Be Happy Anyway

Be Happy Anyway
From Brave Girls Club

Sunday, September 28, 2008

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.

8 comments:

Karen said...

I feel for you and totally know what you are talking about. I'm sorry you had such a hard time though.

-karen

miruspeg said...

Do you get the feeling you should have stayed in bed the whole week!
Was there a full moon up there somewhere?

I know I shouldn't be smiling all the way through your TRAGIC story.....I guess I saw the funny side as I wasn't copping the grief.

You know I am only here commenting so I can receive a gift!!!!!

All things being equal this week has to be better.

Peggy

littlemissattitude said...

My gripe about Wal-Mart is that they like like a rug when they advertise about how much they care about the customer.

I can't count the times I've tried to find something out in one of our local stores (there are several locally) and when I asked an employee, they've just said "I don't know" and walked off without even trying to find out.

Well, I know it probably doesn't do much good, but now, every time that happens, I rat them out to management. Because, you know, when I worked in retail the correct answer when you didn't know where something was or when a new shipment would be in, was "I don't know, but I'll find out for you."

This became my policy after it happened one time and I followed up with, "Can you find out for me?" and the answer was a very clipped and rude, "No."

*Sigh*

littlemissattitude said...

Clearly, "...like like a rug..." should have read, "...lie like a rug..."

Oops.

MJ said...

Yikes. If they had troubles spelling your surname, there's no point trying mine!

Make sure to pop by my blog too ~ I'm having a giveaway and the draw is on Oct 1! Your name is put in the draw each time you comment! Hope the week ahead goes better for you!

Wendy said...

I actually had a similar rant this week. I usually don't eat breakfast out but decided to go to Panera one AM last week. They were out of whole grain bagels. It was 7:30 in the morning!! I said, "This is the main item you sell..is it not..and you have sold out by 7:30??? hmmmmmm. I was nice but I did log on and voice my complaint on the survey provided on my receipt.
One time my friend went to Kentucky Fried Chicken and you guessed it..They were out of chicken...What a world.
I feel for your plight to find decent service, to have your name spelled correctly and to get a good product for a fair price.
You get the prize in patience.. I would have told the Bank Manager to close my account and be done with it!
I think it is mostly a state of mediocrity that businesses buy into.(sp?)I also know that as a whole there is a problem with a little concept called "work ethic" and that good workers at that wage are hard to find. In our small town the business owners complain alot that good reliable help is hard to find.
Fortunately you and other educators like you are helping to contribute to the cause of creating a work force what is decent, honorable, efficient and can spell your name!!!

Abundance is..a fully aired tire, a fee free cashed check and cashier who can count change!!!

carrhop said...

Definitely a conspiracy--I've had the same type experiences, often in clusters--I'm thinking it may be the aliens' way of making us seek better customer service on more distant planets, leaving all the McDonald's and WallyWorld and T.Bell behind...along with our oxygen and water and natural resources. Selfish aliens.....;o)

Sorry it was such a bummer of a customer service experience times 5.

Blessings!

Andre Rodriguez said...

Pick me! Pick me! Just got a new Super Mega Mart in town. Quite big. After not shopping at a Wal-Mart in I don't know how long I had to go there twice this past week for work: Once Sunday evening and once at 7 a.m. Wednesday morning. Now I'm even more resentful.
I'm 'fortunate' to live in a town that's already run off the little mom and pop stores, so I have the choice of other large chains to shop at besides Wally World.

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