That’s Right

[ 0 ] December 3, 2008 | Amanda

I was reminded last night why I haven’t shopped at Walmart since we moved but three times. We went to Chili’s for dinner (yes we’re regulars now). On the way we stopped at Walmart so I could get a 2lb bag of Hershey’s Kisses since a certain 2 year old by the name of Aaron went through the Advent Calendar yesterday while I was doing laundry, brushing my teeth, putting on my shoes for the bus stop, etc, and ate them all. So, I go in and grab the Kisses and some cold meds for DH since I didn’t want him to suffer through dinner, and he forgot to take some before we left. I figure we’d need the extra when this crud rolls around to me anyway. But I digress. So I’m in the 20 items or less line. There are two women in front of me. The first one wants to pay with a card. It won’t go through. Then she tries this funky looking check. I’ve never seen a check like that before. At any rate, the check wouldn’t work either, and the cashiers have no way to enter check numbers manually. They either have to be read by the electronic check reader or you can’t use them. So the woman argues, then stomps off, leaving her cart and its contents. Thankfully it was an assistant manager running the line. She called a customer service rep and got the cart our of the way, and rang up the next customer. This woman had her lotion rung up as one transaction, and paid with a credit card. She had her CD rung up as another transaction, and paid with a different credit card. Then she had her few groceries rung up and paid with a third credit card. And we wonder why people have so much consumer debt? I did make the assistant manager laugh though. When I got up there, I said, “Let’s try something different. All one transaction, and I’m going to pay in cash.” Of course this was after I’d stood in line for 15 minutes while these other women were in what should’ve been an express lane. I think Walmart needs to adopt a policy of cash or debit cards ONLY in these check out lines.