My Wal-Mart boycott is officially over, after almost 3 1/2 years. I didn't exactly fall off the wagon; I just had to make a pit stop. :"> I was traveling on I-35 on Thanksgiving morning, and I missed an exit for a truck stop, so I ended up visiting the ladies' room at a Wal-Mart in Georgetown, Texas (suburb of Austin). While I was there, I figured whoever owned the place would appreciate me buying something, and while I was walking the quarter-mile trek from the restroom in the back of the store to the bakery in front, I was reminded why I had been boycotting in the first place. Yes, it was nice to only pay $3 for some banana bread slices (and the self-checkout stations are very efficient and less annoying than the ones at Kroger). But in retrospect, none of the employees there greeted me or offered to help me -- not even the greeter. And who wants to trek a quarter of a mile across a store, anyway? (I'm exaggerating, but it truly is a long walk.)
For the record, when my sister was in town 2 months ago and I was (blindly) showing her and my brother-in-law around the surrounding communities, we did need a pit stop and happened to be near a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market, so we slipped in and out without buying anything. I was impressed, however, at how homey and non-Wal-Mart-ish the store seemed. Hopefully, the bigwigs at the corporation are beginning to understand that not everybody likes to shop at a glorified warehouse.
But while I was there at the Georgetown Wal-Mart on Thanksgiving morning, I was amazed at how many people were there Christmas shopping. I was kind of imagining that there'd be husbands who'd take their kids there to keep them out of their mom's hair while she was preparing a Thanksgiving feast. But I didn't really see any; it just looked like any other business day. There was an older couple in the greeting-card section, presumably passing the time away before meeting their family for Thanksgiving, but to me it just looked like everyone else was already Christmas shopping.
I'm sorry, but I still don't understand why everyone flocks to Wal-Mart as soon as it's time to shop for Christmas. I mean, that's what I did when I was a kid who had no money. But as an adult, I'm not sure that "I found you a hurricane lamp at Wal-Mart for $2" really says "I love you" on Christmas morning. That news story about the poor Wal-Mart employee in Long Island who got trampled to death on Black Friday is very disturbing. Why all the chaos? Why the unnecessary tragedy? And why the heck does everyone still flock to Wal-Mart?? The world may never know.
As for me, I do NOT intend to shop at Wal-Mart regularly. It's probably going to be more like, "This is the nearest potty, so while I'm here, I may as well buy a soda." I'm still content shopping at Target and Tom Thumb every 2 weeks and at Family Dollar and Dollar Tree on occasion.
(In case you're wondering why I boycotted Wal-Mart in the first place, please see my blog entries dated 4/8/07 and 3/24/08 to track my journey. :))
So, please feel free to call me anti-Wal-Mart. I'll probably take it as a compliment. :D
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The blog posts I referred to can be found on my friend Debbie's blog at http://amiculus.blogspot.com/2007/04/wal-mart-boycott-update-ii.html and http://amiculus.blogspot.com/2008/03/blog-apologies-and-consumer-update.html On the 4/8/07 post, my friend Holly commented, "There is a very clean Walmart-sparkling clean with products arranged meticulously on the shelves in North Dallas. It's off of the Tollway (I think at the Park Lane exit). It's the cleanest and most inviting Wal-Mart I've EVER been to. I've boycotted the one by my house because it's just plain trashy and they rarely pick up the buggies, which then pile out into the parking spots and stick out into the parking lanes."
ReplyDeleteOn the 3/24/08 post, my friend Elizabeth asked why I was boycotting Wal-Mart, and I replied, "Basically, I got sick of Wal-Mart treating their customers so crappily just because they're broke enough to shop there. :">" My friend Holly commented, "You'll appreciate this phone prank on a Walmart employee that Manuel had me listen to last night. A bit long but hilarious! Today, my mom called me and told me about how the WMart by my house has had some violent purse-snatching going on lately-a lady even go ran over today in a purse snatching incident. Ughh! And this particular seems to always have shopping carts that have vomited all over the parking lot! But yes, that N. Dallas one is the nicest one, too bad it's so far. http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/229905/
" My friend Fabian commented, "Congrats on your Wal-Mart boycott! I've tried so hard but still find myself buying crap from there occasionaly. I would say I step foot in Wal-Mart about once every two months. And its only for random electronics/dvds. I mean where else can I get a copy of Rambo at three o'clock in the morning? You're welcome! :)" I replied, "Yeah, that's true... unless you drive over to a 24-hour truck stop and plunk down about $25 for a DVD. :) (I usually just shop on eBay or Amazon for cheap used ones.)"
In case you're extra curious about the beginnings of my Wal-Mart frustration, let me know and I'd be happy to send you links to even older blog postings/ramblings. :)