The Sam's Shake-up

Overall, I've really been impressed with the kindness of Georgians. I rarely have trouble switching lanes in traffic; most people I encounter use their polite words; folks are always careful not to offend each other. But everybody can't be perfect. Never was this more clear than the woman I encountered at Sam's today.

As a precursor to my story, can I just give a mini-rant about shopping in the 21st century? I've said it before but I just want to shop anonymously! I don't want another card in my wallet; I don't want to be part of your club; I don't want to give you my phone number, email or social. I mean, whatever happened to going in a store, buying some things, paying for them and leaving? It's impossible!

Back to my real rant: So I walk into Sam's (with Gus, by the way, who is a ticking time bomb like all babies) and the woman who checks my membership card starts asking me if I've heard about some program they have...savings...all kinds of discounts...I'll love it...blah blah blah. I should have just said "no thanks" but I made the mistake of nodding I guess so she then leads me over to this other guy and says I'm interested in this program.

Then the guy explains it in a way that I decide that yes, I do need to upgrade my membership and I follow him over to the customer service desk to do this. But the whole time I'm thinking, "I need to really hurry because Gus is going to wake up and I don't have a lot of time..."

When we get to the desk another employee says to my employee, "Oh, can you ring her up real quick?" about some other customer. He said, "Yes, as soon as I help her" (about me). The customer who needed to be rung up (again, we're at the customer service desk, not a check-out lane) asks me, "Do you mind if I go ahead of you? I'm kind of in a hurry."

I was actually speechless. No, it's not the craziest request ever but what about me made her think I wouldn't be in a hurry too? I mean, she didn't have a two-month old baby with her! And even if I didn't have Gus, she knows nothing about what's going on in my life. I remember when this happened to my friend Claire she fired back: "I guess you think your time is more valuable than mine?" That's totally what I wanted to say but I was really frozen. And since I didn't say anything she said, "Thanks" and got in front of me.

I glared at her. I glared at the guy who HAD been helping me. And then I stormed off. He yelled, "Miss! Miss! Come back!" But I didn't. I just went on with my shopping. If he really wanted me to upgrade my membership that bad then he could have said, "I'm sorry. This lady was here first." And THAT LADY! I have never in my life asked someone if I could go in front of them. And I have been in a big hurry plenty of times. But I figure it's my own fault that I'm in a hurry. I obviously didn't calculate the time correctly. I would never expect the person in front of me to have to wait because of my poor time management.

Then, get this: I'm in the frozen food aisle and the guy comes back there and finds me. Now, I have to admit, that's pretty good customer service, even if it is a little stalkerish. I glared at him some more and rolled my eyes. He said, "That lady was so rude! I'm so sorry. But you could save $2 on these paper towels if you upgrade your membership!" After telling him I felt bullied into that whole upgrading my membership thing anyway, I carried on with my shopping.

But ultimately, I did upgrade my membership...but not until I was checking out, just to make him suffer a little.

Oh, and while I was upgrading my membership and taking a new Sam's picture, Gus screamed his head off.

Thanks, lady. I blame you and that hurry that you were "kind of in."