Friday Fast 5

Five quick things!

1. We saw Hamilton on Sunday! It was really good, a very impressive show. The writing/music is quite a masterpiece. That being said, I can't say it's my new favorite musical. My favorite either has to be Wicked or The Lion King. This is up there as one of the good ones, and I'm really glad I saw it, but I don't know... I guess I've been conflicted with this because there is so much hype around it. What am I missing here? But if I'm being completely honest, it didn't totally blow my socks off. I chose to NOT listen to the soundtrack and familiarize myself with the music ahead of time, which I've done on nearly any other big show I've seen. I mean, I knew a couple of the songs, I could have sung you "Alexander Hamilton" in the specific notes, but I didn't listen and memorize it all. I've been wondering if that was why I felt how I did? It was REALLY good, but for me it wasn't the best show ever on the face of the earth. 
2. I also went to see Godspell at Borgia last night, and it was good. They took a slightly different spin on the show, but a very modern one that felt right with the times. 
3. I finally was down in Chesterfield valley and drove past where they are building Top Golf... Holy. Crap. What a monstrosity that thing is. I can now understand why some locals weren't too happy about it being right there. That being said, I'm curious to try it. I've never played golf in my life, and don't intend to, so this would be my only opportunity to swing a golf club outside of putt putt. I expect I will be equally as bad at it as I am at bowling...
4. ...the last time I bowled, for Jarrod's birthday, I got a 68. I'm just that good.
5. I'm really bummed it will be cold again on Sunday, gosh I'm ready for this spring weather to stay here!

Shop Small

I had a conversation with a woman who owns a local business in our small town. While I was making my purchase, I also asked her about donating a gift certificate to an event I was chairing. She said she couldn't, but could offer some coupons for free coffee. Then we had a nice little chat.

In a matter of words, she basically said how she gets these requests all the time (she said she kept a notebook one year, and they were almost daily.) As much as she'd love to support everyone, this is the best she can do. Otherwise she would go out of business.

I've been thinking over our conversation ever since. She was so friendly, and I greatly appreciated her donation and her openness and warmth. I told her I was new at all this, and I was completely surprised to hear that almost every day, someone else just like me is asking her for something.

I've lived here almost my entire life. I've seen our small town expand and grow and bring in a lot of chain stores and restaurants. And while that's exciting and good, to a point, it also means it gets that much harder for the little local guys to compete. I am still saddened that our Benjamin Franklin 5 & 10 (a.k.a. Annie's) had to close years ago, and I realize it was probably due to us getting a Michael's store. I can list off a handful of nice fine dining establishments that have gone out of business too. And those are the ones just during my lifetime.

Towns and cities are constantly changing, for sure, but with the added competition from online sales and the convenience of two-day Amazon shipments, it has to be harder than ever to run a small business.

I really like the sentiment and meaning behind the phrase "shop local" or "shop small." But in truth, I'm not the best at putting my words into action. Maybe you struggle too. After that conversation, I realized I need to work on changing this.

The big chain stores are hard to ignore, with their large buildings and big, bold signs in high-traffic areas. But there is definitely something to be said for paying a little more to support a small business. Getting the lowest price on anything and everything is not the point of life. If it were, we would all be wearing sweatpants from Walmart and eating McDonald's (because seriously, can you believe how cheap their food is now?)

It's not going to happen overnight, like all habits it will take some time. And I'm not even arguing buying everything you possibly can from local shops, because I realize most of us live on a budget that might not bend and flex.

But prioritize.

Everyone laments when a small business announces they will be closing... for good. I have seen it time and time again: the shop announces on Facebook they will be closing their doors. And how they love this community and are sad to leave, but they just can't keep going. And they want to thank their customers and support they've received. But they have to do what they have to do. Many people swoop in with sadness over the news, claiming they were their "favorite" or raving about this or that, but words like this do not equal dollars.

