Wally World Woes

Yesterday I had some photos printed at Wally World. I really needed them pronto, so I ordered the one hour service, which I normally would never do. I was having my oil changed in my van and asked them to change a light bulb that was burned out. Meanwhile I went up to the Subway and had lunch. While I was sitting there, two women came up by the table where I was seated, and asked me if they could bring their shopping carts into the Subway. (Do I look like Mr. Subway?) I told them that I really did not know how they felt about it, however I pointed out that there was not that much room in this small store and that most people generally park their shopping carts right outside the door. One woman said to the other that she did not like that idea. I was finishing up and ready to leave but I offered to sit there for a couple of minutes while they placed their order and watch their carts. The woman, very hatefully, said, "Oh, I just bet you would!" I told her that I was truly sorry for trying to show her an act of kindness, and reminded her that she was the one who initiated the conversation with me. Man, I'd hate to be such a miserable and untrusting person.

Upon leaving the Subway, I went back to get my pictures. It had been about 55 minutes and I thought they could be ready. The woman behind the counter spoke to me like I was insane for asking. I told her that it was no problem, that I'd come back in a bit. So I wandered back to see if the van was finished. I peaked into the bay area and it was empty, so I rang for the cashier and told her I wanted to pick up my van. "What van?" she asked. I pointed at it out in the lot. She asked my name, and checked her computer and said, "Oh, we are swamped right now, it will be awhile." I said, "Ma'am, there is not a single car out there in the bay area and all your employees are standing outside smoking. Is this what you call busy?" She said, "I guess we forgot we had another car to do. Give us 20 minutes." So, I wandered back to the photo processing. They were still working on my order. It's now been about 75 minutes for the "one hour" service.

I decided to walk around the store for a bit, then I found a book that looked interesting and took it back to the photo processing area and I could see they were still working on my order, so I sat down on a bench and began reading the book. After about 10 minutes I overheard the woman working on my order say to another employee, "Would you help me get this order done, this jerks breathing down my neck trying to rush me." I started to let it slide, but I'd just about had enough on this day, so I walked up to the counter and said, "Lady, this jerk is paying for one hour service and you have now been well over an hour and a half and I am still waiting while the 3 of you are laughing and carrying on as if there is not a care in the world." With that, two other employees began helping her and about 15 minutes later she calls out my name and tells me my order is finished. I asked her if there was a discount since my one hour service had taken almost 2 hours. Of course, there was not.

I took my pictures and my book and went back to the auto department to pickup my van and pay for everything. I actually thought it seemed a little high, but I was in a huge hurry because I was supposed to be meeting someone across town in 10 minutes, so I just swiped my card and left. After my meeting, I pulled my receipt and sure enough, they had charged me for 180 prints when I had ordered 120. So I headed back to Wally World. On the way there, I turned on my right turn signal, and it was not working. This was the bulb they were supposed to change. I looked at the receipt and it showed a $1 charge for installing a new bulb, but no charge for the bulb. I scanned the receipt further and at the bottom of the page was a note saying that they did not carry the particular bulb I needed. But they charged me $1 to change it. Hmmm?

When I arrived at Wally World, I went to the service desk and told them I had been over charged. I showed the receipt where I placed my order for photos. It read, "60 wallets (2)" meaning that each sheet had 2 wallets. The woman said, "Sir, here's the problem, and explained to me how 60 times 2 was 180. I said, "No, that would be 120." She looked at me as if were the dumbest man on the face of the earth and said, "You don't understand. There are 2 photos per sheet, so you got 180." I half wanted to laugh, and I asked her how she arrived at 180. She was getting angry and called another lady over to help her explain to me the situation. The other woman looked at it and explained exactly the same thing to me. I stood there dumb founded for a minute and I said, "Can either of you tell me what 6 plus 6 equals?" The both answered "12", and one of them said, "what does that have to do with anything?" I said add a zero to that. The first woman called yet another woman over and said, "Can you help this guy? We cannot make him understand." So I went through the whole thing with this third woman and believe it or not, she too came up with 180.

OK, I am really getting frustrated now and the first woman sensing this said that I should go back to the photo processing center and see if they could explain it better to me. So I took my receipts and headed back to the photo area, and who do I find there? Of course, the woman who called me a jerk. I began explaining the whole thing to her and she looks over the receipts and... tada... she says, "Sir, you ordered 60, but each sheet has 2 photos on it. That's where you get the 180." OK, I am livid now but I tried my best to keep calm. Once again I asked how much was 6 times 2. It did not work, and now this woman is getting very loud with me. About that time a young man, looked to be high school or early college age walked up and asked me to say what I said again. I did, he looked at the receipt and said, "We over-charged you by 60 photos." I raised my arms above my head and shouted out (literally) "there is a brain to be found in Wal Mart!" He cracked a big smile and told me to go up to the service department and they'd fix it. I laughed and told him that I had already danced that number, so he agreed to walk up to the service desk with me and explain it to them.

You really don't believe that he had any more success than I did, do you? It took him several minutes of explaining, and they never did get it, but agreed to give me the refund. One of the women said in a very hateful tone, "I don't see what all the fuss is about anyway. It is 29 cents!" I told her that it was 29 cents times 60 and she said, "So we are talking a buck, buck and a half?" I said "Lady, why don't you just punch the numbers into the machine there and let it do the thinking for you." She did and said, "Oh, it's $17.40." I added, "plus tax." Then I showed her the $1 and she said, "I can't believe you are going to make a fuss over $1." I said, "Plus tax. And lady, it is MY dollar, and you can do what you want with your money, but I refuse to be cheated out of any more of MY money!" I told her that they had over-charged me by almost $20 and I wanted it back. She said, "Oh, I did not realize it was that much money when you added it all up." I'd like to say that I was good and that I behaved myself. I'd like to... but I can't. I said, "What more can I expect from someone who cannot multiply 2 times 60 and get a correct answer?"

I'm a BAAADDD boy.