Wal-Mart

I had a doctor's appointment in Garden City this morning. It seems that whenever we are in GC, we can never stay away from Wal-Mart. That was the case again today.

We only had a few odds and ends that needed to be picked up. Before we did our shopping, I went to the beauty shop in the store and got a haircut. As usual, I paid for it with my debit card. No problem.

We picked up our groceries and went to the front to be checked out. Once all was rung up on the cash register, I used my debit card to pay. No problem again, right??? Wrong! The register kept saying that there was not enough money in my bank account to cover the purchases. NO WAY!!! I knew how much money was there and there was plenty to cover this expense.

Of course, a line of people had formed behind us. To say that I was embarrassed was a definite understatement. The nice clerk who was very polite and THEN told me that she was sorry but most debit cards were being rejected today because of some computer glitch that affected each and every Wal-Mart Store in the U.S. For some reason, a few seemed to work but the majority did not get through. Most of the credit cards were being accepted with no problems.

The clerk suggested that if I did not have cash or a checkbook, that I could use their handy-dandy ATM at the front of the store. No problem! I could do that. Wrong...again...

Shortly after I reached the ATM machine, the clerks' supervisor saw me and came over to explain to me that the ATM machine was not working today. At that point, I told her that I had a cart of sacks waiting for me and no way to pay for them because of the debit card situation.

She was very kind and apologetic for the mishap. She took me to a register that had not had the debit card problem so far today. Great! We were home free!!! Wrong, again! Once she tried to use our card to pay for the items there, the virus or whatever had spread to that register also.

By this time, I was flabbergasted. I had items, medications that I needed TODAY and had NO way to pay for them!!! Fortunately, my mother was there and saved the day!!! She ended up writing a check for our goods. Then...once home, we went to the bank and used the same debit card that was deemed worthless at Wal-Mart to withdraw the money to pay her back.

I am telling you all of this to warn you. The Wal-Mart supervisor told us that they have NO idea when the problem will be solved. It has been a MAJOR problem for them nationwide. She said that it could be fixed in a few minutes or a few days. The weekend is almost here and many Americans will be making their way to some Wal-Mart somewhere. If you are one of them, take CASH!!! That way, you shouldn't have to go through the grief and embarrassment that we did today!!!

VLE-B