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.... at my local Wal-Mart last week.
I took my daughter (13) with me to Wal-Mart to pick up some stuff for the house like salt for the water softener and cat litter. She’s been on me about getting a giant stuffed bear for Valentine’s Day. She wanted one from Vermont Teddy Bear that cost like $140 and I wasn’t going for it. Plus, with the condition of her room, her desk, and her homework area, it looks like multiple bombs exploded in my house. So I told her, no bear until this stuff gets fixed.
Wal-mart had a giant stuffed panda for $50. And she LOVED it. So I made the deal with her that I would hold the panda hostage until the above stuff was taken care of, and she agreed.
We got in line with the giant stuffed panda in our cart and the guy ahead of us had an issue with his purchase, which necessitated them calling a manager over to assist.
While we were waiting, a woman with her teenage daughter comes up to me, points to the panda in my cart and says, “I came back here to buy that panda.”
I told her that there were more giant stuffed pandas in the same aisle with the other giant stuffed animals for V-Day and turned back to my daughter. Woman leaves.
Less than 5 minutes later, she came back to us and said, “I don’t want that panda. That panda has a dirty bottom. I want THIS panda.”
I told her she could not have this panda. She and her daughter got right behind us in line and kept making loud passive-aggressive comments about how the selfish people are ruining Valentine’s Day because we are buying THEIR PANDA, “That’s all right Mom. I didn't REALLY want the panda” and so forth and so on. They kept edging closer to me in line, like they were trying to physically intimidate me into giving them the stupid panda.
Having a firm policy of Not Engaging the Crazy, particularly at Wal-Mart, I ignored them. We finally got to the front of the line and paid for the panda, and the woman and her daughter appeared to have given up and left.
Ha. Foolish Me.
As we exited the store, the woman and her daughter drove right in front of us as we were approaching the crosswalk, almost hitting the shopping cart. They followed us to where my car was parked, and parked two spaces away. I told my daughter to get into the car, bring the panda with her and lock the doors. I sprinted around the other side, unlocked, hurled the other stuff into the backseat , jumped in, and re-locked the car. I then pulled out of the parking space, where the woman and her daughter decided to FOLLOW US in their car.
I drove right to the local police station. Then they left. But I have a very distinctive looking car so I’m nervous about going back to that Wal-Mart again.
I can’t believe people are this nuts about a freaking stuffed panda from Wal-Mart. What, there are no other Wal-Marts in the area with giant stuffed pandas? She couldn’t use Site-to-Store from the internet and have them hold a panda for her to pick up? And what was with the Panda intimidation tactics?
I often wonder if these things just happen to me, but then I remember that this site is here so that we can relate the stories of the retail crazies.
I took my daughter (13) with me to Wal-Mart to pick up some stuff for the house like salt for the water softener and cat litter. She’s been on me about getting a giant stuffed bear for Valentine’s Day. She wanted one from Vermont Teddy Bear that cost like $140 and I wasn’t going for it. Plus, with the condition of her room, her desk, and her homework area, it looks like multiple bombs exploded in my house. So I told her, no bear until this stuff gets fixed.
Wal-mart had a giant stuffed panda for $50. And she LOVED it. So I made the deal with her that I would hold the panda hostage until the above stuff was taken care of, and she agreed.
We got in line with the giant stuffed panda in our cart and the guy ahead of us had an issue with his purchase, which necessitated them calling a manager over to assist.
While we were waiting, a woman with her teenage daughter comes up to me, points to the panda in my cart and says, “I came back here to buy that panda.”
I told her that there were more giant stuffed pandas in the same aisle with the other giant stuffed animals for V-Day and turned back to my daughter. Woman leaves.
Less than 5 minutes later, she came back to us and said, “I don’t want that panda. That panda has a dirty bottom. I want THIS panda.”
I told her she could not have this panda. She and her daughter got right behind us in line and kept making loud passive-aggressive comments about how the selfish people are ruining Valentine’s Day because we are buying THEIR PANDA, “That’s all right Mom. I didn't REALLY want the panda” and so forth and so on. They kept edging closer to me in line, like they were trying to physically intimidate me into giving them the stupid panda.
Having a firm policy of Not Engaging the Crazy, particularly at Wal-Mart, I ignored them. We finally got to the front of the line and paid for the panda, and the woman and her daughter appeared to have given up and left.
Ha. Foolish Me.
As we exited the store, the woman and her daughter drove right in front of us as we were approaching the crosswalk, almost hitting the shopping cart. They followed us to where my car was parked, and parked two spaces away. I told my daughter to get into the car, bring the panda with her and lock the doors. I sprinted around the other side, unlocked, hurled the other stuff into the backseat , jumped in, and re-locked the car. I then pulled out of the parking space, where the woman and her daughter decided to FOLLOW US in their car.
I drove right to the local police station. Then they left. But I have a very distinctive looking car so I’m nervous about going back to that Wal-Mart again.
I can’t believe people are this nuts about a freaking stuffed panda from Wal-Mart. What, there are no other Wal-Marts in the area with giant stuffed pandas? She couldn’t use Site-to-Store from the internet and have them hold a panda for her to pick up? And what was with the Panda intimidation tactics?
I often wonder if these things just happen to me, but then I remember that this site is here so that we can relate the stories of the retail crazies.
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