If there is a shop you really like, make a point to go in there more than once a year. I'm certainly guilty of this, only patronizing a couple businesses around Christmas time. When I walk out, I'm always like "Why don't I come here more often?" I'm a big believer in putting random, mundane things on list apps so why not include something like this? Add "Check out what's new at _______"

And while sad comments about a shop going out of business don't equal dollars, you know what could? Good reviews.

Reviews really have become the keystone of online purchases and decision making. It started with Ebay sellers and knowing you wouldn't get ripped off, to Amazon with product reviews, to Yelp, to TripAdvisor for places to go, to Facebook, on and on. So if you can't afford to shop somewhere, you can certainly afford to give them a great review so someone else can. It only costs you a little bit of your time. And in some places (like Facebook) you don't even have to write anything, you can just rate them.

I adore this little store that I went to. It offers more flavors of coffee than I've seen anywhere else, plus loose leaf tea, plus a myriad of other cute and useful household items. I would be truly, truly saddened if she ever had to close her doors. So starting now, I'm going to make a concerted effort, until it becomes habit, to go to her store more often. I can afford to pay just a little more for a bag of coffee beans.

Another lady opened a book store last year here. It is the most adorable book store, in a little historic corner house. It's warm and inviting, and everything a small-town bookstore should be. Last week, I messaged the owner asking if she could order a book for me. I know fully well I will pay full price for it, whereas I could just order it off of Amazon for 30% cheaper, but right now I don't care. Walking through her store is so... up-lifting. Back in college, when I drove away from a Border's store for the final time after their going-out-of-business sale, I almost cried because I thought this was the beginning of the end of book stores. I love book stores, but buying all my books from Amazon does nothing to keep book stores alive and well.



You have to admire small business owner's for their willpower, too. I know I don't have the guts to do it. With the entire world seeming like it could be against you, with cheaper prices or fast convenience or better roadside placement, it has to be exhilarating and frightening to take the plunge. You have to admire those kinds of dreamers. Those are the kinds of people who truly believe in their community. Who believe that, no matter what, it was worth a shot, because had something to offer; they bettered their community and the lives of their customers.

When you think of it like that, who wouldn't want to support them?

*Today was Mom & Pop Business Day, and inspired me to finally publish this post. I hope it inspired you a little bit :)

Friday Fast 5

1. I stopped by H&M the last time I was at the mall. In my younger years, I liked H&M. Maybe it was because my first introduction to the store was during a New York trip in high school. At the time, H&M was a European import store, only found in major cities. Then they expanded to malls, and they are fairly common stores now. Anyways, back in the day I loved that store. It was hip, the clothes were cute and cheap. But now, not so much. Maybe it's because I am willing to spend a little more on my clothes now for better quality, or maybe it's because I'm a pickier shopper, or maybe it's because I'm an adult now. Everything in there is just so cheap, and I can't help but wonder if after like 5 washes it will look like a piece of junk.
2. I stopped in another store I went to in my teen years: Hot Topic. In high school, as I started to create my own weird style, I definitely dived into the punk attire. Plus Hot Topic was my store where I found all of my sarcastic buttons. I don't really resemble their main target customer anymore (that day I was wearing a striped fitted shirt, skinny jeans, and floral Nikes), but I ducked in there to check out the t-shirt walls. I was greeted by a worker wearing blue lipstick. It was kind of nice.
3. This week I took a self-imposed hiatus from my iPad. I just felt like I was on my phone and iPad too much lately. I turned it off on Monday morning. At first, I took note of the times I would have usually reached for my iPad (especially when I did my vest) but fortunately I didn't feel any withdrawal issues not using it. It hasn't been that bad, honestly. 
4. I've cut myself twice in the past two months, which is more than I have in the past ten years. Ugh!
5. Does anyone else find it hard to concentrate when reading a book? My friend and I were talking about this the other night. As kids, we both were able to read for hours (her even more so than me) but now, we're lucky to make it a few pages without losing focus, thinking about all the stuff we need to do soon, or dozing off. I'll probably expand on this in another post of its own, but I'm wondering if others have this problem too?

