runlikejoy

Displaced Stay At Home Californian in rural N. Carolina

The Many Faces of Joy

The Many Faces of Joy

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Hobo



So when we moved to Silicon Valley from Davis I swore I would never step foot in a Walmart again.  Mostly because I spent so much time driving to Dixon from Davis to save money and pinch pennies but also because I got so tired of the lack of customer service and the sloppy attitude and the rude employees.  But there are no Walmart's in Silicon Valley - so it wasn't really a problem and I got used to shopping at Target.  It turns out it really doesn't matter which big box store you are giving your money to, they are all big box, Costco, Walmart, Target, pick your destroyer of the Mom-and-Pop store and get crazy with that credit card.

I remember my neighbor Joanna always telling me that in North Carolina the Walmart's were better, cleaner, the employees friendlier and the quality of the items being better.  I now believe her.  For some reason in California the Walmarts look like a bomb went off and then black Friday happened all at the same time.  

Walmart has started a program that allows their shoppers to save additional money while shopping at one of the cheapest places on earth.  You just go to www.walmart.com/savingcatcher and register.  And every time you shop there you enter a code on your receipt and if they can find a price out there in Consumerville that is lower than the one they have at Walmart, they credit you the difference.  And you watch your money grow.  And once it gets to the amount that you want to use or spend, you can print up a gift card or voucher and go into Walmart and buy something.  It is pretty cool.  

One day I was asking a lady who works there who talks to me every time I stop in to get peppermint patties or Ghiradelli Chocolate bars or Coke Zero, what is stopping me from entering every receipt I find in the parking lot or the abandoned shopping carts.  She said that she isn't supposed to say anything but she guessed that nothing was stopping me.  I looked down and there was a receipt for $150 laying by my foot.  So I picked it up and entered it that afternoon.  I got $2.75 back from that receipt.  

Flash forward to today - the family stops at Walmart to get rat bedding and return some useless crap and I find 5 receipts just laying around.  The last one I had to ask Gabe to slam on his breaks so I could jump out of the car and salvage a stray receipt flying through the parking lot but if other people refuse to save their receipts to enter them to get free money back, why shouldn't I?  And while I was chasing down the stray receipt my child groaned to my husband in the car, "My mother is a hobo!".  And we all had a good laugh, actually they all laughed at me.  She has made me promise to not chase stray receipts while she is with me.  I told her I will try my best but I'm not promising anything.


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