I would like to preface this story with the fact that I really hate Walmart. I only shop there if I am absolutely desperate, or too lazy to drive out of my way. Because I usually prefer driving out of the way just to avoid walmart...seriously.
Yesterday we were out looking for a bike for my youngest, and we found one at walmart. There was one on the floor and an identical one on the very top of the bike rack (i.e. too high to get without those lovely assistants helping us) The one on the floor was marked down 10%. I assumed that is was because it was on the floor and our walmart is kinda, well, trashy... a lot of parents let their kids get on the bikes and try them out. I figured that was why the tires were kinda dirty and it had a couple of little scratches. Rather than wait for help getting the other one down (help in walmart is usually about a 20 minute wait)we took the floor model. We got it home, presented it to the intended, and the brakes didn't work. We tried to tighten them, but the were as tight as they could go. Rather than chance breaking it, we brought it back to the store.
Since the one bike that was on the top rack was gone, the lady in toys said that the bike assembler would be there on Monday to call in with the bike information and ask for him to assemble it. She told us that the bike was actually marked down because it had left the store and had been brought back for some reason. ( for future reference if the bike has a hand written tag on it and is marked down, it was returned and you should not chance it )
I called Monday, talked to the toy manager, and explained that I had brought the bike back cause the brakes didn't work, told how the nice associate told me to call and have the regular bike guy assemble one for me. The manage snickered and said all I had to do was bring the bike in and they could fix the brakes. I told her that I had already gotten my money back for that one. She took the information and put me on hold. The following is the conversation I had when the regular bike assembler came on the line:
"bike guy" : Hello
me: Hello
pause....(I thought someone accidentally picked up the wrong line since he never said who he was)
"bike guy" (clearly perturbed) HELLO
me: Hi!
"bike guy": Can I help you?
me: I'm waiting for the manager she checking on a bike for me.
"bike guy": Yes I know, I'm the bike guy.
me: Oh, (smile on my face) you're the one that does the bikes! Did you have the bike in stock?
"bike guy": (very snotty) Yeah, but I'm not making a bike until you come up here and pay for it.
me: (still very nice) Oh I understand, so if I come up there and pay for it you can assemble it for me?
"bike guy": Yeah, but I'm backed up, the bike rack is empty so I don't know when I could get to it. I need to fill the rack.
me: So I come up there and pay for it and it you could put it together, but it could take a day or two?
"bike guy" Yeah, pretty much.
me: OK thank you.
Seriously, are you allowed to talk to customers like that if you are in sales? Really, he's more concerned with making bikes for the racks as apposed to making a bike for someone who has already paid for the bike? I called the store manager and he said he would check into it and call me back. 3 hours later he calls...I am so pissed. Should I call the higher-ups or let it go? Am I just more wounded because I already hate the store?
By the way, I drove to the walmart 30 minutes down the road and bought it there...it was $5 more expensive, not including the gas I spent, but I don't care...I hope I never have cause to set foot in our store again.
I am beat...I just worked a double at work...this means I go in at 11:30 and work till they deem it slow enough for me to go home. Today that was around 7:30. The thing is I don't get to sit down (unless you count when I go to the bathroom). I eat while I trying to wait on others and get my side work done. It doesn't seem long, only 8 hours on my feet, but one day I wore a pedometer just to see how much walking I do at work. I think I actually worked 10 straight hours that day and I walked 11 miles.
Seriously, between that and me actually riding my bike to work, how is it I cannot loose weight????
I think my metabolism is broke.
I finally found a book I could finish! Vanish is the debut novel by Tom Pawlik. This book was different than most Christian novels out there. I couldn't put it down!
Three different people witness a strange storm coming to Chicago, then wake up the next morning to find themselves alone. Conner had his daughter for the weekend, Mitch was going to propose to his girlfriend, and Helen had just celebrated her birthday with her son. However, the next morning, they realize the city is empty. They find each other searching for answers and decide to stay together to look for other survivors. As they do, they realize they are being watched from the shadows and the creatures watching aren't quite human. Was there some kind of invasion?
Conner, Helen and Mitch decide to try to get to Washington to see if it was some kind of biological attack. As they travel they meet a few people, and the "others from the shadows" become bolder and start attacking them. These creatures seem indestructible, and after the survivors, but why? What makes it worse, Conner and Mitch are plagued by disturbing hallucinations that these faceless creatures are subjecting them to. What has happened and where did everyone go?
This book is a great psychological thriller that really kept me intrigued. When I thought I had it figured out, there would be another factor thrown in. I really enjoyed this book. Mr. Pawlik did an excellent job. I was afraid he would give the book a fairy-tale, Hollywood, christian feel good ending, but he didn't. While I'm all for happy endings, sometimes they take away from the story and make it feel contrite.
This was a great read and I was happy to finally find a book that I couldn't put down!
I give it 5 out of 5!
Dear Douche Bag,When I saw you two people in front of me at Walmart today, I had a sneaking suspicion that your cart had more than 10 items in it, and we were in the 10 items or less line.You see, it wouldn't be that big of a deal, but we were in Walmart, and no matter when you shop there or how much you're buying, it always takes at least 20 minutes to get checked out. I'm assuming that since you were(by appearances) about 50 years old, and assuming you aren't a complete moron who can't count or read for that manner, you should consider yourself lucky that I didn't use my mace. It would have been great to see you writhing on the floor, in tears, gasping for breath. I do not think this would be consider cruel or unusual punishment, however, I'm sure that would have only hindered my subsequent purchase and departure because they would have had to delete all 25 @^%&ing items that you had in the 10 ITEMS OR LESS aisle.Next time you shop, please take time to read the notes that tell you how many item you should have in each aisle. If you have problems counting, bring a calculator or I may not be as gracious.