A Dying Mall In America

I'd say Chesterfield Mall is on its last months, I'd expect that it will be closed by the end of the year.

I went there on Thursday... and what a depressing sight it was.

I knew the place was in foreclosure, with another company trying to buy it, but I didn't know it was that bad. In the time since I was last there, which was probably sometime in the fall, I'd venture to guess that at least 60% of the stores have closed. Store after store after store was gated off or boarded up. Even one of the anchors, Dillard's, had closed it's doors and left.

I remember how I felt the very last time I ever walked through Crestwood Mall. That mall was "my mall," the one we went to most often. The last time I went to it I felt a mix of sadness and disbelief, as in How could this suddenly get this bad? And that is the same way I felt yesterday in what might be my last time going to Chesterfield Mall. It's just so depressing.

I walked in and headed to Auntie Anne's for a pretzel. With nothing to look up at, since so many of the store signs are missing, you look down. You notice the floor tiles are cracked everywhere. Has it always been like this? The carousel creaks to life for one lonely child and parent. Everywhere you look, workers are sitting down, bored out of their minds. Store counters are unattended until someone actually wanders in the store. The cooks at restaurants sit around in booths staring at their phones.

When I got to Auntie Anne's, there was no one there; no one at the register, no one making pretzels. It kind of looked like there was a guy in the back watching TV, but by then I had decided I wasn't going to pay $4 for a pretzel that had likely been sitting there for hours. I turned around and took the escalator back up. What used to be a kids play area next to it was a barren floor, the escalator showed its age and made cranking sounds I've never really noticed before. I wandered in one store, but by then I was no longer in any mood to shop.

I can get frustrated with crowds, but I realized that part of the enjoyment (and surely part of the marketing strategy) of a mall is the hustle and bustle. When there is a good mix of people and talking and activity, it pushes you to keep walking and shopping. When you can walk across the entire mall and maybe encounter 50 people, and it's practically silent save for the loudspeaker music, it doesn't inspire you to do anything except walk right back out the door and go somewhere else that feels, I don't know... alive? And as I pointed out, you start to notice all the bad things, like the cranky escalator that would usually be drowned out by people, and the lack of people is emphasized even more.

I feel like it should have been obvious that constructing two outlet malls right down the road would be the doom of that place, but somehow other people felt differently. Outlet malls have evolved over the years, with some stores selling the same things they'd sell in a typical mall, and others selling different merchandise but still quality and nothing wrong with it. They're not quite the 'last year's trends' or 'small defects' stores with discounts beyond belief that they used to be.


It was a sad experience. I don't know that I'll go back either because... what's the point? And say what you will about consumerism, it's still sad and unfortunate when a mall has to close; jobs are lost, the potential tax revenue is gone. Now granted, this is Chesterfield, and I'm pretty confident that Chesterfield is going to be just fine, but still. Warren County lost a huge source of revenue when their outlet mall closed. I mean, when was the last time someone asked you if you wanted to go to Warrenton?

It'll be interesting to see if they're able to do something with the space, like for offices or housing or something creative, or if in the end it will get torn down like Crestwood. It's a good location for something, but what that something is remains to be seen. It won't be a mall, that's for sure.

Picking Up Groceries

Tonight I used the Walmart Grocery Pickup for the second time. I'm officially a fan.

If you haven't heard of it, some Walmart stores are now offering Grocery Pickup, which consists of ordering your items online and, you guessed it, picking them up at the store. No walking through the store involved.

You can order deli meat and cheese, fresh meats or veggies, household items, pharmacy items, toiletries, cosmetics; there is an impressive amount of stuff available. Building a cart online is super easy, you reserve your time slot for when to pick them up, pull into the designated spaces next to the store, call to tell them you're there, and then they bring out your stuff. It's awesome.

Moms are loving it because they don't have to drag their children through the grocery store. I am loving it because of my health issues. There are some times where I just don't have the energy to walk through the store. And I cannot tell you how happy I am that this is now an option for the upcoming cold and flu season. I won't have to walk through the store and potentially immerse myself in everyone's germs.

