Category: Rants & Observations

Walmart Sucks

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I’m so fed up with Walmart. They open at 6 am but the return desk isn’t open until 7 am. God only knows when the fitting rooms open because no one could tell me at 7:40 am on 6/1 and the employee I spoke with didn’t bother to try and find out. She claimed she was from another store and just shrugged and walked away. So I left my pile of clothes there so they can put it all back for wasting my time.

Meanwhile there’s an employee in the way in every other aisle either stocking shelves or picking orders, blocking you from getting what you need. Then you have to scan your own purchases but show your receipt at the door to prove you’re not a criminal.

These stores wonder why they’re losing business to online shopping? Maybe it’s because the customer experience is total shit.

Here’s what I submitted to their customer feedback on their website. Yes, I was angry.

I was at your store at 7:40 am and could not get into the locked fitting rooms. I found an employee and this person basically already told me what I figured out (that they were “closed”), but couldn’t be bothered to find out when they would be open. They claimed to be from a different store. Why, if your store is open at 6 am are your fitting rooms not also open? It’s aggravating enough that there were SO MANY EMPLOYEES in the store in every other aisle either stocking shelves or picking orders for pickup, but you can’t spare ONE PERSON for the fitting rooms? Do you even want people to shop in your store anymore? Because each experience is making me less and less inclined to come back. Due to all the aforementioned employees in the aisles, I can’t even access the items I’ve come to shop for because they are blocking them. And they do not care. They will literally cut in front of me and not say excuse me. This is the kind of training you think is acceptable?

Walmart’s response:

Thank you so much for reaching out with your feedback regarding your recent experience at our Walmart store. My name is Danielle, and it’s my pleasure to assist you with this matter.

We understand the importance of having accessible fitting rooms and a smooth shopping experience, and acknowledge your concerns regarding the locked fitting rooms and the difficulty in obtaining information about when they would be open. We are aware that our store opens at 6 am, and fitting rooms should be available to our customers during store hours.

Additionally, we appreciate the heads-up on this matter, because we know how important it is to have employees who are both courteous and considerate of customers’ needs. We’ve sent your comments to the proper team at our local Bloomingdale Supercenter, who will review and address your feedback as needed.

You may receive a brief survey in your email regarding my service to you, for my management to see how my assistance was. I will sincerely appreciate any comments and be grateful for your time.

Who knows if management actually did anything because I never heard another word from them, so I’m taking my money elsewhere. There are a few items I will likely still buy at Walmart (their leggings and feminine pads come to mind), but other than that I won’t be shopping there anymore.

Update – As of April 2025 I can say we’ve gone to Walmart only twice since last June and kept our purchase to the bare minimum. I’m sick of these corporations treating customers like garbage and expecting them to continue to keep them in business.

Frustrated With Companies

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Today was supposed to be Wookie’s internal specialist vet visit (to address her kidney disease), that was scheduled over a month ago, and which Joe took a half day off work to attend. I woke up at 7 am to a text that was sent at 4:30 am saying the specialist wouldn’t be in the office and we’d need to reschedule.

I called the facility to confirm the text was legit, since the phone number it came from wasn’t the vet office, and the woman who answered told me oh no it was just some error the ultrasound tech made. It wasn’t until I read her the text that she put me on hold only to come back and confirm that yes, the doctor wouldn’t be in and I’d have to wait to hear from the department that can reschedule the appointment. Why do people talk out of their ass? What if I just took her word and went there, wasting both time, and money on gas, only to learn it really was cancelled? I swear, people don’t think before they speak!

So anyway, I asked her if I’m going to get a discount for the inconvenience. After all, I pointed out, if I were to cancel with less than 48 hours notice they would keep my $100 deposit. She assured me my deposit would be fine and applied to the rescheduled visit. I explained that wasn’t what I asked her. Seriously, I have very little patience for people who don’t actually listen! She said someone would have to call me back about that. She also tried to say something about just getting there and not handling that stuff. I told her I know she isn’t personally responsible, but she’s the one I’m asking to find out. Ugh!!! I thought this was implied. This happens too often where people who represent a company act like you’re personally accusing them of something. It’s so irritating! Is this what people mean when they accuse people of being snowflakes? This woman couldn’t handle being screamed at like I did when I worked customer service for the cable company. And to be clear, while it’s true I wasn’t happy with getting a last minute cancellation, I was certainly not screaming at her or being rude. Get over yourself, and do your job.

