Tara’s Takes
It was Monday night.
I had several things on my list next time I got to the store. I also had to pick up Natalie from knowledge bowl in Marshall.
So after the school board meeting, I headed up to Marshall figuring I’d use that short time to knock out my list. I walked into Walmart, list on my phone, ready to efficiently make use of my time.
I didn’t have a huge number of items, just had a really weird variety that would take me all over the store. I grabbed a cart and headed to the first item on the list. This was the start of the reason why I like to shop locally.
First, there is so much stuff piled in the wide aisles that are supposed to be for walking that you can barely fit with your cart. You just hope and pray you don’t meet anyone because there is a guaranteed head-on collision.
Add to the that, as I made my way to pick stuff up, there were two kids, approximately 2 and 4, making a game of running between the displays in the aisle. Now, I agree that kids will be kids. Anything can become a game. My issue was as a parent, it is our job to teach our kids when it’s appropriate to run and play games and when it’s not. Jumping out in front of someone’s cart is not one of those times. Instead of stopping the play, the parents laughed at how much fun they were having and how loud their squeals were.
I made my way around the kids and continued my shopping. I thought once I got out of that area, I’d be fine.
Nope. Their list must have been similar to mine. As I made my way to various corners of the store, I kept having to slam on my imaginary brakes to keep from hitting a kid.
I then stopped in an aisle looking for a specific product. Of course, it’s Walmart so there is a wider variety than I would have found in Tracy.
But that didn’t help when I knew what I wanted. The problem arose in the fact I couldn’t find what I wanted. I walked up and down the aisle and there were no employees around to ask. Eventually, I gave up and decided I would go without until I could stop in Tracy when I could.
On my way out, I grabbed two loaves of bread. I headed over to check out and two associates were visiting at the front of the checkouts. I thought they were waiting for someone to come to their lane. I was wrong. It was more self-checkout lanes. That’s fine, I usually use them anyway.
Since our society has switched more to selfcheckout, I don’t mind checking myself. However, I arrange things in my cart so I can quickly scan the products. As I was scanning, I swiped both loaves of bread, one after the other, and kept going. I listen when I swipe to make sure I hear the beep. I scanned the next item and … no beep. I scanned it again, nothing. I double checked that I wasn’t covering the barcode and scanned it yet again.
Nothing. I looked at the screen and saw that it said “wait for an associate.” That was odd. Shortly, an associate approached. She had to watch back the security video to see that I was actually scanning the stuff I had go across the machine because it was too quick. I don’t blame the associate, she was just doing her job. However, I was being looked at like a criminal because I was too good at doing a job that isn’t mine?
She looked at the footage, looked that I had scanned everything so far and put in her code. I finished scanning my stuff. I quickly loaded my car and headed to pick Natalie up, proud of myself for using that time to knock off the list I had instead of sitting in my car with a Diet Coke blasting Christmas music like I wanted to do.
But it also left a sour taste in my mouth. Yes, it was convenient to be able to get everything in one short stop and later at night than I could in Tracy. But in Tracy, my experience would have been 1000% times better. I would have had to stop at multiple stores, but the service would have been there. My business would have been appreciated. I would have left in a much better mood. And I still need to get some things in town, so I’m stopping anyway.
Sometimes convenient isn’t always better.
Next time, I’ll stick to shopping locally and use that time for Diet Coke and a Christmas sing-a-long.