The first time I tried it all told my trip took about 20 minutes, from the time I pulled up and called to let them know I was there, to when they were done loading my groceries in my car—which is still at least half the time I'd spend in the store. This second time only took 8 minutes. And they've given me a complimentary bottle of water both times since it's kinda hot. Nice touch!

I promise I'm not getting paid for this post haha, but I wanted to spread the word because I'm hoping this program is here to stay. If you are interested in trying it out at your own Walmart, email me and I can give you my code to get $10 off your first order (I get $10 off too.) It's not available everywhere, only select stores, so you'll have to check if your store offers it. Honestly, I think this will stick around because I see this as the way of the future. I can totally see a future where Walmart has a set of retail stores like they have now, and another building that is just a straight up warehouse where workers pick your items for Grocery Pickup. There isn't really a storefront, there wouldn't be any cost to make the store look nice, just people getting your groceries together and you driving up.

Kohl's Comparison

In case you're ever wondered when was a good time to buy things at Kohl's, I did some math to compare.

I placed an order with Kohl's on Black Friday, and felt like I got some pretty good deals. (When I mentioned in my previous blog how I might have gone out shopping that day, I was going to only go to Kohl's, but decided to shop from the comfort of my home instead. Kohl's in town is always a zoo on Black Friday, with a line that stretches halfway across the store depending on your timing.)

Kohl's prices were, I felt, heavily discounted for their Black Friday sale. The extra coupon code for Black Friday was 15% percent off, and $50 order to qualify for free shipping. I ordered all of my things, got free shipping, and ended up with a total of $85 (plus some cents.) 

Then on Saturday, their new Cyber Monday promo started offering a 20% off coupon and only $25 needed for free shipping. 

I was curious if there would be a difference, so I rebuilt my cart today with the same items I bought on Friday. Most of the items had higher prices, ranging from 3-10 dollars more, but one item was $7 lower. Then I applied the 20% off coupon, and my total was brought down to $89. Black Friday prices saved me about $4.50, obviously not a huge difference.

So, in case you were ever curious, there's the math. Depending on what you want to buy, Black Friday might be cheaper, but most likely it's going to be a wash between the two.

I usually don't make such an effort to shop this early, but I don't know, I guess this year I'm kind of anxious to get it done and not drag it out for the next few weeks. I semi-enjoy shopping, but I wouldn't say I love it. And dealing with crowds this time of year is not really my thing. 

Tiny Update

As a tiny update to yesterday's small update, I heard from my doctor yesterday. And the plan, for now, is to finish my course of steroids and sit tight. Basically, kind of wait and see what happens.

I see about 3 possible scenarios on how this could turn out:

1. I continue to improve a little even after tomorrow, when my steroids run out, and am able to get exercising back to the levels I was at pre-cold. (This is what I'm hoping for)
2. I finish the steroids and slide back, then we'll discuss a new plan or hospitalization.
3. I finish the steroids and maintain where I'm at as of today, no better, no worse.

In other news, my friend pointed out to me last night something like So thankful your hospital is not in St. Louis anymore. Yeah, no kidding, me too. I will reserve comment on the Ferguson stuff, maybe I'll let it out in another post, except for this one thing: It really bothered me when protesters shut down I-44 at Grand last night. That is the exit to get to SLU and Cardinal Glennon, both of which are fairly major hospitals in STL. 

I did a little shopping today for a couple items at Target and JCPenney. At JCP, all of the merchandise is perfectly displayed, everything is folded and stacked, and the whole store is looking quite sharp. There were hardly any people there, since I assume at this point most everyone is waiting until Friday (or Thursday, those family-hating shoppers!) to get the best deals. Once I used the 20% off coupon I had, the piece of clothing I got for Jarrod was 2 dollars cheaper than their "Black Friday Price". For the sake of my sanity, I will gladly pay two more dollars. Target was similar, with everything stocked as much as the shelves can hold, just waiting for holiday buyers to arrive in a few days. It was a little odd... like the calm before the storm, at Penney's especially. I'd love to see someone in retail do like a Tumblr of before/after photos from Black Friday. Because before, it looks quite nice, but I'm sure after only an hour or two, it is all completely trashed.

