Bugs, Walmart, & My Rant!

Okay, kids! The word of the day is "Craptastic"! That's the best way to describe my day yesterday. Craptastic.

To start the day I had a meeting at work that was totally pointless and a waste of my time. The outcome for priorities was exactly as it was before we went into the meeting. I just don't understand why we had to go through that meeting that was more than an hour (scheduled for 30 min) to come to something we agreed upon a mere 3 months ago! Craptastic!

Fast forward to the afternoon. Looking at Twitter I found out that there is a recall on Similac formula due to insect parts and larvae being in the formula. Craptastic! My son drinks that brand. So, after work I went home and pulled up the site. It was slow. Terribly slow. I got the phone number and called and of course I got the automated system which went on about this and that and finally told me that due to weather they weren't available to take calls. Really?!?! Craptastic!

Back to the incredible slow website. I entered the lot number of the first container that I had. Recalled. Entered the second one. Recalled. Craptastic! What was even better was that the second one was EMPTY! Yes. I fed my son bugs. Way to go mom!

Here's where my level annoyance went from 1 to 2, maybe 3. I called the husband to let him know what was going on. And he tells me that if I breastfed we wouldn't have this issue. Really!?!?! Don't. Judge. Me. I went on to inform him that I could if I was able to stay home. But I can't. I have to work...full time. I'm gone from 7am until almost 5pm. He told me that I could just pump in the bathroom and store it in the fridge. I barely have time to go pee while at work let alone take the time to pump as often as would be required! 

Moving on. I gathered my son, the formula, the receipt (yes, I had one!) and we were off to Walmart to get something new and bug free. I wasn't concerned Walmart always has the recalls posted and I even called ahead of time stating that I had a recall about formula. They just told me to go to the service desk and they'd take care of it no problem. Do you have any sense of where this could be going?

I made my way to the service desk and waited. And waited. Because they only have one person there to help the long line of people. My first warning was that I didn't see the recall notice on the board with the rest of them, but I could've missed it.... it was sort of far away. I was very happy that my son was happy and not yet starving.

Once it was my turn I explained in complete detail everything that I read on the website about the recall and that both containers were recalled, showed them my receipt, and from here things went down hill. Fast. The guy at the service desk needed to call up a manager and luckily for us she was walking up there! He then explained that there was a recall and she proceeded to tell me that they know nothing of a recall basically telling me that I was a liar. I told her that I didn't know when the recall was released but that I had just heard about it earlier. She wasn't nice. She did check the computer and came back to tell me that there was nothing that they could/would do. Annoyance level had now reached at least a 7 on a scale of 10. Double Craptastic!

Here was the deal. They were doing nothing to help me. Nothing about the bug infested formula that was on the shelves. Nothing. At. All. I guess they don't have the internet on the computers at Walmart. Jerks. I left.

I left and went to another store down the road. Kroger. Kroger is AWESOME. But wait.... I'll get to that in a minute. I was annoyed so I called Walmart and asked to speak with the store manager. I then explained the situation to him and then he put me on hold for close to 5 minutes. When he finally came back he let me know that if I went home, printed off the page(s) with the recall info on it (actually he wanted a list of all the affected lot numbers), brought it back to the store he would then take my bug formula and exchange it for the exact damn thing. Why you ask. Because that's their policy. I explained that the site has a form, you enter the lot number and it'll tell you if it's recalled or not. There's not a list of all the lot numbers and that if they give me the exact thing I'll go home, look to see if it's recalled and have to return it too. He told me that's their policy. Annoyance level 9.

Okay, on to the Good Guys at Kroger. I needed formula. I went in and out of curiosity I went to the service desk to ask if they knew about it and they didn't, but guess what? They have the internet on the computers there at Kroger! Amazing!

To make a really long story short, they looked up the recall, looked up the lot numbers on my containers, gave me money back even though I didn't buy it there, and they pulled off all of the powered formula from the shelves!

I won't shop at Walmart anymore and I will shop at Kroger more than I did before. They exceeded every expectation that I had. They were polite, courteous, and willing to look into it. I left there with my annoyance level lowered back down to a mere 2.

Moving on.... I went home and fed my now hungry son some bug free formula and the girls some pizza rolls because that little field trip too an hour and a half.

Hour and half after that... we lost power. No storm. No wind. No rain. As a matter of fact there wasn't a cloud in the sky, just the beautiful, large full moon. I was thankful we have a generator.