{"id":15410,"date":"2016-06-06T18:17:50","date_gmt":"2016-06-06T22:17:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/?p=15410"},"modified":"2016-06-06T18:47:54","modified_gmt":"2016-06-06T22:47:54","slug":"happier-than-a-pig-wallowing-in-donuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/?p=15410","title":{"rendered":"Happier than a pig wallowing in donuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The report as promised<\/p>\n

My pickup window was 4-5 PM. That meant I could change or cancel my order up until 1 AM (hence my suspicion some picking is done overnight)<\/p>\n

It takes about 20 minutes to get to this store. Charlotte has a serious “you can’t get there from here” problem because of opposition to through traffic in neighborhoods. Walmart’s Supercenter at 8180 S Tryon street is right under the glide slope to the 3 runways at Douglas Airport, which is approaching the passenger traffic count of O’hare in Chicago. During the times American is having the whole country change planes, there is probably a plane landing every 30 seconds.<\/p>\n

Living near the airport is not where you find Bank of America executives. Back in the 70s when I used to live here, it was where the city dumped the public housing projects. The “West” side of Charlotte you might actually interact with a black person *panic attack*…<\/p>\n

I left home about 3:30 just because I’m that kind of guy. If I am not at the job interview 10 minutes before the appointment, don’t hire me. At 3:45, exactly as promised, my cell phone rings. It isn’t a computer, it is Dwayne, my personal Walmart Shopper. I tell him I’m on the way and should arrive in about 10 minutes. I think Dwayne might have blurted out “Really?” Yeah, I’m so retro.<\/p>\n

At exactly 4:00, I pull into space #2. Space #1 was filled by a car that wasn’t using pickup. There were 5 or six spots, so no problem. I called Dwayne back – the number on the sign is the same number and said “I’m here! I’m in spot #2!”<\/p>\n

About 10 minutes later, Dwayne and Kasha pop out a door on the side and walk down a ramp with a dolly carrying a bunch of blue containers. I indicate I have a few questions if he has the time. His transactional interaction with me was via a smartphone – probably an iPhone, but I didn’t look closely. He sadly reported that a number of items were out of stock, but not the chocolate donuts! I had not permitted substitution on most items (per item choice during checkout). Only one omitted item was somewhat important.<\/p>\n

So I pop open the trunk and they load what they have. I’m not even breaking a sweat yet…<\/p>\n

Then it is Q&A time:<\/p>\n

Q: Do people use Uber to do pickup?
\nA: I remember one guy using uber…<\/p>\n

Q: after the items are picked, are the frozen and refrigerated foods kept cold until I arrive?
\nA: Yes, we have our own freezer and refrigerator in the store<\/p>\n

Q: the web site shows that you scan each item as you put it in the basket – is that how it actually works?
\nA: yes. If we pick up the wrong item, it beeps at us to tell us wrong item<\/p>\n

Q: (pushing my luck) If I buy fresh eggs, do you open the carton to make sure they aren’t cracked?
\nA: Yes, we do!<\/p>\n

I didn’t ask if they wear plastic gloves \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

So I sign by wiggling my finger on their phone (OMG Germs!) and I’m done. An email arrives with my detailed receipt (no paper). <\/p>\n

After missing a turn from being timid and adding two miles to the trip, I’m home at 4:40. Having done no work at this point, my “20 minute until I keel over” clock is not running. My back is not complaining.<\/p>\n

The trunk had exactly what I ordered (less the out of stock items). Frozen foods are frozen, cold foods are cold, Chocolate donuts await.<\/p>\n

I can live with Michelle Obama frowning at my bad food insecurity choices. I would fry polar bear steaks if Walmsrt sold them. So in conclusion, I’m as happy as I can be. The assisting living center will have to wait.<\/p>\n

D’oh!<\/p>\n

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The report as promised My pickup window was 4-5 PM. That meant I could change or cancel my order up until 1 AM (hence my suspicion some picking is done overnight) It takes about 20 minutes to get to this … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-unauthorized-food"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15410"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15419,"href":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15410\/revisions\/15419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/startingover\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}