Walmart adventure!

[Donnyboy]

My wife and I went to a Walmart today. It wasn't crowded at all. Some areas were fully stocked while other areas of the store were totally bare. The only people wearing masks were old people like us. Maybe three or four people. They supposedly are cleaning the carts before putting them back in the line. One side of the store had no one cleaning carts while the other side had one guy for cleaning carts, but he never got off his rear end and wasn't cleaning any carts. The wet wipe containers on both sides of the store were empty and the tops were up on them without any wet wipes. Most of the shoppers were paying no attention to the arrows on the floor showing the direction to shop each isle to insure social distancing. One guy had four kids in tow and he wasn't even slowing down for crossing lanes. His kids kept picking stuff up and he would put it back on the shelf. They supposedly only allow one hundred shoppers in the store at any time. No one was counting heads on either side of the store. Right now, all of the rules are not being enforced and I didn't see anyone who cares. I used a lot of hand cleaner on my hands and face when I got back to our car.

[worth1]

I would have taken a shower five times.

[EdieJ]

Someone from our area reported the same thing from the Walmart here. The only thing we use Walmart for these days is prescriptions and wouldn't do that except they're the only pharmacy that accepts my medical credit card.

[Growing Coastal]

I feel for the employees who have to deal with different people all day long.

[SQWIB]

I feel for the employees who have to deal with different people all day long.

I agree but sometimes the employee is the issue as mentioned in Donnyboy's post

[pepperhead212]

I haven't been to a Walmart store since this mess started. My cousin has mentioned similar issues at her store. The only thing I normally go to Walmart for is bread flour - cheapest place for it here. And I used to go at 2 in the morning, or something like that, to avoid any crowds, especially with those uncontrolled children.

[brownrexx]

I don't go to Wal Mart either but I noticed that the one in the next town always has a full parking lot even in this time of quarantine.

I do my grocery shopping in stores with less people.

[GoDawgs]

We've been doing the bi-weekly grocery run to WalMart on Monday mornings, arriving between 7:00-7:30 AM. This morning we got there at 7:30 and pretty much had the place to ourselves. Lots of worker bees (most all wearing masks) were stocking stuff. There was a full box of disinfectant wipes right there at the carts for DIY cleaning. It looks like they've stopped counting heads of people entering the store although they might put someone out there later when traffic picks up. Since there was hardly anyone there I ignored the directional arrows for aisles. Stupid to go all the way down an aisle you don't need anything on just to get to something you need at the other end of the adjacent aisle.

They had a good array of chicken in stock which has been a problem with other local groceries and the prices haven't increased. Still $1.97/lb on boneless, skinless chicken breasts and $.97/lb on whole birds so I got one of each. Georgia grown poultry, which made me happy. And I managed to snag two boneless half pork loins at $1.97/lb. Those I'll cut into chops and two small roasts as I was almost out. Still looking for a decent Boston butt. It makes me wonder how many small barbecue places will be going out of business this summer due to lack of meat availability and/or pricing issues both at their wholesale level and what the customer will pay for the finished product. Me? I do my own.

[Growing Coastal]

I feel for the employees who have to deal with different people all day long.

I agree but sometimes the employee is the issue as mentioned in Donnyboy's post

True. Then it is the supervisor's issue as well.
I had a shopping episode from the dark side because of an employee. You can believe that I spoke to her manager about it as there was obviously no point saying anything to the worker.

I was thinking more of the tired faces of some of the workers I know at my local grocery store, not specifically those at a walmart. There's Salt's wife, too, who does work at a walmart and it does not sound like fun at all.
Difficult times all round.

[Donnyboy]

I really don't blame the employees. I understand Walmart has been trying to hire thousands of new employees. It's probably very hard to hire people when the government unemployment funds provide more money than folks earn on a job. Most of the employees have a worn out look on their faces. I can't imagine the pressure they are working under. The only employee I would have fired on the spot was the young man sitting on the floor watching the carts being pushed into the store from the parking lot as the customers took them to shop with. It's possible he didn't have any supplies to clean the carts since the wet wipe holders were also empty. I've seen other stores (not walmart) where the employee had a spray bottle and would spray a mist at the shopping carts as they came in. I don't think anything actually hit the carts. I really get disturbed when I see people getting paid to do a job, any job; and not care if they do the job or how well they do the job. Call me old fashioned.

[Donnyboy]

Sam's club seems to have a good meat provider. Their meat counters have a few empty spots occasionally but you can see the meat cutters working in the back to fill the counter. We enjoy their 1" thick pork chops and buy large packages of them at $1.89 per lb. I have two or three different types of grills around the house, but the pork chops are simply seasoned well and go straight to the air fryer. I cook them for about eight minutes on each side and they are always slightly crispy on the outside and super moist on the inside.

[Shule]

One thing about Walmart is you can go to their website instead of their brick-and-mortar store for a lot of stuff (including peanut butter, Gatorade powder, many electronics, soap, toilet paper, taco shells, crackers, potato chips, corn chips, a large portion of the dry goods they offer, etc.) They even accept PayPal. A lot of stuff is in-store only, but yeah, there's still a lot of cool stuff you can get online (and it's not all more expensive or restricted to bulk purchases, even though some of it is).

[MissS]

One thing about Walmart is you can go to their website instead of their brick-and-mortar store for a lot of stuff (including peanut butter, Gatorade powder, many electronics, soap, toilet paper, taco shells, crackers, potato chips, corn chips, a large portion of the dry goods they offer, etc.) They even accept PayPal. A lot of stuff is in-store only, but yeah, there's still a lot of cool stuff you can get online (and it's not all more expensive or restricted to bulk purchases, even though some of it is).

I have been using Walmart online a LOT these days. Many of their items are cheaper than Amazon with the same free shipping. I was in need of a ladder and I didn't have a vehicle that could get one home easily. Home Depot and Menard's wanted $80 to deliver one. I went to Walmart's site and they delivered it for free. I was thrilled.

[worth1]

You can buy almost anything from Walmart on line.