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.