Wal-Mart Disaster

Yesterday I had a job interview. To prepare for this interview I had to create a portfolio of some of the articles and press releases I have written for the College Times. In order to do this I headed to Wal-Mart to get one of those folders that has the plastic paper covers already in them.

After I had found what I needed, along with some mascara and a laundry basket, I headed to the self checkout line. For some reason I always think these lines will go faster, but I forget how incompetent most people are.

I got in a line behind an older lady...one person can't be that bad, right? Wrong. This lady had apparently never used a self checkout before. First she removed some stuff from one of the bags, which automatically sets off the weight sensor. We had to wait for like 5 minutes until the worker came over and typed in her little code. Then, 3 seconds after the worker left the woman set her purse on the weight sensor, causing it to go off again and another 5 minute wait. After the worker came for the second time, the woman leaned against the sensor...by this time the rage in my head started to build. It was added upon by the man behind me who kept sighing LOUDLY to make sure that we all knew he was annoyed. Finally the worker showed up for the third time, the lady bought her stuff and then it was my turn. Yay!

I tried to go as fast as I could. I mean, I am pretty much a self checkout pro. I scanned my first two items then got to the folder, my main reason for being at Wal-Mart, and there was no bar code...what the...I looked it over like 5 times, thinking that I was just missing something, then heard that man behind me sigh again. For some reason when I know the people behind me are agitated, it flusters me and makes things worse. So I just thought screw it, I wont get the folder and went to pay. I had a 20 dollar bill, which the machine denied 3 times. I then tried my brand new debt card that I had just activated, and of course forgot the pin. The man behind me raged even more. I then used my other debt card and was off.

As I was leaving the store, I seriously contemplated stealing the folder. It was only $2.57 (I remembered), such a small amount to the giant store, but then as I headed for the door I felt guilty and walked back to the worker at the desk helping all of the self checkout lanes. I figured I would just tell her really quick and pay for it. There was no way I was going to wait in line again. The last lady cost me a half hour with her stupidity. As I was walking up to the workers little desk, some woman with a cart full of groceries totally cut me off. It wasn't a big deal until I realized that she was wanting this worker to check her out. Freaking a, just wait in line woman.

So, once again I had to wait behind another incompetent person. The worst part about this lady was that, not only did she cut me off, but she had a cart FULL of fresh produce. The worker had to type in each code and weigh each item. BUT, her little desk didn't have the right equipment, so I had to wait for her to go boot up a near by register and do it all there. By this time I was the one sighing loud to prove that I was pissed off. I just wanted to get out of there. I contemplated stealing the folder again, Wal-Mart deserved it.

By the time the lady was finally checked out and had paid for her stuff, she realized that her daughter was holding a bag of bananas, which also had to be weighed, but the worker had already shut back down the register. She then had to re-open it just for the stupid bananas. AHHHH!!!

By the time it was finally my turn, 30 more minutes later, I was fuming. The lady then scanned over the folder just to realize that I had indeed told the truth, there was no bar code. She then asked me if I remembered how much it was. I did in fact remember, I am so cheap that I remember the price of almost everything. I told her that it was $2.57.

She then began to argue with me saying that she thought it cost less. What? Are you serious? Even if you did think that (which I knew for a fact was wrong) just take the freaking money. She was so certain that it cost less that she wanted to go have the price checked. Me, trying not to strangle her, said, "Listen, I know that it was $2.57, I just waited in line for almost an hour to buy this. I don't care what price you think it should be, will you please just ring it up for me so that I can leave." She did as I asked, thankfully.

As I was walking out I just kept thinking, "I should have just stole it." haha. Although I never really would.