okay. here is a story. now it's kind of a "haha that was kind of funny/i can't believe that happened" story.. but when it happened it was a "i am so mad right now i want to never enter this godless hole again" situation. here is what happened.
okay wait. no, it needs a tiny bit of back story. this deals with walmart. yes. they have amazing prices on everything. and yes. i can go there and buy my makeup, a tv, pick up some dvds, cat food, and some milk and apples on my way out.
however i do not love walmart.
i hate how crowded it is. i hate shopping with crazy people (i am not trying to be mean or judgmental. you know the people i'm talking about. you don't believe me then visit this little
website. but i warn you.. you can never un-see these things...). okay back to my point. i also hate that it's so impersonal there. down here we have publix as one of the big grocery chains. people there are so nice and helpful. they always talk to you and are friendly. they even offer to take your groceries out to your car for you. okay. i am lucky if the people at walmart even acknowledge i'm there. and it's an amazing day at walmart if they dont smash your loaf of bread with cans of tomatoes. you know what i'm talking about. and when i need help it's like i'm totally inconveniencing miss walmart employee who would rather flirt with mister walmart employee. or sometimes they don't have teeth and i don't know what they are saying. or this one time, this really happened, i asked a woman for help and she said, "this is my lunch break." and it was like, 8 pm..... whatever. it's not good customer service.
now, i was willing to overlook
all this because i needed to save money. oh and also their produce is really not up to par. but anyway, like i said i was being all overlooking and rising above all that just so i could have more money in my bank account at the end of the month. and i shopped there throughout college and the 3 and a half years i've been married. okay? that's 7 and a half years. of buying everything there. okay, that adds up to thousands of dollars people.
so okay. what happened. so i am buying some little stocking stuffers for my husband. now, we share a credit card with his name on it. i went through dave ramsey's financial peace university and i try to be really careful with money. i don't trust myself with a credit card. i just know i'll buy more than i do now, so whenever i need it (for grocery shopping, gas or marshalls (haha)) i borrow it from phil. and it has worked so well for us.
so i swiped my credit card and the girl asked for id and card, so i handed it to her. this is where it gets bad. she says, "who is
philip??" like i stole this card. so i say, "oh that's my husband. we share a card. i always use his card here." and she starts telling me she can't take it. so i say, "look. i always use it here. i have never heard of this policy. i don't even have my own card. i'm obviously married" while holding up my ring finger. so she calls a superior. she tells me she won't take it. somebody used a card with the same last name the week before and it turns out she was stealing. we won't take it. so i get mad. this is ridiculous. i have used this card a billion times. then she proceeds to tell me i need my husband with me in order to use the card.
so now i'm mad and thinking, okay. so because i'm being responsible with my money and not carrying my own credit card i can't make a purchase here. plus it's only $40 worth of stuff. it's not like i was buying an entertainment system for crying out loud. and now i am also thinking of how much business i have given them. and now they are treating me like i may have stolen this credit card. so i ask to speak to somebody else.
another woman comes over and starts to treat me like i'm out of control. okay, for being as annoyed and shocked and mad as i was, i was surprisingly calm. so i tell her my problem. she again says, we won't take that card. it's our policy. even though i've used it there a million times. and THEN she says she is just trying to protect my husband, the man who is on the card......
protect him? from his wife? thanks walmart. thank you for protecting my husband from me. the big bad wife who was spending $40... yah. that was gonna break him. me buying stuff for his stocking. how awful.
so then i say, okay i'm sorry i'm not trying to cause trouble i just don't know why you would suddenly decide not to take this card when i've used it here a million times before. and they are all looking at me like i'm that mean horrible woman who is making a giant scene over not having the right kind of cranberry sauce or something, you know what i mean? but i am standing here with no way to pay for my groceries and upset about it. and i think i had a right to be. and you know what would have fixed this? if they said, "you know what.. since you didn't know about this you can use the card, but this is the last time. we can never take it again." and if i was stealing, they could take the loss of $40 to make a customer happy. you know, like
CUSTOMER SERVICE?? but they absolutely refused. so i had to call phil at work to ask him if i could use my debit card instead. i can't always just use it because sometimes, if he just paid a lot of bills, he doesn't feel comfortable using the money from our account until the bills all go through so we never overdraw.
so i used my debit card but i was m. a. d. and they did nothing to resolve it. and on my way out i thought, you know why didn't i just leave my groceries and go to target? a store that will take my money because they don't automatically assume everyone is most likely a criminal who stole a credit card of somebody who just happened to have the same last name.
so that day i said, no more. walmart does nothing to show me they appreciate my business. they treat me like i am most likely a credit card thief. their produce is mediocre. their customer service is nothing short of awful. or maybe nonexistant. and i hate it there anyway. and NOW i cant do any sort of grocery shopping unless i get my own credit card (which i don't want) or take my husband with me. like i'm a child and i need my daddy. or like this is the middle east and i'll be stoned if i'm out without a male to accompany me.
so this is the big problem. phil loves walmart. he used to work there in high school and college. he has discovered great customer service there (yah he must have run into the one friendly associate.. i can't figure it out) and he loves saving money. so he thinks i need to give them another chance. i say no. he says, pleeease? and is looking for any possible way we can still go to walmart so we can keep saving money. he is convinced kroger and publix will be too expensive for us.
what do you guys think? seriously, i want to know. what would you do in this situation? am i overreacting? was i too quick to say buh-bye to walmart? or would you also stop giving a store like that your money? i need your help!
