Well after over 15 years of not having a driver’s license, my husband is in the process of getting his license back. He has a permit now and is taking his driving test shortly. As you know, we bought the too much too far house and the gas price just keeps climbing and climbing and we just can’t afford for me to drive him to work and go back after him so that leaves few alternatives. There are no jobs that he could try for that are closer so that we can keep the driving situation the way it is. In short, there is no choice but for him to get his license back despite that he doesn’t WANT to drive and I don’t WANT to not drive him.

This change has more ramifications for me than it does for my husband really. He doesn’t want to drive because of medical concerns and I understand that; however, that is just paranoia in many ways or I should say fear really. He’s afraid something may happen while he is driving that will cause him to have an accident and that is legitimate but avoidable as long as he keeps taking his medicine. For me though, this change means that I will rarely get out of the house and that is a bad thing for me. Because my job is just minimal part time, I have no need to go anywhere if not to drive him. Sure, I’d LIKE to go but that would defeat the purpose of him going through all this to get his license. More than that though is that I feel that I will no longer be needed. I know I won’t be actually. My husband won’t need me to drive hi many more, he doesn’t need me to do anything. I’ll just be a nuisance more than anything. To this point, I have felt I had a lot of value because I was the chauffeur and doing that gave me a sense of worth and also allowed me to be involved in life. Once he gets his license, I won’t have any of that any more. In fact, I feel like my reason for existing will pretty much have gone out the window. I won’t have anything important to do.

It’s not like there’s an alternative, there isn’t. Even if gas were to go way down in price, once he has his license there would be no point in him not driving himself. The whole thing puts me at a loss. Even though I am totally on board with him getting his license (and pushed him to do it) it creates a lot of emotional issues (more) for me. God knows, I already have enough emotional issues without there being more but yet, here we are.

The whole thing sucks. It’s a big conundrum and I’m left with emotional fallout.

So here’s the situation and it’s a real winner.

I went to Wal-Mart to buy things for my job. I took a check as I always do which has the name, address, and tax exempt ID number pre-printed on it. I also have a tax exempt card issued by Wal-Mart that we have to present before they start to ring up our items. Both the check and tax exempt card have my signature on them.

After the cashier rang up my $231 of purchases, I wrote out the check, signed it, and handed it to her and the fun began. The cashier said she couldn’t take the check because my name wasn’t printed on it and unless they had a letter on file from the bank saying I could sign the check, they couldn’t take it. WHAT THE FUCK?! There are just so many elements to that it isn’t funny. Number one being that my position is subject to change, we don’t print the officer’s names on the checks. That would be fucking stupid seeing that 300 checks last 3 years!! Second is that Wal-Mart just runs your check through the machine and hands the fucker back to you! They don’t know who signs it anyway, they don’t have the fucking check, YOU DO! To add insult to injury, when I questioned this the cashier said I recognize you but there’s nothing I can do but then left with the check and went to the service desk. She came back and said they couldn’t take it. Talk about mad. I said get the manager and they wouldn’t do it so I left the $231 of stuff sitting and my own cart full of stuff as well. After I left, I immediately called the store and asked for the manager. I talked to him and he got quite hostile with me and started yelling that this was a “corporate” decision because so many business checks had been returned (which I know is a lie anyway since they give you the check back). He said just have your employer write a letter saying you can sign the check. Needless to say, that’s when I got hostile. I said you know what idiot, I SIGN THE FUCKING LETTERS (which is 100% true) and promptly hung up. The next day, I called Wal-Mart corporate and asked that someone higher than the store manager call me about this incident. A WEEK went by and no one called me back so I got information from my brother (who works at Wal-Mart) that I should call the district manager because if the district manager is called it is not a good thing, store managers don’t like that. NO SHIT?!

I called the district manager and had the wrong office but they forwarded it to the proper one for the store I was at. When she called me back, the district manager copped an attitude at first because she said I understand you’re upset that the store wouldn’t take your check–I think she just figured tough shit, that was her attitude. I said yes but NO, let me explain and I then went on to tell her the entire situation. I explained that the check wasn’t “MY” check, it was a municipality’s check and that I am the treasurer and the runner and that I have always gotten everything at Wal-Mart with a check including prizes for yearly raffles, cleaning supplies, office supplies, everything. I told her that I first presented the tax exempt card with the municipality’s name and my signature on it and so on. Her tune changed really fast when she realized what had happened. I told her first and foremost that we (the municipality or me personally) would not go back there for anything because of this. I explained that I make the financial decisions and based on that experience, it would be a poor financial decision to do business with Wal-Mart because we cannot track expenses unless we write a check and since they won’t take the check, we can’t buy anything from there. I told her that the only other alternative to make purchases there was if I were to pay for them myself and get reimbursed which is simply not something I am willing to do (and there should be no need for me to do anyway).

She quickly quashed the excuse that I was given by the store manager about business checks being returned when I told her that was the manager’s excuse. I told her I knew the excuse wasn’t legitimate because they don’t keep the checks so they would have no way to know if I signed the check or if the pope signed the check. She said, you’re right, we don’t have any way to know that but did say there had been problems with business checks but that this did not apply to my situation. She said obviously something has been misinterpreted in that store because a municipality check isn’t a business check first off and secondly because I had the tax exempt card which was signed by me, and presented first, this just should never have happened. She apologized a lot and asked if there was anything they could do to get our business back. I told her no, that since I am the one who goes and picks things up there was nothing they could because I absolutely would not go back there. I did say that it certainly would be nice if the manager wrote a letter of apology stating that they were wrong. She assured me that she would talk to the store manager and make sure they were aware of the proper procedures and I’ll bet she told me 6 times that should never have happened and apologized again and again. NO WAY?! YA THINK!!!!!!! It shouldn’t have happened?! WOW…..I knew that.

Here’s the funny–just yesterday I did get a very short letter in the mail from the manager at the Wal-Mart from hell. It wasn’t an apology saying they were wrong but it was apology for any inconvenience and a $50 gift card. Well you know what–I’m very stubborn (NO WAY YA THINK) and I wouldn’t use that fucking gift card (or let it be used) if I was living on the fucking street! I won’t give them the satisfaction of thinking that all is “ok” now.

BASTARDS!

First off, YES I have been lazy about bitching. To any of you who have missed my posts and are going through withdrawals I am sorry–I’ll bitch more for you