Who Are These People and Why Have They Been Sent to Torture Me?

A week ago, my husband called me from a convenience store near work to tell me he had a flat tire. I dropped everything I was doing to go get him and take the flat tire to my least favorite but closest store, Wal-Mart. The guy was very helpful and got us a tire very quickly. This experience must have caused me to drop my guard regarding my feelings about the Super Mega Mart.

About two days later, my mother told me that my husband borrowed the pick-up truck because someone on the highway noticed he had another bad tire. Since the first tire already was outside the Victory budget, it was going to have to wait until payday.

On payday, my husband handed me a paper paycheck (very rare,) and I went immediately to the credit union whose lobby closes at 5 o'clock. In I walked and handed the woman my husband's signed check. She then proceeded to inform me that I could not deposit his paycheck from a very well-known employer in our community. Said teller continued, "If he comes in, we can cash it. Then we can deposit it in your account." I immediately got on the cell phone to call home, and lo and behold, no one answered any phone in the house. I had to drive all the way home to grab my husband and drag him back to the credit union. By this time, the lobby had closed, and the teller was working in the drive through. The manager came over to tell me that because my husband doesn't have an account with them, they will have to charge him 1% to cash the check so that I can deposit it. The first teller neglected to tell me this. By this point, I am fed up and said, "Whatever." The manager cashed the check and handed me back the entire amount instead of depositing it in the account. By the time I got through with the bank, it was too late to get the tire repaired at a non-Super Mega Mart type store. I also had to get my three year old from a tired grandma.

Saturday was spent running Caitlin around for dance. My husband had already committed to building a retaining wall for a woman at church, so another day passed without a new tire. This left today. You know Sunday, don't you? The day of REST? Well, not here! Hubby was still not done building the retaining wall and asked me if I will go get him a new tire after church. What is the only tire store open in our little town? You guessed it, Wal-Mart!

Off I went to the local Wal-Mart. I approached the ticket maker as the sign told me to do. He wrote down the size of the tire and sent me into the store to check what tires were available in that size. The counter attendant then said, "we don't carry that size." This confused me since I had just bought the same tire a week ago. Come to find out, the ticket maker cannot read. The department manager went out to the car himself to check the tire size and found the correct size. The young man cannot spell either. He tried to enter the data on his hand held computer. I asked him to add an oil change. This completely confused him. It took him five minutes to enter the information which included my name which by the time he wrote as "And Victoy." (This was after he had asked me to spell it and asked if Victory was spelled , V-I-A-....) Well, you get the picture. The manager said, "He's new." Needless to say, I was very ready to get out of my least favorite store.

Gary came home late from wall building. I hadn't had a chance to go food shopping yet, so he asked me to pick up Taco Bell. Against my better judgement, I went. The first indicator that there would be trouble was the sign on the speaker announcing the drive thru's debit card machine was not working. I went inside to see that quite a few people must have had the same issue. The cashier had the worst time trying to operate the cash register. I ended up telling him our order three times. He also forgot to give us our cups. I am so glad I brought my daughter along because the store had run out of drink carriers, too.

I am beginning to wonder if all of these places are using the same Human Resources department to do their hiring. Whoever is doing it, needs to give applicants a basic skills test. I just can't imagine where they are coming from. Obviously, the TAKS test (Texas Assessment of Knowledge & Skills) is not doing its job in "leaving no child behind."

If you managed to stick with this long drawn out rant, leave a comment. Those who do will have their name placed in a drawing for a nice little gift. It's the least I can do after torturing you with my not so little story.