This has nothing to do with a ban against large corporations taking over the world or anything. I am a small business owner and try to support such BUT I just like Target better. We have one nice Wal-Mart in my area -several Wal-Mart stores, they are just dirty, unorganized and in general a mess - so if I need a Wal-Mart, I go to the nice one. I will say Wal-Mart is better for schools supplies. So I forced my children to help me with their supply list today. OK - I know it is July 15th so we still have a month. But we have this week, next week is camp (so they can't help) and then vacation so I wanted to get it out of the way. And - I think I will go this time every year bc I found every item I needed in one store even found good pencils which were already sharpened. Last year we had to sharpen about 100 pencils so this is a big deal to me. I've tried to order supplies online to avoid all this but they are still young enough to need very specific things which I can't find online.
What else did I find?
- A kid riding a bike with a live bird on his shoulder - what is that about?
- A non-english speaking lady sending money to another country - she clearly didn't understand anything that was being said or going on. I hope her money got there. I feel like that will be us in Thailand unless we get moving on some Thai conversation lessons. I'm still on Lesson 1.
- A lady attempting unsuccessfully to talk sense to her 7 year old - oh wait - that was me - I finally realized he was grumpy due to hunger setting in, cracked open a box of peanut butter crackers and he was fine - although he thought I would be arrested for eating before buying.
- Way too many employees - seriously - what are they all doing? They weren't helping me find the 13 section accordion organizer in a boy's color. Are they getting paid to make sure I don't pocket the 11 cent glue sticks? Open a register already, work weekends or go clean the other Wal-Marts in this city.
- A very very slippery floor - I'll only wear tennis shoes from now on to my once a year trip to Wal-Mart. Apparently, the employees buff and wax the floor when they aren't stalking glue stick thieves. I don't think I broke anything.
- A lot of angry moms giving me the evil eye for buying all the note cards on 3 rings in stock. Ok - they were thinking, "Why is she buying all that stuff already? It just causes them to put it out earlier every year." Perhaps, but I'm thankful I don't have to shop for it on vacation.
I have learned that while my kids hate it when I force them to do things like this, they are so much nicer to me after I make them "work" a little. They are good kids and it's times like these I am reminded. Matt declined the colored note cards saying, "I think people just buy them to show off bc kids ooh and aah over them Mom." Mark, who was in a great mood after eating, gave me a hug and thanked me for getting all his stuff.
