The one time I go to Wal-Mart!

Let me start this blog by saying I hate Wal-Mart. I do. I think Wal-Mart is the downfall of America. I think they suck the life out of towns, use them up, and throw them away. I am in no way an advocate of their business practices whether it be employees, products, what have you. I hate Wal-Mart. And on top of that, it seems like only the dredges of hell shop there. I don't know how you don't have shoes in a public place in 2009, but go to Wal-Mart. You will find people who don't think it necessary to wear them. But, I digress...

I work nights. And when you are off, you keep the same hours. Well, sometimes, you have to get things done at night while you are off. The other night, I was awake, it was like 5am. I was probably not going to bed for another 5 hours, and I had stuff to do. One of the things I had to do was clean my carpets in the bedroom. A while ago, we spilled massage oil on the carpet. We didn't really know it for a few days because massage oil is different than oil oil. But, we figured it out. Then in the other bedroom (our actual bedroom), we had some issue with water in the closet. And it dried up a bit old watery smelling. So, we need to clean the carpets.

I was going to go rent a cleaner, but because my hours are retarded and Jody is in Europe, I decide that it would be easier (and only slightly more expensive) to get a little carpet cleaner. Besides, we have a dog, and it is always nice to be able to just clean up a spot.

Well, since it is about 5 am, and Target isn't open (I'm a Target gal, and there is one about 4 minutes from my house!). So, I shuffle around the house trying to find something to do until 8. I have taken everything out of the bedrooms and put it in the living room. Look at the clock, and it is now about 6. Well, I was sick of sitting around, so I decide to truck my ass half-way across town to go to Wal-Mart (Wal-Marts aren't all over Austin they way they are in other cities, thank goodness!).

So, I run into Wal-Mart hoping that no one will see me. Then if they do, I can just point out that we are both there, so we should just keep it hush hush. I did go looking like 6am so I would fit in! I go into this monstrous building, make my way to the vacuum and carpet cleaning area and take a look.

They have one of the one that I want. I had looked them up online first. So, I was pretty excited. It looked weird, though. I don't know why. Something about the box looked weird. And when I picked it up, stuff moved around inside. I paused for a second because I didn't think this was right. But, the lights were super bright, there was too much oxygen in there, and against my better judgement I bought the damn thing.

It takes forever to check out because I go to the self checkout line. Apparently self check out at Wal-Mart really means so freak who works there is going to have to ring you up because of some sort of weird message on the checker outer thingy. So, after 15 minutes of that (!!!), I go home.

I get home and open the box. It smells of carpet shampoo so bad that I start sneezing. Hmmm, I wonder if it has been used? Yes it has!

Inside this box is the carpet cleaning machine. The box is damp. There is carpet!!! stuck to the carpet cleaner. Carpet. Yes, it has already cleaned someone's carpet (and I don't want some nasty Wal-Mart customer's carpet in my house! haha). Also, Two parts of it are missing. Not there at all. I dumped out the whole box and they weren't there. A lot of torn up Styrofoam was there. But, not these two parts that I figure I might need. I plug it in just to see if it will work without the filter thing and front clear thing that aren't there. It doesn't. The front clear thing is part of the sucker, so it doesn't suck up water at all. There are no screws to actually put it together (I overlooked that because I have screws. So, I figured I would just try it out anyway). The directions for it are not all there, only the French. I can deal with Spanish, but French? It was a mess. And now I have wet assed carpet!

Now, I did put it together as best I could to try to see if it would work because I did not want to go back to Wal-mart. I can deal with it not being in the best shape (even though I purchased it twenty minutes before). I am irritated that it is used and missing stuff, but I will deal with it as long as I don't have to go back to that damn store! But, guess what I had to do. I had to go back to Wal-Mart!

Now, this machine was obviously returned. It was also taped back up quite nicely. Why did they not look at it to make sure it was usable before putting it back on the shelf? I will say that it was easy as pie to return. They gave me cash even though I used my debit card. No questions asked at all, although I felt the need to inform them of what was wrong with the damn thing. I told them twice that there were parts missing, that it was used, and that there were no instructions. The lady at the counter didn't seem to care. Good for me because she also just handed me back my money. So, what do I care. I wanted to go back later that day, though, to see if it was back out on the shelf. I bet it was.

Anyway, so I went away from that experience knowing that I have made the right decision in life not to frequent Wal-mart (or the Wal-Marts as a true customer would say). I knew I shouldn't have gone there! Why, why, why do I go against my better judgement? Ugh! I swear.

In the end, it was just after 8am when I returned that funked up machine to Wally World. So, I trek on over to Target where I purchase the exact machine for five dollars less. And it was unused. I have clean carpets, although I still have a rooms worth of drums, massage table, and computer stuff in the living room. But, that's just because I am lazy.

Oh, the Wal-Mart. I shall try my damnedest never to go there again!