Tonight Alison and I went to buy a basketball pole for me. Yay! Alison's been encouraging me to get one lately, but finally it was my gut that told me it was okay. (It's a little less than a 6 pack, though a six pack might fit right inside there just fine)
Searching online revealed Walmart's Lifetime 44" portable hoop the best deal around. On sale for 68 bucks. I was excited when we got it home, and after making tacos for dinner, I went out to assemble.
Yeah, there were two middle poles, and no bottom pole. See, the mast of the hoop is in three pieces, and they just didn't fit. The bottom one wasn't right. So here I go, slightly perturbed, albeit understanding of cheapy basketball manufacturers, down the road another 20 minutes back to Walmart.
And then it got worse. Friday night after Six. Walmart is the inside of a zoo after hours during a thunderstorm. Chaos. They had half the lanes open that were open the first visit, with twice the customers. Even sporting goods was jammed. I could barely breathe.
So after waiting behind three ladies who counted change to pay for their massive carts full of groceries, I had to shave again and was going gray. I payed and left. Then in the parking lot I made sure all the pieces matched all the drawings, got into my car, and drove 20 minutes home.
I took two lessons away from this experience: 1) Walmart needs some hours-help re-thinking. I won't go back for a LONG time after that experience. 2) It might have been worth it to go to a sporting goods store where it would be me, the customer, and Frank, the salesman and cashier. It would have been worth another 20 bucks initially, especially considering the extra 40 minutes of driving, and the need for a very large beer after my shopping experience. Hell, maybe Frank could have had one ready for me too....
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