Anyway, to make the most of a crappy situation, we went to Chick-fil-a for breakfast since there was a free breakfast sandwich in our accounts for the Blackhawks winning or something. Then later on we ran some errands. I donated books to the library, including one called The Queen Gene by Jennifer Coburn I had won through Goodreads, which the author had signed inside. I feel kinda bad getting rid of it, but I can’t read physical books anymore with my eyes. It’s just easier to read on a device, plus it makes room in the house not holding onto stuff I’m not actively using.

After the library we went to the police station to recycle all the “drugs” I wanted to discard. I had a ton of stuff, some Rx, but mostly supplements, from when I was sick in 2019 and was trying anything and everything to get better. Everything had since expired, and most of it was useless anyway, but it was sad to think how much money was spent on all that stuff only to throw it away. I am grateful I don’t need any of it, though. For the most part I’m completely healthy again. There’s a drop-box for the drugs, but they have to give you a key to open it. The guy looked at the huge gallon bag I had (along with a quart-sized one) and said the larger one might not fit, but he had smaller bags if I needed them.

Luckily it did fit, and they took everything, even though there was a sticker saying they don’t take supplements (I asked him about it and he said it was fine as long as they weren’t in the bottle).

After that we stopped at the Sports Hub to recycle some batteries. Then we went to a place called Repeat Boutique to donate some items (finally got rid of a loud, but still working, Dirt Devil stick vacuum, plus a glass shelf we bought like two decades ago, amongst other things), and some clothing.

We decided to look for some cookware at TJ Maxx / Home Goods, but left empty-handed. We stopped at Bath & Body Works so I could cash in my free birthday item but ended up leaving when I realized to get a free $10 item you have to buy something else and sale items don’t qualify. So instead of a free $17 item like before, you get less and have to buy something full priced? No thank you. After I spend the gift card my friend gave me I think I really am done with BBW. All these stores are getting to be too much.

Speaking of, last year I placed an order with Macy’s for a deep skillet and a syrup dispenser. The latter arrived broken. With the weather I haven’t been able to get to the store to either exchange it, or get credit, since the closet store is still a decent ride. Today I thought maybe I could just ship it back, but if I start a return on the website, it says since I am not a Star Rewards Member, I would have to pay a $10 return shipping fee. I paid less than that for the item! I don’t see anything about there being an exception when they send a damaged item even though it makes sense there would be, but I cannot confirm that since it’s AI only if you try to chat with them. Even if you call them (and I had to Google for the number since they don’t put it on the website) it won’t let you speak to a human. What horrible customer service! I won’t be buying from Macy’s again.

4th of July Weekend

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We didn’t really celebrate the holiday. I didn’t even decorate for it. Not feeling great about this country at all.

Roe v Wade was overturned and now dead women have more rights than alive ones. It’s sad and disgusting. No one should be able to tell another person what to do with their own body. Women are going to die, babies & children are going to suffer, and crime is going to increase (in 18-20 years when all the unwanted children grow up). It doesn’t just end there, either. This is just the first step toward controlling the population. This country is seriously regressing.

Last night there was a mass shooting at a parade in one of the suburbs north of us. Six people died and many more were injured. The shooter was at large for hours so other towns cancelled their celebrations and stupid idiots online were making ignorant comments like “so I guess we just crawl into a hole forever then?” I guess watching some firesticks go boom is more important than other people possibly dying. Give me a break.

And don’t get me started on how fed up I am with fireworks in general. They are illegal here, but that hasn’t stopped neighbors from setting them off every night for the past two weeks. My favorite is when they wait until 2 am when everyone is trying to sleep. Between that and the storms last night Wookie was an anxious mess. I really wish we’d do away with the whole fireworks tradition. They do more harm than good considering how many pets and people with PTSD are negatively impacted by them, and they’re terrible for the environment. We need to do better.

I don’t know what else to say without going on a long(er) tirade, so instead I’ll just focus on the superficial day to day happenings since it’s the only thing keeping me sane right now.

Saturday (07/02) I got my hair cut. I usually go to Great Clips and see Zoe but when I called a few weeks ago I found out she no longer works there. What a bummer; I really liked her! In addition, they aren’t requiring/wearing masks anymore and I really don’t want someone right in my face mask-less. Luckily my friend’s cousin does hair in her basement and only lives twenty minutes away, so I got my hair cut by her. Now my hair is right at shoulder length and feels so much better. The cut was $35 plus tip since I didn’t do the shampoo or blow dry. I checked my tracking app and it had been exactly a year and 2 days since my last cut. I should probably get it cut more often because even though there’s not a lot split ends or damage, I get soooo annoyed with it once it’s more than three inches past my shoulders. I hate the feeling of it grazing my arms in the summer too.

