Reason 5,999,999 why I HATE Walmart

On a recent trip to the Midwest I decided to pack lightly, and by packing lightly I mean that we checked four bags between the two of us just to have room to haul home the loot our daughter scored from her grandparents. In the interest of not over-packing I opted to take a small amount of diapers and then purchase some upon our arrival.

Given that we were visiting a sort of backwater town the only giant retailer around is Walmart, which is just SO not my shopping preference. It is made worse by the fact that the town we were visiting has an inordinate amount of redneck/white trash to begin with who love nothing more than going into town to hunt down a deal at WM. On the night we arrived we stopped at the NEW Walmart on the east side of town only to witness what must be a burgeoning past time of the locals: jumping the posts at the front of the store while emitting a rebel yell and then grabbing your best girl and giving her a great big smooch while pinching her butt. What else can one do after such an exhilarating display of bravado?

I am not too picky when it comes to the diapers I use. Generally, we stick to Pampers or the Costco brand, which my sources tell me are actually manufactured by Huggies. However, the Walmart brand was $14 for 104 diapers, so given that I am trying to be a bit frugal given the hearty decline of our economy and the 1/2% of a point pay increase I am going to receive this coming school year (Please, you don’t even want to know what that amounts to per paycheck! Let’s just say that given the price of gas these days that minuscule “raise” will essentially end up costing ME!) I figured why not? And really why not? Doesn’t Walmart pride itself on its quality, American made products? Wouldn’t I actually be better serving our economy by buying “local” so to speak?

You can imagine where this is going: the budget friendly, American economy supporting diapers were a complete disaster. So long as I was willing to change my kid’s diaper every twenty minutes things were glorious and I could bask in my frugality, but if we went oh, I don’t know, a couple hours without a change it was like Niagara Falls. Both my dad and I were peed on; me on the plane coming home…good times, Walmart, good times!

And forget about your child making it through the night without a leak. Granted, my little one sleeps a good solid 12 hours/night and pees a lot through the night, so a diaper has to be of pretty good quality to withstand her bladder’s action. I discovered on the morning after our second night that it was best to deprive her of any liquids lest I should find myself doing a load of laundry EVERY.SINGLE.DAY! And goodness knows my parents’ washer/dryer set circa 1970 is not that energy efficient, so the diapers would end up costing me and the environment. A hex upon you, cheap Walmart products!

As I slathered on some butt paste to thwart any possible diaper rash that might crop up due to the fact that my baby girl had been immersed in her own pee for hours I realized that you can’t trust a product that has been created under fair labor laws. Oh no, if you truly want quality it must come from some third world nation where the two year old crafting your product never sees the light of day and is fed some unrecognizable gruel whilst “the man” stands over him threatening to kill his mom and baby sister if he doesn’t work faster. That kid understands the necessity of a job well done, which means my kid, living it up in the States, won’t have to sleep in her urine covered pj’s and sheet anymore.

Filed under Baby stuff, Stores |