There's a d**n good reason why I do most of my shopping online and my latest trip to Wallyworld has brought that home. Now I don't intrinsiclly dislike Wallyworld like many others do. I use it for quick shopping of items that I want to buy cheaply. I don't mind Wally being cheap, I want it to be cheap. And I realize they don't pay their workers much and you get what you pay for. But if you want a better paying job stay in school or go to college, that's what I did. Now all that aside, I expect to run into Wally do my shopping and be out of there quickly, before I catch something (and the way Wally has looked lately that would be some south of the border disorder). When we went there Monday I was already grumpy, I don't know why, can't be because it's rained forever, my yard is soggy, my house is a mess, my back aches, I'm old and Obama wants to cut Metacare, so all I wanted was an "in and out" experience of very short duration. Unfortunately I also needed a watch, having bought a really cheap one the last time I'd been there, cheaper than Timex, and I had discovered that I couldn't see the numbers or tell time with it. So I stood at the jewelry counter where all the precious and semi-precious Timex's were locked up (Timex's would definitely be #1 on the list of items I'd steal if I ever took up shoplifting at Wally) and waited while the clerk, excuse me, sale's assistant, took care of the man in front of me who didn't have a clue as to what he was buying or was supposed to be buying so he had his cell phone out sending pictures to someone so they could help him out. After he had made his decision, refinanced the national debt and made his purchase the sale's associate slowly glided over to me as if lifting her feet would cause an inbalance in the universe so she must proceed accordingly. She unlocked the display case containing the precious time gear, retrieved a Timex, slowly put it in a box, and disappeared from view without leaving the counter. I waited nearly 10 minutes till another associate from another department wandered behind the counter, was handed a Timex box by a disembodied hand and I was finally able to make my purchase.
I could have finished my shopping without getting too much grumpier if it had not been for the fact that I spent the rest of my time looking for items I couldn't find. This was not our home Wally, but we shop there from time-to-time, but I always have trouble finding things. There is no logic to its layout. Food was easy and if I had wanted to go hunting I'd have been ok, but shoes were nowhere near clothes and housewares was near electronics, perhaps because coffee pots and toaster are electronic. I'm sure there's some Jr. Executive somewhere who spends all his time laying out the store, deciding where each department should be, placing them in the most unlikely location, and then when people begin to learn the layout, reorganizing the whole place on the theory that if a customer is lost they'll wander through more departments instead of heading directly to where they want to go.
Anyway, by the time Mac found me I was tired, grumpier and ready to leave. I'm going to have to stay out of Wally when I'm tired and refurbish my Spanish skills so I'll feel more at home there.
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