Life Lately
Happy Halloween!
Wait, that was yesterday. Life's been like that lately . . . breezing by before I have a chance to recollect. I wanted to have a new blog up before my favorite holiday. Obviously, that didn't work out.
The picture above is the pumpkin I carved from a stencil you could print free on-line. Taking into account that I have absolutely no artistic still, I thought I did pretty good. What I'm better at is decorating my yard ghoulishly to entertain the trick-or-treaters.
Even that wasn't enough this year. Besides the faux graveyard, besides the skeletons being projected dancing and prowling onto a screen in my darkened garage, besides the coffins lying occupied by scary dummies by my porch--besides all that, I dressed in a skeleton costume myself and sat quietly among the yard horrors.
I wasn't trying to scare the little ones. I'd see parents tugging on their little one's sleeve, telling them, "It's all pretend" as they viewed my macabre trappings. But while the elders urged their progeny forward, they looked my way with an expression that said, "Don't scare my kid." So I kept still.
Then a large group of older youngsters approached, excitedly saying how much they enjoyed my Halloween decorations. But one young girl couldn't keep her eye off me, not sure whether I was just another yard dummy or real. A friend urged her to go closer to make sure. So she approached, closer and closer. Finally I had to move, so I flinched.
That sent her fleeing towards the safety of the sidewalk, loudly alerting her friends that I was, indeed, real. Panic ensued and the youngsters scattered like a frightened school of fish. "I don't think all of them got candy," my wife handing out treats nearby deadpanned to me. Hey. Not my fault.
Our grandsons had come over a couple days earlier, showing off their costumes to us. We prepared their favorite spaghetti dinner for them;. But I teased four-year-old Luke, saying he needed to eat his broccoli salad before he could enjoy his spaghetti.
Very seriously, Luke informed me, "I can't eat broccoli." His mother urged him to tell me why. So Luke recounted, "I was at Keena's (his babysitter) and she gave me broccoli for lunch and I choked on it. So, I can't have broccoli." I guess it's either true or a good story. Either way, he didn't eat broccoli with us.
When we were shopping for this dinner at the local Wal-Mart, Wendy scanned the receipt for the items we purchased. Something did not seem right. This Wal-Mart does not put individual price stickers on its grocery items so you have to rely on memory to determine whether you're being charged correctly. Wendy swore that the six-pack of soft drinks she bought cost $3.50, not $3.98.
She went back to the service desk to complain. The service desk called for a price check. A supervisor had to be consulted. Finally, the store agreed. They would give her 48 cents. Not so fast though. If there is a scanner error, which this was, shouldn't she by law get ten times the error?
The clerk looked perturbed. My wife hadn't asked to be reimbursed for a 'scanning error' so she wasn't given the penalty. Wendy said she thought it should have been automatic, but she still wanted it nonetheless. Another call to a supervisor. More waiting. More hoops to jump through.
Big stores like Wal-Mart don't make it easy. But when you get to be a senior, you don't make it easy on them either. In the end, Wendy got the penalty and scored $4.80. Boo-yeah, as I like to say.
posted by Big Dave T @ 12:47 PM
7 Comments:
Good for Wendy! Lately Walmart has been changing a LOT of their policies here. NO more price matching. boo! Plus, they seem to put the signage in a different place than the product, so we have to squint and read everything really well to make sure we're actually buying the right product to the right price.
All I have to do is look in a mirror and I get a scare!!! :)
It sounds like you had a fun Halloween...and that's the way it should be. Although, I hope Wendy has let you back into the house by now. :)
CARINE--We have Meijer here in Michigan and prefer to do most of our shopping there, despite Wal-Mart actually being closer.
LEE--Wendy knows I go a little overboard on Halloween, so she's good with that. I know what you mean about mirrors. Or photos. I grimaced when I saw a copy of my passport photo which I renewed last year. Very scary.
we have a Safeway and a Fry's that aren't 2 far away Dave-but to get to a Sprout's, TJs-it is literally a 30 minute trek. Even Costco is about 25 min. from us.
CARINE--I've heard of Safeway but not the others. We shop at Costco sometimes. There's also a Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Aldi's in Ann Arbor if we care to go. The only bread I eat is the 12-grain rustic loaf that Whole Foods bakes.
HEY Dave.. how are ya? Sorry I have had computer problems lately and on my Kindle and when I try to comment it won't go through.. RATS.. anyway.. I am here now on another laptop..Halloween was soo quiet here you would not even know it was. SOO many kids go to parties now.. it's dying out. Went to Walmart last Friday and I scan my own stuff.. Only way I can keep them from making mistakes. I mean I usually kinda know what each thing is and I look right at the screen. THAT place is notorious for them. I still shop there but you gotta watch it. Glad she stuck to her guns and got her money. Good for her. Hope you are both doing well. P>S> I think that verify thing is what keeps my kindle from letting me comment.
CAROLDEE--Doing good here, thanks. I know all about computer frustration as I had to retire my old computer and am trying to learn a new video editing program on my new one. Arggghhhh is all I can say. I'm not a big fan of Wal-Mart but I see our Costco membership is going up to $60 annually. I think Sam's Club is looking better.
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