Arrogance

I don't believe that in all my life in shopping I've come across a store that is so arrogant. Sometimes I can't figure out if it is arrogance or just blatant stupidity. It's no secret to those who know me that I really don't have much fondness for Walmart. For the first three years we lived here I prided myself by not even going inside a Walmart. I don't mean to offend anyone who loves this store (because I associate with a lot of you). It's probably my own punishment for disliking the store such much that I'm moving to a place that has no Target. My choices in that category of stores are Walmart or Kmart. (I've always wanted to check out Martha Stewart's everyday living collection.)

You would think that I would get over this experience I had 2 weeks ago. For the most part, I have but still, it was irritating and I find it very therapeutic to share. Clark has heard the run down a few times.

So here's the story: I, like many others, was anxiously awaiting the release of the final book for the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer. My dilemma was I wouldn't be around long enough to make it worth getting on the library waiting list. I'm a book-lover by heart but love the library more than Barnes & Noble. The book had been released about a week. I was hoping that I could track down some kind soul who had already purchased and read the book and would let me borrow it.

Clark finally encouraged me to look into prices. He knew how I was pinning over this book. Mostly because I had nothing to read and I needed some distraction from everything going on. In our quick internet search I stumbled on a price of $10.83 at Walmart. Not too bad. Everything else was at least $17 or more. So I loaded the boys in the car and took a drive over to my favorite local Walmart. I head straight to the book aisle only to find the desired book priced at $14.00! Ok, someone must have missed the memo on the price change.

After spending 5 minutes hunting down the person in charge of books I learned that she had no clue. She was willing to give me the price but really wanted to make sure I wasn't lying; we tracked down a computer with internet. At some point, we picked up a few people along the way. I shortly learned that while it was priced at $10.83 on line that the actual store couldn't honor it. Apparently they are separate entities. Didn't I know that? I mean, come on, who does research online and ever walks into a store expecting to find the exact same price?! I must have been crazy. The 4 Walmart workers congregating around me all took turns berating me on my stupidity. Reminding me that Walmart was a superior store and therefore, they were superior to me since they worked there and I was just a lowly person who attempted to spend my money there. They continued to hammer the point about how I was wrong and they were right. They suggested if I wanted the book at that price, I could purchase it online, ship it to the store (for free) and come back and pick it up. I was almost afraid to ask why the books shipped to the store were different than the books already in the store. I had my two little boys with me and I was afraid of any violence they would inflict on me because of my deemed stupidity and I quickly left the area.

I was a little steamed with the situation. I found it laughable that they were suggesting to me to go home, buy the book online, ship it to their store and then come back and get it. All so they could prove they were right. I love this store.

I decided to have a conversation with the manager and to tell him how polite and helpful his employees were. He helped as far as saying that if I could ship to the store for free (apparently in all their berating not one of the employees bothered to check it out) that he would honor the online price; I needed to know this was an exception he would make for me. It turned out that the shipping wasn't free.

What did I do? I put the book back (while the book vendor was there - she had been around while I spoke with others). It gave me a bit of satisfaction to do that. I should have causally told her that I was going to Barnes & Noble and I didn't care that I was paying a premium.

It turns out I had a gift card that I had forgotten about. I paid $6. Read the book in less than 24 hours (loved it) and posted it on craigslist for $8 and sold it a few days ago. By the way, I didn't change my in person price from my online price. She was a satisfied customer.