Walmart Hates Me!

I tried so hard dear readers! I REALLY wanted my next Walmart story to be a good one to break the curse . Unfortunately it was not to be today. ...

I had called the pharmacy several days ago to make sure my medication was refilled and ready to be picked up. The thought of having to go into that place again and go through another traumatic event is just to much. I was told my refill was ready, no problems...... Big sigh of relief!

I pulled into the parking lot and I found a parking spot right away.That was a good sign. I got out of my car and found a new cart! That was my second good sign. I was starting to breathe normally, and I could feel the color return to my face..All very positive healthy signs. I started hearing the Black Eyes Pea's singing in my brain "Tonight's gonna be a good good night"

I walked in the store, head held high. I walked passed the 'greeter'..He wasn't greeting, he wasn't giving out carts, he wasn't even smiling..He was leaning on carts completely bored with life.. It was typical and well, I just let that go , the song was still in my head..

I went right over to the pharmacy.No line, no customers, easy in, easy out! Singing ,singing, singing! I stood there at the sign that says "stand here and wait"..There were girls behind the counter busy rambling about some customer that was complaining. Trying not to listen I kept that joyful song singing in my head. Suddenly it was gone! Just like that! 3 gossiping cashiers messed with my peace as I stood there thinking to myself " I am the only one here ladies, I CAN hear YOOOOOOU" !! I know they saw me, but they just wanted to finish their rant. There was one lady in particular that just was on a roll and as she continued talking she motioned for me to come up , then turned to me, still engaging in conversation and said to her co worker " well, I have been here way to long to let that bother me, I just don't give a crap".........and there you have it my friends! There is the answer to the problem with this Walmart, spoken by their very own..."I just don't give a crap"
I stood there in disbelief that an employee would even voice those words to a customer. Those are words you use at break, behind the scenes, or at home..I thought to myself no doubt she is overworked and unhappy. Customer service IS hard I give you that, but common sense is very important. This lady was quite loud and it didn't seem she really cared to much what I thought either. She just smiled and said "can I help you?".......I could clearly see the other girls were a bit embarrassed.

I explained to her that I had called and they told me my prescription's were ready. She typed in my name. She looked puzzled and asked me my name a second time. She then told me the medication was put back because I hadn't picked it up within their time period. Ok...I explained to her that I had no idea of that policy.The lady I spoke with on the phone never mentioned a thing so I assumed it would still be here. Pharmacy policy - if you call for a refill you have 5-7 days to pick it up, if you don't it is put back into stock..good to know and reasonable..
I told her I understood and then she asked me the strangest question "would you like it refilled then?" I think I just kind of did a head tilt and answered her "uh yes"...I stood there as she clicked some keys and I had to ask " so will it be long then"? she looked at me as if i was invisible and replied "about an hour and a half , maybe longer"...What??.....No more song, no more joy, no more positive flow, i just hung my head down , and thought "Walmart Hates Me".. I was the only customer there! couldn't she see the despair on my face? the dread? couldn't she go that extra mile knowing I just wanted to leeeeeeeeeeeeave! All she said to me was "there is nothing i can do, sorry"... Now I know from being in the medical field that there is always something you can do, there is always a gray area. I spent 15 years trying to deal in the gray areas to help patients in need, you just have to CARE...

I had been in this same place before, the feelings were all to familiar. Do i leave? that would mean I have to come back..Here we go again, the Walmart conspiracy to have you buy more stuff..
I walked around the store, I went to every department . I didn't want to be here! i kept looking at my watch and the time went by so slow. How can I shop for an hour and a half in a place i absolutely hate? I did manage to do my best and I arrived back at the pharmacy 35 minutes later. I just couldn't do it anymore. I thought if they cannot do this then I will ask my husband to stop on his way home. I had to chuckle when i got there..There was a long line this time..35 minutes ago i was the only one.. When my turn came, the same lady was there and I could tell it wasn't ready. I told her that I will just have my husband come back later, i just didn't have it in me to deal, my spirit was broken. Then she looked up at me and said "let me put this in the critical file, it will be just 5 minutes"........I didn't know whether to smile or cry, be happy or mad..Why didn't she do this 35 minutes ago when she saw the opportunity and the dread on my face? I knew the answer because she said it herself "i just don't give a crap"....

Why she suddenly had a wave of kindness i didn't know. A divine intervention? perhaps. thankful anyway, i took my cart over to the "wait and sit area." and well, waited and sat. While I sat there I watched and thought 'what a good store this would be to be a secret shopper, or be an undercover boss"..

There was an elderly man waiting for his medication and when he was at the cashier area, this same lady asked his name, she couldn't find it then asked what the medication was he was picking up..I immediately thought it strange to ask it so loud, after all I could hear it over in the 'wait and sit area'... What if that was personal information, what if he was taking Viagra? would i want the name of my medication voiced out loud for other customers to hear? I don't know if its against policy or not, but I know I didn't like hearing it. I just sighed and rested my weary head on the cart.

