Thursday, June 9, 2011

It's All A Great Big TRAP!

Today we took an expedition to Walmart to get a new tire for the driver's side rear of the van. Now, mind you, we replaced the passenger side rear about 6 months ago, and the 2 front tires about 3 months ago. I asked at the time we were replacing the front ones if we shouldn't go ahead and replace the final rear tire.

You know what the answer was to that question.

The rear tire went flat yesterday while John had the van at work. So, he drove home on the donut they call a "space-saver spare". In turn, I drove to Walmart today on said donut to get the new tire.

We arrived at the Walmart service center to find 5 cars in front of us. They were almost all getting oil changes, so I thought it would be a breeze to get in and out with just a replacement tire. I thought wrong.

The tech who signed us in told us "give them a hour, it probably won't take that long, but just to be safe." In case you have never had your car serviced at Walmart, they give you this bar code tag and you can check the status of your repair by scanning it at one of those "Find The Price" here kiosks.

I had a few things I needed to get, so we grabbed a cart and started rounding things up. Periodically one of us would run to the kiosk and scan the tag - "Waiting". More shopping. We found tank tops for $4 for Amanda, so we tried some of those on and found 3 we liked.

Scan the tag. Waiting. Oh, I need envelopes to mail information in to the state for our homeschooling review. Scan the tag. Waiting.

Let's check our blood pressure. All good. Scan the tag. Waiting. It has been an hour. Surely the scanner thing is lying, so off to the service center we go.

The van is sitting in the bay. Are they working on it? Is it done? Scan the tag. Waiting. SIGH.

Off to get some band-aids for Amanda's hand. Scan the tag. Waiting. Well, might as well look at frames for some of the girls' artwork. Scan the tag. Waiting.

Text John. Anything you need? Yes, stop leak and anti-freeze. Off to the auto section again. Let's take a peek and see what's going on with the van. Still there. Still nothing.

Oh, we need soap. Back to health & beauty aids. Scan the tag. Waiting. Enough of this, we take the cart and park it outside the auto center waiting room and sit.

Finally I look and they are now taking the old tire off the rim. Progress! It is finally done, but not before we have gotten way more than we intended. Now granted, except for the Twizzlers and the Sno-Cone syrup, it was all stuff we needed.

Another lady was waiting with her grandson. She said the same thing. They had gone back into the store since they had to wait so long, and each time they came back with something else. In their case it was 4 squirt guns and a Pop the Pig Game.

I have determined it is all a big trap. Keep them walking the store and they will buy stuff. The longer we take to do the repairs, the more they buy. Bwhahahaha!

Rant over. On another note- how stinkin' cute is this? Who wouldn't want a crocheted gnome?


You can find the directions for Gnorbert the Gnome on the Red Heart Yarn Site - here:

Gnorbert the Gnome

Have a blessed day!

No comments:

Post a Comment