Thank you, Wal-Mart

If you know me well enough, you know I carry a black cloud above me - particularly at restaurants - regarding various customer service experiences. Maybe you all do, too, and you just don't complain as much. However, Wal-Mart has been at the center of some real doozies out there. Remember that crop night? I think it took the full 6 hours of scrapbooking for me to calm down that night. I would even just not develop my pictures if I saw the lady with the Farrah Faucett hair working that day.

Wal-Mart is now on its way to redeeming itself. (Can't say that phrase without thinking of "Dumb & Dumber"). Last night was a frenzie of rush out to the construction site to see the windows, a dinner with friends at Rib Crib**, an 80 mph dash to gymnastics, then a 'quick' trip to the mall to get L a new winter coat, since he had his growth spurt late in the season. All this knowing I also had to hit W-M for the essentials due to the oncoming storm, thinking I'd be joining everyone else within the three counties.

Once there, I realized I'd obviously beat the rush - oh, yeah! No coats at mall or W-M, but plenty of helpful people. It was almost like the oncoming snow put everyone in a fantastic mood. No Jack Frost here. Then, thinking I'd bypass the huge line in the (two) regular lines, opted for the self-check out. Those people, when they see they are covering the self-check out lanes, must think of calling in sick or faking a migraine to go home, although give them 1 hour on the job, they'll have a real migraine. Everything I ran through and placed in the bag came up as 'skip bagging - see clerk for authorization'. Everything. She was so amazingly patient with me, and never stopped smiling.

Then, it was finally over. I could go home...except, where was my wallet? I had 'simplified' and put it in my coat pocket, no purse, but then took off the coat. It could have fallen out anywhere. I also quickly said, "I'm not gonna panic," to C. Then realized, if it had been found (and turnd in), I would have already been paged.

Thankfully, I'd thrown it in my Dillard's bag from earlier, and found it in the car. Walk in, pay with red face, unload car in freezing cold, realize I didn't pay for all the items up in the seat part of the cart. C looks at me like, "Oh my gosh. My mom is going to jail." We rush in, as I'm hoping my i.d. isn't being run through the FBI, and pay, again.

Thank you also, Wal-Mart, for taking all the bad words out of Fergie's "Dutchess" album. Now, we can listen to Glamourous again, until C figures out what all the silent pauses might be someday. If only I could edit my daughter's moves, now.

**Funny at dinner: I found out my friend's kindergarten son has informed her that his music teacher is the most beautiful woman in the world - and mommy is almost as pretty. I think he realized that might be backward and said they were the SAME amount of beautiful or something to that effect. The funny part is, his mom is a very attractive lady and reports that the music teacher is about 15 years older and has eighties hair. I'm sure his tastes will change!