As I sat for a little longer , one of the other cashier's came over to me and asked my name. She smiled and gave me a look as if she understood what I was feeling. She went back to her station, looked at me again and smiled with a "it won't be long, I'm sorry " look.....I nodded.
A few minutes later I was called over, my purchase completed. I thanked her and said "thank you for understanding my pain"........she nodded...

" Hellmart rising"

Well you all know that I do not have a great love for Walmart..I don't even come close to a like and it is pretty much a hate relationship. ( See previous post Hellmart). You have followed my ridiculous year long search for a job with countless interviews and rejections. We all know its a serious problem out there with mass unemployment and financial hardships. There comes a time when you have to lay down your petty differences, forgive one another and restore relationships. The time has come dear readers. The time of desperation and humbleness has brought me to the edge of the dreaded cliffs of jobless despair. I have been all over Central Florida and applying everywhere from medical offices to grocery stores, hotels, and retail..I have always left one place out..Walmart.........yes, the one place that creates such fear, loathing and anxiety for me that in able to step foot in the front doors I have to be heavily medicated. The worst nightmare I ever had found me locked away in a Walmart prison, clothed in a blue and yellow smiley faced strait jacket, blubbering the words " Save money, live better" over and over as I stared into oblivion. Well my friends I did the unthinkable, I walked slowly over to my computer, I nervously turned in on. My hands shaking , palms sweaty , heart pounding. Then it happened....I threw up!!, and not some whamsy pamsy little upchuck, but something a 'just fed bouncing newborn' would be proud of !! after cleaning up the keyboard I typed in the words Walmart.com SLASH / CAREERS !!!! I was feeling lightheaded and nauseated but I marched on to complete my task. There I was , all alone, by myself, alone, so very alone, in the dark, alone.... ok! snap out of it! I threw some water on myself and hit the enter key. I found myself in a maze of words and instructions. This is Walmart for crying out loud! How hard can it be to fill out their application AND get hired!! I came to a section that was called an 'assessment...ok..So I'm being assessed....I mean how much do you NEED to know to be a greeter?
So with my self esteem at an all time low I started to click my way through the application process.

The test took sometime and as I was filling it out i was thinking to myself why I had to answer such strange questions about procedures and management scenarios. After countless multiple choice questions and personal information given I finished and waited for my results and interview status. Suddenly on the screen with bold letters came a sentence so bizarre, so outlandish, so insulting I thought i was thrown into some sort of alternate universe.
In front of me were the words " you have failed the Walmart assessment"...I starred at it in disbelief! what? I blinked my eyes thinking I was just seeing things, i surely imagined it..i looked again! There it was !! Failed, failed failed!!.........how does one fail an application to Walmart? my head was spinning, my blood pressure rising, my mind boggling from the final low blow this friggin #&*%@ place has given me,the final #@$*& insult,the final *@&*! slap in the face! The words kept printing across my mind! "failed...failed...failed"......I had foul words come to my mind that haven't even been invented yet..This was the nail in the Walmart coffin, the ultimate insult!
I was devastated, humiliated, emotionally drained of any self esteem left in my shattered being. Walmart of all places rejecting me, throwing me aside like a worthless dish rag.. Thirty five years experience in customer service and I am not worthy of the "Walmart standard"...I didn't even know they had one....I walked away from my computer , my head hanging low like a reprimanded puppy wondering where i could possibly apply now.. The only thing that came to mind was the local sewage plant. yes, shit...Might as well....

Yesterday, while I was telling this story to my sister, she tried to kindly tell me that perhaps I was applying in the wrong section and that it was an honest error and to apply again...Thinking about it, I did just that..Being the forgiving and loving person I am I proceeded to answer a very simple multiple choice question.

When greeting the Walmart customer you would say:

a) "Welcome to Walmart, how may I help you?"
b) " why are you here when 'Target' is 5 miles down the road?"
c) " do you always dress that way in public"?
d) "hold on while I take your picture for PeopleofWalmart.com " :(
e) " customer service dept? I'm sorry sir, we don't have one"

Well needless to say...........I failed again! I really suck..

