Come on in, the store's on fire

I have made a command decision: I am no longer shopping at Walmart. Yes, money is tight and they do have pretty good deals on groceries. I have shopped there for several years, but it's just not worth it anymore. Here is why I am an ex-Walmart shopper.

I took my kids shopping this morning, as I try to do on Sunday mornings. It's good for them to get out of the house and it makes to day go by faster, since DH is at work all day and we tend to get stir crazy. We piled into the van and talked about the rules as we found a nice space close to the door. It was unusually un-busy for a Sunday morning in the few weeks before Christmas, but I try not to gripe too much about these types of blessings. I promised the kids that we could take a stroll through the toy aisle and they could point out some things they might like to see under the tree. We spent a few minutes doing that, then headed down to the grocery side for the weekly essentials. As I approached the dairy section in the back of the store, I was met by two employees who told me the store was being evacuated and I needed to exit using the other side of the building. When I asked what was wrong, they said they "thought" there was a fire and people were being evacuated as a precaution. Makes sense: things burning, people getting out. We quickly made our way to the front, and as I moved, the distinct smell of smoke became evident. We moved quicker toward the exit. As I reached the front doors, there were still plenty of people shopping, checking out and entering the store. I could see police cars and fire trucks in the parking lot.

This is the part that really gets me. I told the greeter at the entrance that the store was being evacuated. She told me not to worry and that the store was not being evacuated. I insisted that I was told I had to leave the store because there may be a fire. She was sure that there was no fire and continued to allow people into the store. OK, so the fire may have been small and confined to a small area. Maybe it was really some burning dust on a heater that hadn't been used in a while. But we are talking about a FIRE, people! What I know about fire is that it moves fast (raise your hand if you thing that Walmart doesn't have a piles of boxes in their receiving area) and it can kill people. If you thought it was serious enough to summon eight ladder trucks from the Gilbert Fire Department and a squadron of cops to establish a perimeter around the parking lot, then maybe people should get out of the building.

Oh, wait! I forgot, this is Christmas. People were inside spending money. Silly me, why didn't I think of that? Walmart was just trying to salvage what it can from this toilet bowl economy and make a few bucks with the hope that the fire wouldn't be seen by anyone but the fire marshal and they could go on spreading Christmas cheer. That's why they were only keeping people out of the dairy section and away from the groceries. Hanging out in the toy aisles, they're totally cool with that.

Rise up friends! No more Walmart!