It's That Time Again

Yes, it's that time again, where I take a few moments to complain about the now-commonplace

acceptance that the Christmas season immediately follows Halloween. And every time I enter a retail store for the rest of the year, I will let out a sigh of disappointment at the displays.

Christmas has been encroaching on August more and more for years now, but it is now accepted that every store—from the local mom and pop's to the national chains—will have everything Christmas starting on November 1. Which is just more proof that if you do something enough and repeat the mantra enough times, people will just roll over and come to accept it as normal.

As early as Halloween night, stores have cleared their shelves and moved in Christmas candy, those feel-good mug gift sets that no one really asks for, and all-things-Santa and no-things-Jesus. It is ironic, as someone stated, that Christmas has been turned into the most materialistic holiday ever, when it is about the birth of the most un-materialistic man to ever walk the earth.

So once again, I'm going to hold out and not buy anything Christmas until it's after Thanksgiving.

Poor Thanksgiving, no one cares about you anymore. No one wants to be thankful.

I think I'm finally turning the corner and starting to feel better, after well over a week of ridiculous amounts of coughing, low oxygen, and having a hard time falling asleep. I started a higher dose of meds Friday, and I really think that is helping. I came up with a good analogy to explain why it's so hard for me to fall asleep, in case anyone was confused by that. So, it's like a bottle of molasses. And when you tip the molasses over and lay it down, it starts to slowly shift place. That's what happens to me, laying down and the shifting of mucus tickles all of the little airways and thus: coughing galore! Oh yay.

I had milestone on Saturday... I had to wear my oxygen out in public for the first time. I've worn it around family and friends, but never before have I needed it out in public, around other people. We had a funeral to go to Saturday morning, our friend's father passed away, and that morning my sats were 90% so I felt it a good idea to bring a tank along. I wore it in the car ride there, and tried going without it for a time to see how I felt. It was more comfortable with it on, and I didn't feel I had to work as hard to just breathe normally. So... I toted my oxygen tank, strapped over my shoulder, into church. I know I received a few stares, a few eyes lingered on me more than usual. I understand, people are curious—What in the world does that normal-looking young woman need oxygen for? But honestly, it went quite well.

Book Fair

It's the most wonderful time of the year... for book-lovers in the St. Louis area, haha!

This evening I drove out to West County Mall for the annual St. Louis book fair. This year is the 65th year, who knew? It takes place on the first floor of one of the parking garages. This book fair is fantastic.

My dad and I went here for the first time two years ago. I was released from the hospital that day, and dad came to pick me up. He said he wanted to check out this "book fair" on the way home, so we stopped off to see what it was all about. Lo and behold, what was "just some book fair" soon became the coolest little book gem I'd ever encountered. There are tables and tables of books, hundreds of books, cascades, mountains of books, more books than you can ever read in a lifetime. My dad ended up getting a couple books and some records, I ended up with about six books. Holy cow, I thought, this is awesome! And it looks like this:

Photo from STLtoday.com. Starting to look pretty picked over.

Today was opening day and I decided I would go; I can't go tomorrow, I want to stay home on Saturday, and by Sunday it would be quite picked over. I got in line with probably 400 other book enthusiasts before the gates officially opened. Now, since it's opening day, I'd say many of these people were pretty 'serious' about it—kind of like Black Friday I imagine, except a lot more tame. People had boxes, crates tied to dollies, shopping carts, backpacks, suitcases, shopping bags, whatever to carry the many books they might end up buying. Some people will come and buy over 50 books. Myself, I brought along one very large canvas bag.

