Confession that I'm a Walmart shopper

When I was a school teacher and was part of a dual-income family, I enjoyed telling people how much I loved buying all my groceries at Tom Thumb. Sure it's more expensive, I'd say, but you get great customer service and I use coupons, which really drives the price down. They do have fabulous customer service. All the employees knew me and one lady even knew our dog! I was against shopping at Wal-Mart. In fact, I boycotted them for about 7 years. I was quite adamant in this. Adam and I disliked Wal-Mart for their huge building, huge carts, and incompetent staff. One day, however, I had to go to Wal-Mart to buy my blind friend Jo some special seat cushions. Of course that was the day that my coworker saw me in the parking lot. I still maintained that I was not a Wal-Mart shopper. When I quit work, I started grocery-hopping as my friend Mary Annelle calls it. I would read all the sales papers and then do most of my shopping at Tom Thumb but go to other stores for their sales items. Due to realities of life, I eventually had to drop Tom Thumb off my regular rotation. What happened next was a snowball effect. I would pop into Wal-mart for one thing, a non-food item and then I would remember I needed cereal. Cereal is a full dollar cheaper there. I felt good because I bought my one item and remembered cereal. But then on the next visit, I remembered more that I needed. Then I started bringing a list. Now I am an official Wal-Mart shopper. I am still frustrated by the huge carts and huge store, but I have found competent employees who are both intelligent and friendly. Some items are so much cheaper there that it doesn't make sense for me to buy it anywhere else. My name is Sarah, and I am a Wal-Mart shopper.