I do the bulk of my shopping at Aldi's in Chillicothe and head to WalMart for things not available at Aldi's. The few times I stopped at Save-a-Lot when I didn't want to go all the way into town, I was quite happy to see that the prices were good, and wonder why I didn't shop there more often.
Of the three times I had stopped at Save-a-Lot in past months, twice I came home to find items missing, and a friend had the same thing happen and he'd only been there a few times himself. The first time it happened I didn't think too much of it, but when it happened the second time, I got a bit ticked.
I stopped in to Save-a-Lot a couple of weeks ago to pick up items to donate to the
Good Samaritan Food Pantry in Chillicothe, and bought two Reese's Peanut Butter Cups that I needed to make a new dessert. When I got home, there were no Reese's Cups in my bags. It was too hot to go back out again for those two small items, but I kept my receipt to bring it up the next time I went.
I went back to Save-a-Lot a week or so ago, showed my receipt to the clerk and asked to not be charged for the two Reese's Cups I was taking that day. She called a manager over who asked what else I was missing. I told her I wasn't aware of missing anything else, but I definitely was missing those Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. She walked off to get a notebook that showed someone had left a bag at the store that contained two Reese's Cups and two bags of cereal on the date that matched my receipt. I remember purchasing the cereal and it was on my receipt, but mentioned that I didn't remember if it was missing from my bags at home or not, and I had already taken my donation to the food pantry.
I thought about it and said ok, I'd like to take the cereal too in addition to the Reese's Cups and the manager said no, since you already said you didn't think it was missing from your bags, then I can't give it to you.
Excuse me? You have a notebook where it is written down that someone left a grocery sack behind with two bags of cereal and two Reese's Cups, I come in with my receipt that shows those items purchased on the same date and confirmed that I was missing the candy, and you're not going to give me the cereal?
The cereal was on sale for a very good price and it certainly wasn't going to break me, but it's the principle of it that really got me hot. She didn't take from me, she took from a donation to a very worthy cause in this county. I told her I would not be shopping there again and started to leave the store when the clerk stopped me and said I'd forgotten a bag.
Here we go again.
Here's the thing ... when a bag is full on the carousel, the clerk hands it to me and I put it into my shopping cart in front of me. If I'm not fast enough, the clerk will take the bags and put into another shopping cart beside them that I can't even reach. That's the stuff that's getting left behind! Why isn't the clerk putting the bags into MY shopping cart that I'm taking out of the store?
When I saw what happened that day, I let it be known that it was pretty dumb to put items into a shopping cart other than the one the customer was using, and that's why they had so many bags left behind that they had to maintain a notebook to keep up with it.
I needed a few things at the store yesterday and Save a Lot was more convenient, so I swallowed my pride and stopped in. I grabbed a few good deals and when I went to the checkout I was extremely happy to see that the clerk made an effort to put each of the bags into my cart, never going towards the other cart at all. The clerk I saw yesterday wasn't one I remember helping me in the past, so I don't know if my earlier rant caused Save a Lot management to take a look at their practices, but regardless - it worked. Stacy got it right!
End of rant. Chillicothe Save-a-Lot has redeemed themselves.
