[geeks] Wal-Mart

[Sridhar Ayengar]

Aaron Finley wrote:
>>>> I was just watching TV, when a commercial for Wal-Mart came on.  As
>>>> usual, it was bragging about their low prices.
>>>>
>>>> Unfortunately, I came to the realization that I'm willing to pay *extra*
>>>> to not have to go to Wal-Mart.  It's that bad.
>>> It look at it this way. Everything I buy at Walmart is going to cost me
>>> twice as much in the long run. I'm saving money by buying quality at my
>>> local independent retailer.
>> That's not really what I meant.  What I meant is that I'm willing to pay 
>> more for *identical* items if it enables me to avoid going to Wal-Mart.
> 
> Why?

It's unpleasant from the second I get there.

First I have to park.  The people who have already parked in the lot are 
  openly opening their doors into nearby cars, unabashedly.  This means 
that I need to park some distance from anyone else, if I don't want my 
car damaged.  I have to end up parking in the parking lot of another 
store and walking.

I detest walking.

When I enter, I have to deal with people willfully ignoring their 
screaming children.  When I'm not avoiding those people, I'm getting 
dirty looks (might be racist, but I can't really tell for sure...) from 
people who obviously have double-digit IQs.  You can tell how stupid 
they are from what they're buying.

It takes me significant fractions of an hour to get the attention of the 
sales staff.  They tell me they don't have what I'm looking for.  After 
continuing my search, I usually find it in the store anyway.

Then it comes time to pay.  There are more than 25 checkout aisles in 
the front of the store.  Usually roughly three of them are open.  Plus a 
self-checkout area.  All four of the machines were broken the last time 
I tried to use them.  All four.

Then I'm carrying a load of stuff and I have to walk all the way back to 
my car which, you'll remember, is parked in the parking lot of a store 
across the street.

And since the store I'm parked at is directly across the street from 
Wal-Mart, it'll take me between five and ten minutes to navigate the 
traffic coming out of the parking lots.  (The stop signs only stop 
traffic coming out of the lot, not going in.)  And that's if I can avoid 
getting hit by someone driving a very large pickup with giant 
grill-guards that give him the security of the knowledge that he can 
destroy a less "robust" car like mine while sustaining no damage to his own.

No thanks.  I'll pay more and drive further to avoid that nonsense.

Peace...  Sridhar