Between the Whines

News from within the domestic warzone

Rose Norton

Rose Norton
Location
Methow Valley, Washington, US
Birthday
December 31
Title
Hey, you!
Company
La Casa, Inc.
Bio
I'm a domestically impaired mother suffering from chronic SAHM syndrome, an aspiring humorist, and semi-avid runner. I'm the mother of two feral children, a three-legged dog, and a deaf cat, but we all have special needs in our own little way.

Rose Norton's Links

Salon.com
DECEMBER 10, 2008 6:04PM

My two banshees and the Wal-Mart Conspiracy

Rate: 7 Flag

Wal-Mart is the devil. It sucks. It has everything you could ever need and it's cheaper than anywhere else. It's the only place that you can buy bunk beds, sports bras, and frozen pizza at the same time. But it is truly miserable. It's not worth the trauma, and when I say trauma, I mean the damage done to you. Every time we go to the mega consumerville, my son and daughter get overwhelmed, hungry tired, start teething, start puking and then, of course, tandem screaming. And it's not just the screaming, it's the blood curdling screech that is piped up at the top of their lungs. And the worst part, it is not just my own children. Every parent that schleps their kids in and out of there must suffer the consequences.
 Let's say you need milk, and just milk. Okay then you look for the milk and what the hell? It's all the way, 3 miles to be exact, in the back of the f-ing store. The cruel deviants that design the store, drunk on the money and plight of modern middle America, cackle as they play the 'let's make it painful for mothers hauling their brood'.  As you snake your way through the barrage of fat carts the din begins to consume your mental state, until you realize that the din is coming from the cart and you get a random shoe slapped across the face. Just a little attention grabber. The train of thought has been lost by the screams and appeals for 'Candy! Chips! Ice cream! Crack! Porn! Drugs!' are coming from the little angels possessed by the demons of consumerism.  As they writhe towards the toys intentionally lain out to be grasped by their talons, the pleas triple in decibels.
"Why are we here again? Oh, right, right, I got it."
After waiting 25 minutes in line and looking over every cracked-out celebrity rag out there, you lay it all out for the disgruntled employee, when you tally up the prices it all adds up to about $85.00. Milk of magnesia, milk duds, 5 Milky Ways, cereal,  peanut butter, a stuffed cow, and of course- oh shit, where did it go? I got it right? Where the cock is it? I walked by it! Oh that's right, I was picking up 13 bags of Chips Ahoy! Up off of the ground after the hellion kicked down a kiosk made of something weaker than toilet paper. Then, like a stealth bomb, you cut a swathe to the door until the smiley lil bitch reminded you that you needed to pay. So now I have $85 of crap and milk like type products. Thanks again, Wal-Mart! The one flaw that I see is that you need to keep the booze right next to the fashion rags, so it'll just take a little edge off waiting in that f-ing line.

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banshees, walmart, chaos

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Been there; done that. I used to also take my boys one at a time to Home Depot on renovation supply runs. That bought me a lot of cheap tape measures for the kids to break before I got them out of the cart in the parking lot.
I'm so glad to see this wonderful description of the Walmart experience, Rosie. There is a Walmart 5 minutes from my house and the next closest store, a Fred Meyer (Idaho) is at least 7 minutes away, so naturally I find myself turning in to the Walmart parking lot more often than not. God knows, I do not have an extra two minutes to spare. I need the damn ice cream and I need it NOW. Letterman starts in 15 minutes and I do not want to miss the monologue. Anyway, I've often wondered why I subject myself to that torture and I've thought about visiting one of those mental health people to discuss that issue, but I just don't have the time, ya know? What always pisses me off is that I can get the ice cream in less than 90 seconds but it always, always takes at least 10 minutes or more to get checked out. The Walmart people use the same business model as banks and the post office when it comes to "how should we staff the check-out stand." If there are 87 check out lanes stretched across the two mile long store front, then there should never be more than three cashiers on duty at any given moment, especially if Ron is in the store. And if I find one of those self-check places with only two people in line, one of them will be too damn stupid to know how to work the thing and I'll still be standing there as the lady who was behind me in the other line, the one I was in before I spotted this golden opportunity, goes walking out the door with her two baskets full of stuff. Well, I can always go to the computer for Dave's jokes and by God, I'll swear, once again, I'm never coming back to this f'ng place again!
Oh my gosh - I love it! "milk of magnesia, milk duds, and milky way bars" instead of milk. I can't give up on Wal-Mart because it's the only store we have in my small town, but I sure do feel your pain. I wish I loved Wal-Mart as much as my kids do.
I hate Wal-Mart. Damn their cheap bread.
Gee, two posts on the womderful world of Wally the giant wonder store in one day. I hate that place.
A friend of mine visiting from England was astounded by WalMart because he said you can get anything and everything there, but I had to tell him that he was wrong.

In the 1980s, WM quit carrying porn--no Playboy, no Penthouse, no bare body parts of any kind in print. Also, a few years ago, when Jon Stewart's book, "America: The Book," came out, WM didn't carry it, presumably because they judged it as anti-American . . . as opposed to, say, selling cheap plastic crap made in China by underpaid workers and prison labor.

WM reflects the worst things about America:
(1) our sense of entitlement to cheap goods, regardless of their human cost;
(2) our horror of sexuality;
(3) the sheep-like idea that dissent is unpatriotic.
Thank gawd we don't have `Walmart' over here....but they're pushin it already...stores that go for miles... it's only a matter of time
quick; let's MOVE .......

((har har har!!))
walmert = lactose intolerant.
This is why I stay out of Wal-mart, who needs the aggravation! You have a unique shopping list with all of the 'milk' products!