out the doors, screaming like a wild animal all the while. But yes, they are stopping me. So do me a favor and ensure I've received all the items I just paid for. I know, like that will ever happen.

So maybe it's a ploy of Walmart's and part of their training program. If one cashier "forgets" to bag an item or "forgets" to give a bag to a customer, just imagine the savings for them. I'm sure the item gets restocked and repurchased by someone else. From our past experiences of calling immediately after arriving home (five minute trip home) and realizing something was missing, they really don't seem to care. When I worked retail, I remember feeling like a horrible cashier when I forgot to give someone something, so much so that I would make a real attempt to chase them down and give them their bag or item. And if that was impossible, I would tell others and the manager on duty, so if that person called about it, others would know. And I wasn't being paid the greatest nor was I receiving wonderful health care, if any.

So I'll just add that to the evil doings of Walmart. But I'll still shop there cause I like saving money. And maybe next time I will keep walking out the door and ignore the small security people.