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Give me a break! Those Wal-Mart thumpers are driving me batty!
(August 18, 2008) -- What goes thump-a-thump, thump-a-thump while shopping at Wadesboro's Wal-Mart Supercenter?
I'll give you a clue or three. You select one when you first walk through the glass-sliding door. You fill it with retail and/or grocery items. You use it to haul your purchases to load into your vehicle in the parking lot.
Of course, you guessed a shopping cart.
It's an embarrassing endeavor to shop at the Wadesboro store -- especially if you are the unlucky recipient of a cart that endlessly goes thump-a-thump while you are browsing aisle after aisle. You get strange glares from other shoppers -- as if you are making the noise flow from a bodily dysfunction.
To save embarrassment in the aisles, I take time to try out the cart offered by the smiling greeter. If it begins a'thumping when I hit the tile flooring, I turn it around and return it. Sometimes, it takes me three or four tries before I find a smooth-wheeling, silent-running shopping cart that operates to my satisfaction.
Other shoppers do not. You can hear them approaching at least five or six aisles away. Thump-a-thump. Thump-a-thump. Here comes the shopping cart with an attitude problem that is usually guided by a nice-looking, unconcerned lady or a burly dude who likely has a similar attitude as the cart does.
My guess is the carts are madeinchina, which would explain the running-on-a-flat-tire sounding defect. What I don't understand is why the Wadesboro management has not resolved the aggravating problem by either repairing the ones they have on the floor or replacing the defective ones with newer models (even if they are madeinchina). Or, to color-code the defective ones. At least I would have an immediate choice if the thumpers were adorned with a black bandana or stripe, and the quiet ones were adorned with a blue or green ID measure.
I think Wal-Mart headquarters would learn more if they added a third check-off line on the credit card monitor at checkout. We could still check yes or no if the store was clean or the cashier greeted us; and, we could check the yes or no choice if our shopping cart didn't go thump-a-thump throughout the store.
I've scoped out the situation in other marketplaces. As yet, I have not had a thumper in the Monroe or Rockingham Wal-Mart stores. Nor have I experienced thumpers in Wadesboro's Food Lion or IGA, Dollar Tree, Dollar General nor Family Dollar.
So, what's up with the Wadesboro dilemma? I like to Shop Anson, but going to the local Wal-Mart has become a traumatic, fretful outing. I become so ill at ease here, but feel at ease elsewhere.
The local greeters just smile at me when I return a thumper. They know my face. They've heard my controlled tirades. They listen to my complaint, some going so far as suggesting that I contact the store's manager. Just try to connect with him/her via telephone. He/she is in a staff meeting, at a district meeting or has the day off.
You chuckle, but you know what I am saying. You've been there and done that. But, have you tried to resolve the situation?
Perhaps, this webcolumn will turn the tide and we can be thump-a-thump free when we shop in the near future at the Wadesboro Wal-Mart.
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