So I've written blogs about many retailers but never once wrote one about Wal-Mart. Going to a Wal-Mart today for the first time in a while made me remember why I don't like going to most of their stores. I'm pretty sure many CAGs feel the same way. Lots of people I've seen in the workplace love to forward emails to each other about the people of Wal-Mart.

Today I had to go to Wal-Mart because their Supercenter stores seem to be the ONLY stores I can find Pillsbury Italian loaf at along with Minute Premium Rice. Local grocery stores which had it (although more expensive) recently haven't carried them so I had no choice but to go to one of the two Wal-Mart Supercenter stores in my area. First thing which is typical of a Wal-Mart is the parking lot is crazy packed, with almost every spot filled up. I ended up finding a spot near some old truck carrying tons of buckets of stuff (seemed home improvement related). Oh course, the parking lot is FILLED with shopping carts all over the place about to hit your car. Can't tell you how many times I've seen shopping carts hit cars in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Once I go inside, store is a mess with junk all over the place or certain shelves cleared. I go to find certain things, and they tend to be either completely out or have a bunch tossed all over the place. The majority of items I found thankfully (such as mailers). I take a quick look in the gaming section, where oh course some games are overpriced, and some games had the manufacturing seal torn off partially.

As I check out, the employee left her light blinking forever although she didn't need to have it own anymore (had trouble figuring it out). Someone in front of me had a giftcard, and it took her forever on how to use it. She scanned my items extremely slow, and when I was trying to swipe my card, the pin pad was falling off. She tried to get it back to being attached, but I told her to forget it. After I swiped, took her a while to figure out how to press the debit key. That wasn't the first time I checked out with that lady, but it seems like she's on some drug every time.

So I left the store figuring great, I can finally get out of this hell hole. Just as I was about to get into my car, I saw some weird guy almost ram into my car from the back side. He opened up his window telling me he had a Minnesota driver's license and he was wondering if I could help him out (having car trouble). I noticed the plate was from Washington, D.C. though (it was missing the front plate I believe). I just said sorry, I gotta go, and he backed away. I was going to go into my trunk, but decided to forget it and drive off instead.

Bad Wal-Mart experience have been happening for most of my life. I went to other Wal-Mart locations in my area that looked like Wal-Mart from the early 90's inside, still carrying PS1 games and a lot of other old stuff I don't see anymore. Many Wal-Mart stores look like some rummage sale than an actual retail store. Back when I lived in Indiana, I remember one local Wal-Mart carried PS2 launch games and was still selling them at full price for who knows how long. They use to have a tiny section for games until they finally expanded it. It was converted into a Wal-Mart Supercenter not all that many years ago, yet it already started to look old. Pretty much every time I wanted to check out in the store, the lines stretched back several people, no matter what time of the day. Normally very few registers were open. Wal-Mart was known to just not carry things for a while, have wrong prices on stuff, and just be a complete hell hole every time I walk in there. Most Wal-Mart stores have very few shopping cart returns (and are badly placed). I honestly don't trust their vision center, hair salon, or even their auto center (although that's where my battery comes from. A few times I caught police trying to handcuff someone putting them in their car outside of Wal-Mart.

Despite how much I dislike Wal-Mart, I have been to a few nice Wal-Mart stores before. The other Wal-Mart Supercenter in my area is really nice and rarely gives me problems (outside of not having stuff and shopping carts all over the parking lot). Wal-Mart stores on the NE and NW side of Fort Wayne, IN (back when I lived there) were not bad, along one near my college. Wal-Mart is really good with ad matching thankfully, and its true they DO have the lowest price on many grocery items (without a sale). Unfortunately, since there are grocery stores closer to Wal-Mart, I tend to think its not worth the drive just to save a little (especially since I hate going into Wal-Mart anyway).

Anyway, just a short blog of my Wal-Mart experience today. Almost every time I go in there, I wish I never stopped there. Hopefully it will be a while until I need to go to Wal-Mart again. Anyone have bad Wal-Mart experiences at times?