Small Talk in Texas and elsewhere: I get all the news I need from the weather report

[shapeshifter]

On 10/27/2024 at 10:39 PM, SoMuchTV said:

maybe we need a Small Talk thread 

This thread title is open to suggested changes.
"The weather" is the go-to subject for small talk, and “I get all the news I need from the weather report” is a line from a Paul Simon song I used to sing out to my kids when they were getting ready for school in the morning, but if Mandy gets another weather reporting job, it would be apt here too.

Anyhoo, after all that rambling small talk about the title, have at it:

Edited October 29, 2024 by shapeshifter

[Yeah No]

I think the title is fine. Don't overthink it, LOL. 😉

[Chit Chat]

Quote

The next store I worry about is JCPenney. They keep closing stores, but thankfully not in CT - yet, anyway. At this rate we won't have anywhere to shop anymore except Walmart and Target.

Bringing this over from the episode forum.

Yes, I'm seeing JCPenney stores in our state slowly closing.  I just read an article that says ours will remain open.  JCPenney just isn't the same as it used to be though.  They don't have enough store clerks and only 2 registers open in the whole store.  I always loved shopping at Penneys, but it's not the same for some of the stores.

We were talking about K-Mart in the other thread too.  As I mentioned there, I tried to help keep them in business!!  Years ago, I read that whenever a Wal-Mart comes to town, at least 2 grocery stores will end up closing.  I saw that very thing happen in the small town I was living in at that time.  That's where the K-Mart eventually closed too.  Sigh! 

One problem I see with a lot of department stores is how junky they're getting.  Some have too much merchandise to put away (Dollar Stores are getting bad about that), and some of it's probably from customers who won't put things back neatly on the shelf.  Some of the stores don't have enough staff, so they can't run the register and put merchandise out and tidy up. 

My biggest issue with Wal-Mart is trying to navigate the store with the employees who are pulling orders for the online customers.  I understand that they have a job to do, but being rude to the in-store customers makes going there unpleasant.  One employee (who didn't see me standing behind him) was talking to another employee and said loudly "WTF are all these people doing in here?"  He did turn around and see me, but I said nothing and went about my shopping.  

Dear Powers That Be at Wal-Mart:  Surely you can figure out a way to let all of us (customers & employees) navigate the store in a way that doesn't make the customer feel like a bother, and where the employee can do their job without having to worry about getting around the customers with that freight train of a cart!!  Make it a win-win for both customer & employee!!  Not all of us want to do the online ordering.  I probably spend more money by going into the store because I might see something new that I didn't see online.

[Dimity]

We in Canada, or certainly my corner anyway, have seen so many department stores close.  Sears, K-Mart (and Kresge - we had both for awhile), Eaton's (Canadian store and that one really hurt), another Canadian one - Zellers, we briefly had Target but it was only for a few years, we've lost so many others that I can't even list them all.  We're basically down to Walmart, Giant Tiger (somewhat of a cut rate Walmart), Hudson's Bay and sundry dollar type stores.  It's pretty depressing.

[Snow Apple]

I got a job a Kmart doing data entry, entering bounced checks (remember checks LOL) into the computer system. I got fired after a week because the checks are full of punch holes made by banks and I couldn't make out the routing number and account number so made a lot of mistakes. I can't take all the blame since "training" was only about 10 minutes. I cried at the firing but if it didn't happen, I wouldn't have gotten another job that I loved so all is forgiven. I was sad the store near my house closed but I managed to get a real gold ring for $4 during their out of business sale. 

As for Walmart, I hate they took out all the price check machines since a lot of merchandise are just scattered around willy-nilly, and finding an employee can be difficult. Also every time you ask them the price, they tell you to download the app. I refuse to download their app just to check prices. 

Edited February 17 by Snow Apple