I ended up wandering around for over an hour between all of the tables. Everything is divided up by genre, and this year there were a LOT of mystery books, hardly any non-fiction, but a good selection of classics, fiction, and trade paperbacks. But outside of genre, there is no order to the books (there's no point in trying) so your head is permanently bent to the side trying to read titles.

Here's why this is the gem of book shopping here: I came home with 12 books... for 17 bucks ($27 if you include the $10 admission fee I paid for today [it's free every other day, but even so I still could only buy maybe two books for $27 if they were brand new]).

I actually got 13 books, if you count what I am calling the "mystery book"; I'll explain in a bit. And they are all in really good shape. They meticulously choose the books to sell, so they are all good or better quality. I scored a couple that are practically brand new.

However, I also learned a lesson today with my "mystery book". I bought what I thought was going to be The Devil in the White City, but once I got it home I noticed the jacket was just a little too tall and didn't fit the book. I opened it up and took it off... and the book inside was actually Sum of All Fears. So lesson learned: always double check that the cover of the hard-cover book matches the actual book. Oh well, it was only one dollar and at least it's a decent Tom Clancy book and not some off-the-wall book I would never have a desire to read.

Today's haul. 8 paperbacks and 3 hardcover books, woo hoo!

Mom Stole the Cookies from the Cookie Jar

Who me?

Yes you!

Couldn't be!

Then who?

Allow me to sound like an old curmudgeon for a moment, but what in the world is wrong with parents these days?

While I was picking out bagels at Schnucks, a mom brought her two kids over to the cookies. She picked out a cookie for each of them and handed it to them. They ate it while she piddled around looking at the rest of the desserts. Um... HELLO??? Aren't you going to pay for that!? What in the world. Showing your kids it's okay to steal food? They're not free samples. I was so taken aback A, that she wasn't even the least bit ashamed, B, that she didn't even try to hide it, and C, how matter of frank the entire thing was, like they do this all the time. It's time like this I wish I was more bold, I wish I would have called her out for it. Part of me wanted to, the other part told me to mind my own business. That part won.

Christmas Prep

I have started decorating the house a little, and I'm excited to do that. After a last minute decision, Jarrod and I are not putting up our big Christmas tree this year. It would be too crowded. With my fancy schmancy treadmill in the front room, there is not much room left to place a tree. Next Christmas, the treadmill will be where it is 'supposed' to be in the basement, but seeing as that's under construction now, it must remain upstairs. Instead we are using this small tree I've had for almost 20 years; it was my Christmas tree in college too, haha.

Ah, the Melton tree,
standing a proud 18" tall.

But outside of decorating, I'm not really anxious for all of the other obligatory Christmas tasks. I have started doing some light shopping, but I just can't get into it. And today's incident didn't help that at all...

I went to JCP to get Jarrod a dress shirt and tie. I thought it was on sale for $15, but when she rang up my shirt and tie, it didn't add up. I started to protest right before I was set to sign the receipt screen, and I asked her how much things were. She replied, in the most unhelpful, unenthusiastic tone you can think of "I can't see what it is until you sign it." I should have protested further that I wasn't buying it until I knew what it cost, but whatever. I signed and then she showed me the receipt. I questioned the price, she (again, so unhappily) called back to check the price and said only the Stafford shirts were on sale. I still wasn't convinced, so we walked back to check, which was all the way in the back, opposite corner of the store; that just added to the frustration.

I was wrong, what she told me was correct, but we saw that the shirt I did buy was Buy 1 Get 1 Free. And that lady at the counter never even told me... I know there would have been something that came on her screen showing that, but she never said it. So, I wanted my free shirt damnit! I picked out a new one and headed back to the front, and luckily didn't have to endure her again. I explained the mixup and the guy just rang me up a shirt for no charge. I thanked him and we were on our way.

But it put me in such a bad mood that stuck with me for a while. Needless to say, I'm not super anxious to go back out shopping.