"Love Happens"

I decided to review this new rental because of the message it leaves behind. Aaron Eckhart ( Two Face / The Dark Knight, Bill ) plays a widowed self help grief author who comes to a Seattle Hotel to hold his latest seminar. There he meets Jennifer Aniston, ( needs no introductions) a lonely owner of a flower shop, disillusioned with love. Their hostile first encounter in the hotel as she is arranging her floral arrangements sets the typical and no surprise element on the way the story is suppose to go from there. Two hurting people start out in anger, and fall in love. But the story is much more deeper then that. It is about the power of secrets and the power of truth, and what each power can and will do to you once you allow both of them to have control.
The previews on this movie makes the viewer believe this story is more comedy then it actually is.
With the first opening scenes you surely see the title character has some issue's. He does not want to be in Seattle because this is where his tragedy started and he hasn't been back since. He clearly has a hard time practicing what he preaches in his book tilted " I'm OK". . There is much more to him then he shares and he is clearly tortured within. You know that this man is not ok. He lost his wife in a terrible car accident . He has written a best selling book that makes the reader believe he is the 'guru' of grief survival and takes his 'followers' through hands on counseling sessions, therapy shopping, and even walking on hot rocks to help them with their grief. He preaches to face and release your fears, communicate honesty, and use no substances to hide your sadness. Behind the scenes he cannot use an elevator, cannot open up and face his grief , drinks alcohol and has not talked with his family and in laws since the tragic death .
He is full of contradiction and suffering , and he slowly realizes this being in his hometown stricken with painful memories and feelings of new love. His phony world starts to cave in until that moment of Epiphany hits him and he is set free from the power of denial, fear and dishonesty.
I think many of us can relate to such times in our life. We hide behind an illusion. We have convinced ourselves that we are OK and in fact we are not. We hide behind drugs or alcohol or any other thing that dulls the pain of reality. We can write a great book on 'how to' and never actually live it. We can sing a song of freedom but never know how to be free. We can speak about being honest and live a life full of secrets.
It is a simple truth and message in this movie but a complex and difficult journey to actually get there. There is so much at stake with truth sometimes. Shame, guilt, responsibility and the big one~ forgiving yourself... Ultimately the power of it is a freedom that heals you from the inside out, and can set your future on a remarkable positive path.
The power of truth far out weighs the power of denial but they both have very strong pulls. The scene of the character's defining moment of reality is powerful, healing and emotional. As the saying goes "you're only as healthy as your secrets"...so true. Living a life of truth brings a power of great well being. Living a life of secrets and shame only brings pain and torment as you live in an emotional prison. The freedom to breathe honest air is so much better then choking on the air of a dishonest life.
I recommend this movie because of the deeper message. What starts out as a typical 'lifetime' chick flick turns into a simple yet powerful life lesson that is never to old to learn.

~We tell lies when we are afraid... afraid of what we don't know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger. ~Tad Williams~

"2012" I guess it wasn't a good year

When I first saw the trailer and the Adam Lambert video way back when I couldn't wait to see this movie. Then time went by and well, ya know how that goes. Most of you have seen it by now I'm sure.I decided not to really get into my views about the Mayan calender but instead just review it as a plain and simple disaster flick. Do I believe the world will end in 2012? nope..There ya go. It's like when I saw 'The Da Vinci Code", I watched it as a thriller, a fictional story. Do I believe Christ was married and had kids? auh, let me think...Nope again.. If watching a movie changes my views on my Biblical standards or my personal faith its time to examine that REAL closely. Ok, so saying all that I just want to talk about the movie itself..I really like disaster films. I love the special effects and WOW do you get them with this movie! this would be a perfect ride at Universal Studios. Strap ya into some kind of airplane seat and soar into , around , up, down and out of crashing cars, crumbling buildings, falling bridges, with the earth swallowing up cities, and spitting out tsunami's. I mean, its friggin crazy!
It was a long movie, to long I think. When I start to notice how long a movie is as I'm watching it, that means ummmm lets wrap it up people!
I suppose I should talk about the actors a bit right? well , what actors? they couldn't compete with the effects. I adore John Cusack, like Danny Glover and appreciate Amanda Peet but the producer's could have hired my neighbors and saved lots of money..This wasn't an actors movie, they were all there for the back drop. Unlike one of my favorites "Armageddon" the cast and characters of that film made it fun and it wasn't just the effects that grabbed me. Harry Stamper and his group of rough necks were a blast.
The story itself is weak and one could tell the writer didn't take his time in cultivating a detailed and interesting character study for the relationships involved or even the Mayan explanations. The world doesn't get to know they have 8 hours to live until the President (Danny Glover) has an epiphany that getting the chance to say goodbye to your loved ones might be a good thing instead of keeping us all in the dark for 2 years. Thanks. Had I known maaaaybe I would have kept mom out of the nursing home, not thrown my teenager out or divorced my husband. :) well that's all water over the earth now huh??
Bottom line, if you don't have enough money to buy yourself an E ticket on the Ark, you're toast and see ya on the other side.Did I like the movie? yes..but that isn't saying much, heck I liked "Benchwarmers" alot! lol.
There just isn't a lot to say about this movie. It had scary ass effects, unimpressive acting, animals dangling from helicopters, yep that's what I said, and modern day Arks. I guess Noah had the right idea all along!! I do recommend the movie just because ..Do I have to have a great reason? I am glad I waited for the rental and it saved me from watching another 2 hours of American Idol . Is there a message in this movie? of course there is... "we're going to need a bigger boat"
Grab your lifejacket, some popcorn and enjoy!!