My Epiphany

I have joined Crissy in her anti-Wal-Mart crusade. Now, I don't ordinarily get upset about the same types of stuff that Crissy does. However, there comes a time when you have to say "Enough is enough!" I think that I have reached this point. Let me explain how this epiphany came about.

Yesterday was a wet, soggy mess. I had to get out with both boys for our allergy shots that we receive on the other side of town. This is also the side of town where I do my grocery shopping. So I thought I'd kill 2 birds with 1 stone. I ran short on time, but I was able to get to 2 of the 3 stores that I needed to go to. I had a meeting; so I took the boys home and went to the meeting.

I know that you are wondering where Wal-Mart fits in to this. Well, I'll tell you. Wal-Mart has a policy of price matching other stores' ads. There are, of course, restrictions. (i.e. no Buy One, Get One Free deals, etc.) I hadn't been able to get to Publix and needed the stuff they had on sale. The sale ended last night, so I couldn't put it off until today. After my meeting, I headed to WalMart.

Now, our WalMart is only about 7 years old. It has been pretty well maintained, but poorly managed. The sales people are rude and ill-informed about the locations of merchandise. The sales people are not solely to blame for their lack of knowledge. The management makes them shuffle stuff around constantly. Very few things are in the same place 2 trips in a row.

I only had 8 things on my list. Surprisingly, they had everything I needed, but it took a scavenger hunt to find it. You see, they're remodeling. I needed a bicycle tube repair kit. The bikes were no longer there. The bike supplies (helmets, tires, etc.) were now next to the Electronics department. However, these things would only be there until today. They were being moved again. They have torn out registers, flooring, signs, whole departments. The Photo Center and Optical Shop are no longer there either. You couldn't get to whole aisles of stuff because of the buggies of stock that hadn't been put away yet. Of course, nobody knew where to put it anyway. AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I don't understand why a 7 year old store should have to be remodeled already. There's been no fire or flood. Nobody came in and shot the place up. I think that a lot of people have gotten fed up with them and started shopping elsewhere. It's defintely worth it to me to pay a little more just to avoid Wal-Mart.