10.07.2011

Why I Hate the McComb Walmart

I normally don’t use the word “hate” unless I’m talking about spiders but I can truly say I hate the Walmart in McComb. Not all Walmarts, just that one.

For some reason it is like Christmas Eve in there every day. The best time to go is early morning if you want to avoid the crowds. Even though I work in McComb, I have driven to the Brookhaven store just to avoid the crowds.

I have had several bad experiences in there, usually just the wait time in the check out line or an item pricing wrong or the customer service people getting to their department at 7:10 rather than 7:00 which is when they are to open. This particular day was exceptionally bad though.

I had several cold items to get and only have a dorm size refrigerator at work so I couldn’t shop early since the cold items wouldn’t fit in my frig. So, dreading it, I head there after work. Rather than having to park a mile away I got a pretty decent parking spot. This is going to be quick I thought. I ran in, grabbed a buggy, and took off. Of course I got a buggy that made a very loud, clunk, clunk, clunk noise but I was on my way and wasn’t going to go back and swap it.

It took me about five minutes to get the items on my shopping list and then I’m off to the check out. Oh, the lovely check out. Every lane was about five people deep or more so I just picked the closest twenty items or less lane. That’s where it started.

The line slowly creeps closer to the register. I’m glancing at the buggy of the lady in front of me. It is really piled up…much more than twenty items I’d say. My brain begins to churn. I really dislike it when people go through the so called “fast” lanes with more than the allotted quantities. But then I noticed this lady was decked out in LSU garb so I figured she just couldn’t count.

She waits until the lady ahead of her has totally finished her transaction before she even starts to put her items on the counter…even though it has been cleared for a few minutes now. I just can’t help myself so I start counting as she is putting them up there. 5, 11, 16…and the buggy is still loaded. About this time her apparent husband walks up, in his LSU garb, and hands her about three video games and something with an LSU logo on it. grrrrr. She continues to unload bag after bag after bag of crab legs. I had no idea they even had crab legs at Walmart.

Whoops, hold up, she says. Those are pricing wrong. She and the cashier discuss it a while then the cashier calls a manager. The cashier and the manager discuss it a while. The manager leaves. We wait. And wait. The cashier leaves. We are still waiting. I look back and the line is about eight people deep now. You can see them all leaning over to try and see what the hold up is while I want to shout out “It’s not me”.

Finally me and the lady behind me see a slightly shorter lane so we make a dash for it. Somehow only one person is ahead of us. But this little lady is loading her groceries ever so carefully. Ever so slowly. The casher gives her the total. She finished loading her bags and then gets her purse and pulls out a, a check! What? Do people still use checks? So here we go. It takes her a few minutes to sign it and hand it over. Then finally, FINALLY I make it to the register. Needless to say I am a bit miffed by now but just happy to finally be there. My groceries are waiting when the other lady takes her receipt. I glance over and the LSU crab leg lady is still in line waiting. Smart move I made I’m thinking.

Here are my coupons I tell the cashier. Okay, she says. And I lay them down on the counter. She gives me my total. Did you get my coupons I asked? Um, no, she said. I forgot. So can you add it now? No. Can you just take those items off? No. I pretty much have smoke coming out of my ears by now and am trying not to say anything I will regret. She apologized and sent me to customer service. The dreaded, super slow, long lined customer service. GAH. I had to return the items I had coupons for and then rebuy them so she could apply the coupons. I get my items and leave.  Finally.

So, after thirty minutes in Walmart, five minutes getting what I needed and twenty five minutes checking out, I was on my way.

And that is why I hate the McComb Walmart.

6.17.2011

Overcoming Fear

I am acrophobic, claustrophobic and seriously arachnophobic.

Spiders. Just the word creeps me out.

So, just me, my daughter and the redheads went on a mini vacation to Jellystone state park. We had a great time. The girls had a blast. It is a great place for kids. Now for adults, unless you love to swim or fish there really isn’t anything else to do. I mostly did some “resting” in the cabin and let my daughter and the girls stay at the pool and the splash pad in that hot scorching sun. They tan. I burn.

