Walmart Drama

I usually don’t like going to Walmart to do my shopping. The big Super Walmarts are usually too busy and crowded and make me grouchy just trying to walk down the aisle. Right near my house is a Neighborhood Walmart. This is just like your typical grocery store. I usually go during the day and it has very few people. The one problem is that it does not have a great variety of items. It will have one brand of certain kind of food. It also does not have any non-food items so if you need batteries or something that you could normally get at a grocery store, you have to go somewhere else. It is a pretty small store in comparison to others around here. So I keep threatening not to go there.

I needed a few things on Saturday night so I went when I usually don’t. As it usually happens I filled my cart even though I only needed a few things. I went up to the check out and it was 7:00. In Utah Saturday night is a huge shopping time. Everyone is trying to get the stuff they need before Sunday. There were 2 checkers and 5 people in each line. I looked over to the main desk to see if they were going to call up more help. There was no one working there and there were people in line there too. At my previous favorite grocery store on the typical Saturday night there are at least 8-10 checkers and there are usually 3 shopping carts in line even with that many checkers. They get you out of there in 10 minutes max.

After 25 minutes in line I made my way up to be checked out. By this time there were 7 people behind me. My checker called for “all available associates to help with customers”. She got a call back saying that they were unloading a truck and could not come up. She told them that there were people at the front desk needing assistance. So someone made their way up and started helping. All of a sudden she is on the floor behind the desk throwing up. My checker said that that lady had been feeling sick all night and had asked to go home. But they kept telling her that she needed to be at a register. My checker called again, “all available associates to help with customers”. She got a call back where she explained that that checker was sick on the floor laying in her vomit. There were now 10 people in each checkout line. Another “associate” comes walking up the aisle (not in a hurry) looking very bothered. She does not check on the lady who is laying on the floor behind the register (who is being cared for by customers). She starts a new register.

I left with a fresh determination to not shop there again. I got home at 7:45. That is about 35 minutes of standing in line.