Rage Rant Part 1

Morning, not good, just morning. I’m hot right now. And it’s not from the temperature. I just returned from purchasing my weekly allotment of groceries. To be true to you, it was the first time I’d gone for a full shop in a couple of weeks, work being what it is and all. So I got up early, went in before work. I generally go at 7am on Sunday morning, as you know, but it leaked into Monday this week. I went to my usual haunt, the only grocer that is open at 7am, Wal-mart. It is very close to my home and has been quite convenient. I collected all the foodstuffs that I felt I required to see me through the week and headed off to the cashier area. In the past, I’ve noticed that they have stopped putting a regular cashier on in the early morning. Which is understandable, the foot traffic is low that early in the day, which is why I prefer to shop then. In such instances, I’ve been forced to take my cart through the quick checkout. It used to be 1-16 items but they removed that concept when they stopped having a real cashier. Now they just use the smaller area ones, usually for a few items. I reluctantly walked over there to find that no one was working in that area and that it was roped off. Um? Another piece of background information I should share is that I worked at Wal-mart in high school, heck, everyone but my Dad has worked there, my Mom was there for 20 years. It’s safe to say I know something of the roles and workings of the retail giant. I also need to tell you that over a year ago they created a self-checkout area. I loathe that concept. This is true for two reasons; one, in the early days of the concept, Admiral Bonesaw and I decided to try it while in University. We were sometimes responsible for purchasing everything for the 5 people that lived in our home and as such we filled two carts with groceries. We checked his cart out, paid, then did the same with my cart. As we pushed our carts toward the exit, the person responsible for that area, let’s call her a Customer Service Manager (CSM) walked up to him and pressed a note into his hand saying that she knew what we did. The note said something to the same effect, “I saw what you did to steal that cart of groceries, if you ever come back here I’m calling the cops.” We promptly turned on our heels and confronted her with both receipts, asking her to find an item that wasn’t paid for. It was uncomfortable and embarrassing for everyone. So reason one I don’t like self-checkout right there. Reason two is that I know how pricing works and I know that there is overhead built into the price I pay for each item. That money is to pay the freight, the stocking and the cashier. So if you stop providing one of the services, then what am I paying for? Is this a result of the skyrocketing minimum wage? Is it because people prefer to order online nowadays? Either way, I didn’t cause those things, so why am I being punished? Plus, I’m cheap!

This has gotten longer than expected, scroll down for the second half.