The last morning, as we were getting ready to leave, MY BIGGEST FEAR. I started to get into the shower and there it was. A SPIDER. Oh. My. I don’t kill spiders because I’m scared to get that close to them. I’ve even called my brother-in-law to come to my house and kill a spider when I was alone at home. My mind went to spinning. What was I going to do? The girls are as scared of them as I am. I’m thinking I passed that trait down to them.

I went and got the fly swat that was hanging in the kitchen. I let the monster crawl inside the shower curtain then I beat the curtain with the fly swat until I saw it fall. I then carefully reached in and turned on the hot water. It took a few minutes but the thing finally went down the drain.

Whew.

But as I was taking my shower I could only think about the Night Gallery episode where the guy would wash the bug down the drain and every time it would crawl back out – BIGGER. The bug finally ate the man. I showered and washed my hair at record speed.

So, I really didn’t overcome my fear. I was able to get by momentarily though. I’ll make sure my husband comes with us on vacation next time just in case we encounter another spider.

3.21.2011

Take the Poll Please

There’s just a little something that has been bugging me at work lately and I need your opinion.

We have a large office consisting of three nice sized rooms with only two people currently occupying them. The back room has our main printer in it. The printer is right by the door so we never even turn the light on in there. For years now I have had a dorm size refrigerator and a microwave “tucked away” in there (as most offices do). I purchased these with my own money. They are mine, not company property. Any time we had a new worker in the office they would ask about it and I would gladly tell them they could use it.

For a few months now I’ve been occasionally seeing someone else’s food/drink in my refrigerator. I’ve also noticed unused minutes on the microwave. I am OCD and unused minutes drive me crazy. I almost always go out for lunch so I thought maybe it was my boss using it. One rare occasion I brought my lunch and stayed at my desk to eat. So I was very surprised to see who came in and got their lunch out of MY fridge and heated it in MY microwave. This person didn’t even work in my office. This person is the most disliked person in the company…and I’m trying to be nice here. They are the kind that sits around and looks for ways to get others in trouble. They are not a supervisor, manager, or leadperson. Just an office worker. If it had been anyone else in the company using my things without asking it would not bother me. But the idea that it is the self proclaimed company chief of police really irks me.

So, please look to the right and take the poll I have set up. I couldn’t change the font color so it is rather hard to read. You can highlight it with your cursor and read it better.

Feel free to leave your comments/suggestions too. Thanks.

1.03.2011

Christmas 2010

It was good to be home with my family for the holidays. Christmas had become such a hectic stressful time for me the past few years but this year I just let it flow. My house may not have been spotless but I didn’t care. I didn’t cook as much food as I normally do but I didn’t care. I didn’t worry about whether or not everyone would like their gifts. I just enjoyed the holiday.


We had my husband’s children and families over on Christmas Eve Eve (yes, two eves). On Christmas Eve my entire family was there. With four siblings and all of their family it is a pretty good crowd. Since I live in our old family home I like to host our Christmas gathering. It seems like the night went by in a flurry though. With everyone’s own family growing we all have other gatherings to attend and have to leave.

I think Christmas day was the longest day of my life. The granddaughters woke up around 8:00 and checked out the Santa stuff. They were so excited this year. We had brunch instead of our normal Christmas lunch. We kept it simple with omelets, hash browns, fried ham, biscuits and monkey bread. The girls left right after lunch to go have Christmas with their other grandparents. My daughter and son-in-law went to his parents house. My husband and I just sat at home. And sat. And watched tv. Boring tv. And we napped. And then sat some more. Man, it was a long day. And the dreary weather just made it ten times worse.

I didn’t leave the house from the time I got home from work on Wednesday the 22nd until Tuesday the 28th. And that was only for a funeral. One of my “second” mothers went on to be with Jesus on Christmas Eve. Her daughter and I are good friends. I spent many, many nights at her house. We got married at her house.

Everyone around the house was sick. My husband and I took big sis to the doc since my daughter was sick also. Strep. All of us adults came down with the crud. So between the sickness and lack of money we really couldn’t have gone anywhere anyway.

So Christmas 2010 has come and gone. It was fun and I’m glad it came. And I’m really glad it’s gone.