On the way home from my haircut, we spotted a park we’ve never noticed before, so we stopped to check it out. It has two bogs, a pond, and tons of wildflowers.

It was too hot to do more than a cursory walk around, but we decided we’d be back soon with my camera in tow.

Saturday evening we were walking Wookie when I tripped over something and felt a pain on the lower half of my right leg. Apparently I got a nasty scratch from a rusty piece of wire. I grabbed the offending item and immediately went home to call our 24 hour nurse line to see what I should do. She walked me through cleaning it (I didn’t realize you’re supposed to run cool water over it for five minutes). After many questions, she determined it would be best if I went to Immediate/Urgent Care to have it checked out since even though the skin hadn’t been broken, the scratch was longer than the length of my palm.

Luckily this happened around 6:15 and UC is open until 7:30 daily. When we got there around 7 pm I was told there was an hour and a half wait. It ended up being closer to an hour ultimately, but I did need to get a tetanus shot just in case (since we weren’t absolutely sure how long it had been since my last one) and my arm has been pretty sore since Sunday (and it was swollen yesterday but that has since gone away). The funny part was after I was given the shot the tech/nurse guy told me I was so brave, lol! I don’t think he was being condescending either.

So that was a fun ending to our Saturday. Luckily we got back before sunset so we could sit out on the patio like we originally planned.

Sunday (07/03) we went back to the newly discovered park and had fun walking around for an hour taking photos. There were a lot of birds, butterflies, insects, and rabbits. We also saw a couple of American bullfrogs.

Did you know there’s snails in Illinois? I didn’t, but we spotted a few. This is an amebersnail.

I really enjoyed our visit and since it’s less than ten minutes from home I am sure we’ll end up there often, particularly because our favorite park is really busy lately with softball games. It will serve as a backup when the other parks are too crowded, although I love it so much I’d happily visit it daily.

The aforementioned park was not busy on Monday (07/04) at 7 am when we paid a visit. What a great one it was, too! We saw so much wildlife, including animals we’ve never seen there before like a raccoon. We also spotted this creature.

At first I thought it might be a river otter or small beaver, but once I zoomed in and saw its claws, I was able to determine it was a muskrat. The photo quality is horrible because it was small and far away. My zoom lens was no match.

We also saw a deceased American mink which was sad. I hope to see a live one someday.

I got a really good photo of a Great Egret.

These birds are plentiful in the area but are usually beyond the reach of my camera lens.

We spent the rest of the day indoors since it was so hot & humid outside. We had hot dogs for lunch and cheeseburgers for dinner but I still maintain it was not in celebration of this country – we just like to eat.

Blue Shield CA Sucks

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Of all the health insurance companies we’ve had in the past several years, Blue Shield of California has already made it to the top of my shit list.

I don’t know if it’s because Joe’s company is based in California, therefore making choices in Illinois limited, but I’ve spent HOURS trying to find a facility that is NOT a hospital that will cover an ultrasound he needs for a lump under his left arm and they just do not exist in their shitty network. Their list is so outdated, it would be laughable if it wasn’t so incredibly infuriating. Not a single free-standing facility on their list is viable. If they aren’t closed, have a disconnected number, or are an actual residence (how did that even happen?), they don’t actually do ultrasounds. It’s nothing short of absolutely ridiculous how much time I’ve spent trying to find a place with no success.

I guess we have to go through the hospital and hope it won’t cost a fortune. What other choice is there? I wouldn’t be surprised if they neglect their other facility list on purpose to force you to deal with the hospital because it probably makes everyone more money that way (except us, of course, who will have to pay a higher price).

To make matters worse, they straight up told me they can’t provide a price quote for any services. Why not? Aetna and Cigna had no problems doing it, and they were extremely accurate too! WTF, Blue Cross? You suck, and I hope we never have to deal with you via another employer ever again.

Gotta love living in a capitalist society where it costs tons of money just to live while companies keep raising prices to make an even bigger profit while simultaneously gaslighting everyone into thinking the president is to blame for “inflation”. Meanwhile companies give little to no cost of living raises and people wonder why the economy suffers? I call bullshit on this entire system. It only benefits the ultra rich. No wonder people retire to other countries. I’ve about had it with this one, that’s for sure.

Happy March

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Thank goodness it’s March! I cannot wait until the time changes and sunset is after 7 pm again. I lose all my energy once the sun goes down.

I’m also looking forward to warmer weather and being able to walk outside again. I’m sure Wookie can’t wait either. Just thinking of having the windows open at some point makes my heart sing. It cannot get here fast enough. F winter!