JCP, Tale of a Struggling Store

Maybe you haven't kept up on their doings like I have, but JCP has been having a really hard time of "finding itself" lately. A while back, they announced an entirely new strategy of true, honest pricing. This meant no sales, the price would be what it should be, not what it actually should be once they inflate it and you take 25% off in our Sale of the Season. At first, I thought it sounded great. The way they pitched it made sense.

But as time went on, I and many others weren't going into their stores as often. Turns out old habits die hard and shopping is all mental (which, shouldn't we already know this?) You feel like you've been successful and found a bargain when you present that coupon, or see that 20% off sign, or whatever the sale might be. You feel better about your purchase and I'm sure many people find it more justifiable. When you take that element out, like they did, a ten-dollar shirt is just a ten-dollar shirt. It sounds much better when you say "I got an 18-dollar shirt on sale for ten dollars."

So in recent months, seeing that their stock was tanking and their sales plummeting, they fired their CEO, found a new one, and are now back to their old ways. They even ran a large ad campaign about the changes they'd made, "some you liked, some you didn't", practically begging people to give them another shot. I'm on their email list and I got emails saying the same thing, practically with puppy dog eyes crying "Pwease come baaaaaccckkkk!"

Now, the entire reason I thought of writing this is because I just shopped there last Sunday and wanted to share something.

I bought two items: a bra and a pair of jeans. I noticed that both had price tag stickers on them that were clearly covering up a previous price. The bra was $38, but after I peeled it back I saw that the previous one (as in, no-sales-true-pricing-days) was $25. Whoa... that is quite a jump up. For the pair of jeans, the price was $34, but they were on sale for $19.99. I peeled up the sticker on the jeans too and found they used to be $27.

So if we compare...

True Price Model:
$25 + $27 = $52

Sunday's 'old pricing' structure:
$38 + $34 = $72

...with sales: $38 + $20 = $58

But... I had a 25% off coupon which brought my total down to $43.

You can make your own judgments on that, but I like that we're back to the old way. I'm sure they still made a profit on my purchase Sunday, and I felt better about it because I had a one-day only coupon. I wasn't the only one either, there was a line of probably 15 people at the checkout, all with coupons; you would have thought it was Christmas.

Checkout Lines

I just returned from one of the most cliché-awful Walmart checkout line experiences one could have.

I don't mind Walmart too much, really, but probably the worst part of any shopping trip is the checkout line. Tonight, I spent over 20 minutes waiting to be checked out; that is way too long of a wait in my book.

It was prime shopping time, when everyone is getting off work, and they only had three lines open that could handle more than 20 items. I was surprised honestly, because usually this is something Target pulls, when 80% of the time there is one, count them one!, checkout line open. I guess they had someone call in or not show. Needless to say, the lines in these three available registers were quite long. After I was already trapped within the 'aisle of impulse' another line opened up, but even four lines was not enough.

On top of the cashier shortage, all of the customers in front of me paid by check. Oh goodie... Which meant they had to write it out, scan it through the printer thing, ask for their phone number, ask for their driver's license so they can write it on there (I've never understood why that's necessary, in no way would I want all that info just floating out there.) Then the lady's machine wouldn't beep anymore when she scanned an item. She got 1/4 of the way through the stuff of the people in front of me before she realized she rang up some of their items twice. So she had to cancel that, redo it, and then proceed. She also had to count out cash back to them, which took longer than it should have. I happened to meet eyes with the older man and he smiled, which made me smile, and then he emulated a sigh, and we shared a 'Jeez this is taking forever but we're trying to stay happy' kind of expression. It made me chuckle inside, and for a moment took me out of my disdain for the whole process.

Then it was finally my turn, and all in all I spent 24 minutes total between the time I hopped in line to the time I walked out of it. The only good thing going for this entire trip was the lady was good at bagging groceries and I didn't come home with a surplus of bags; for some reason, I am not capable of remembering my collection of reusable bags I stash in my car.

I guess I should just be thankful I didn't get stuck behind someone with a bunch of circulars ready to argue and price match everything in the cart.

As Charlie Brown says, "Good grief."