I will mace you next time.
Promise.
Woo hoo another storm blew through. I managed one picture of lightning, its a little blurry round the edges though. I tried darkening the edges so it wouldn't be too distracting. **sigh** Maybe someday I'll master it!
Today was a nice day, I really wanted to get some cleaning done, but the kids wanted to go to the beach. Guess who won out!?!?
You know, in my mind I am still 20, attractive, desirable and cute. Unfortunately I look into the mirror and I am none of these things. I had a nice day in the sun, but I am depressed with this old, fat body and I want to change.
I am having a hard time finding a good book to read. I have started a couple, but none of them are grabbing me and making me want to read. Most frustrating...
My Name is Russel Fink , by Michael Snyder. This is about Russel Fink, a copier salesman who hates his job and longs to be an artist. His family is dysfunctional, a mother who drinks all the time, a father who is out of a stint in jail for conning people into thinking he could heal them for a price, and a brother who is writing down everything thing Russel does for a book, to entertain the masses. Russel's fiancee leaves much to be desired also.
I've gotten far enough into the book to learn about the characters and learn that Michael's writing is very funny, but I'm just not really interested enough to see where it's going.
By Reason of Insanity by Randy Singer is a legal thriller compared to a Grisham novel. It starts out in court with a case of murder. The client, Annie is accused of killing her husband, no argument there, she did. However, she killed him after she found out he was visiting her daughter, his step, at night in her bed. She did make him get on his knees and beg for his life, only to shoot him execution style, but her lawyer and brother, Quinn, is determined to be there for her when he felt he could never really be there for her when they were young and their father visited her at night.
I am only a few chapters into this book, so I will try to stick with it...I don't know why I really can't get into it, I have been a fan of Grisham and books of the like, but maybe I am just overloaded with the same old same old. We will see....
I can't believe, with all of the millions and millions of books out there, that I am finding it hard to find one that I just cannot wait to read and don't want to put down.
AARRGGG!!!!
I just finished listening to School Days by Robert Parker. This is one of the books in his Spencer series. (Anyone remember Spencer For Hire???)
In this book, Spencer is hired by Lily Ellsworth to prove her grandson, Jared Clark, is innocent in the recent school shooting in Dowling, Mass. The police cornered the shooters in the school library and they talked one of them into surrendering. The one that came out was Wade. The other shooter disappeared. Wade told the cops that Jared was the other one.
On top of that Jared confessed, but his grandmother believes he's innocent.
Spencer talks to the parents and finds out that they don't want anyone looking into it and rehashing it. They just want it to all to go away. He talks to the principal of the school and the officer who was in charge when the shootings started. He is met with the same reaction. He soon finds out that he is the only one who wants to find what happened and why.
I have read some of Mr Parker's books before, although I'm not sure if they were from the Spencer series. I do know I've always enjoyed the sarcastic wit that his characters have, but this book just felt pretentious. Seriously, I felt that 3/4ths of the book was Spencer talking to people trying to find out what happened and no one really telling him anything. I think he could have cut the middle of the book out and nothing impertinent to the story would have been lost. If I had been reading this, I would have never made it through. I bore easily and if a book doesn't grab me by the first chapter, it's not gonna happen. As it was, I was listening to it while I ride my bike to work and
the famous Joe Mantegna was reading it, so I stuck with it. He was the only saving grace to this book!
I give this book a 1 out of 5.
I just finished reading The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult. I saw that they were going to show it on Lifetime and I love to read books before they become movies. I must say, I wish I had just skipped this one.
The Tenth Circle is about the Stone family.
Laura, the mother is a college professor who teaches a popular course on Dante's Inferno, Daniel, is a stay at home dad, who is a comic book artist, and Trixie, their 14 year old.
Trixie is in love with Jason the star hockey player and when they break-up she is totally devastated. She is convinced they are meant to be together and she will do anything to get him back. Zepher, Trixie's best friend, plans to help her out by having a party at her house and helping show Jason what he is missing. After most of the kids went home Jason, his best friend Moss, Zepher and Trixie started playing strip poker. This ends badly when Moss takes a picture on his phone of Trixie with her top off. Jason tries to make sure Trixie's ok and as he is consoling her, one thing leads to another and they end up on the living room floor. Trixie calls it rape, but when Jason is arrested, he's totally baffled. To him it was consensual.
This is the catalyst for the story, but I am sorry to say that from here the story goes all over the place. This is the 3rd book that I have read by Jodi Picoult and I am glad it wasn't the 1st, cause I probably wouldn't have read any others. This one had soooo much going on. There was rape, drugs, adultery, run-aways, murder, cutting, and more. As the book started the characters were real and you cared for them, but as it went on, and she(Jodi) added more and more, it got to the point where it killed how I felt about them.
I highly recommend Nineteen Minutes (5 out of 5) or My Sister's Keeper (4 out of 5) however I would say to pass on this one. By the way, I never saw the movie on Lifetime, by the time I finished the book, they were done showing it. I'm not even sure if I care enough to watch it, though.
I give this a 2 out of 5.
