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About 15 years ago, the guy I was dating at the time (the term tightwad doesn’t begin to describe him) convinced me to buy my new eye glasses at Walmart. But I am certainly not opposed to saving money.

Yes, they were much cheaper than the optometrist’s. They also literally fell apart after about six months. The screws kept coming out, the nose pads broke twice and had to be repaired, then the lenses kept popping out and finally the bridge broke. Sometimes you get exactly what you pay for.

My niece had been getting her family’s prescriptions filled at Walmart but switched back to CVS because of getting the wrong Rx filled – they used the old Rx on file and not the new one sent over by their doc with a different dosage and then refused to fill the correct one and this was a vital heart medication for her step son, and another time being told an Rx was ready and after standing in line for a half hour, being told it wasn’t ready and in fact wouldn’t be for a couple of days because it was out of stock.

My other experiences at Walmart?

I bought a pair of carpi pants and a cotton top that literally fell apart at the seams after one wash, buying a bag of apples that looked nice on the outside but every single one was brown and completely rotten inside - inedible, buying a bag of frozen broccoli that was so freezer burned, I threw it away, buying a set of salt and pepper shakers that from the picture and description “crystal”, looked like glass but when I opened the box, they and the tops were cheap plastic and the tops didn’t fit properly so when you tried to use them, salt and pepper would come out of the sides where the lids didn’t fit properly.

Not to mention several beyond surely Walmart employees and then there are the customers. The last time I went to a Walmart was over the summer. I was looking for a new microwave cover, one of those plastic domes that prevent food from spattering.

I first went to Target, my go to for these types of items. As I was wandering around the kitchen goods section, not one but two Target employees asked if I needed help finding something and not only told me what aisle it was in, but walked me over to it. Unfortunately, the type they had wasn’t what I was looking for – too small and the gal apologized for not having what I was looking for and suggested other places to find it including Walmart. I did buy some other stuff while I was there and as always, check out was fast and easy, the gal working the register friendly and engaging. I know a lot of people here hate Target but they do a very good job in my experience with customer service.

I’m also a bit biased because when I first moved to PA and was unemployed for a time, I got a seasonal job at Target. FWIW, I also applied at Walmart but never heard back from them. I worked very hard at Target and providing good customer service was stressed every single day at the start of our shifts, and the pay was fair, several $’s above minimum wage and I have to say they treated even us temps very fairly. For instance, I worked Black Friday and that entire weekend and the managers brought in deli trays, cookies, pots of free coffee and coolers full of free soda and bottled water and even made homemade chili and BBQ in crock pots as a thank you for working that weekend. And I volunteered to work Christmas Eve and got over time pay for the entire shift. When the seasonal job ended, I was offered a perm position in the grocery department at full time, but I had just landed a full time job in my field – HR/Payroll making a lot more in salary and benefits than what Target could offer, but on my last shift, the manager gave me a $10 gift card as a thank you for working. Not a huge amount but a nice gesture IMO, and all the seasonal temps got one. Oh and ETA, I got a 10% discount while working there. I used this discount to buy a Garmin GPS for my niece who was buying it (repaid me) as a Christmas present for her husband. With the sale price plus my employee discount, she saved a lot.

So I went to Walmart looking for the microwave cover. The first thing that struck me walking in the door was that the place smelled like BO. Seriously, it smelled like a bad case of swamp a$$, the odor was overwhelming. I’ve heard the Walmart odor described as the odor of poverty and desperation and that of third world market places.

It was also very crowded but what irritated me most was how customers were blocking aisles with their carts and refused move so I could get by. When I said “excuse me” to one woman she looked at me as if I had called her a dirty name. Although since it was apparent she didn’t speak English, she might have thought I had.

I did eventually find the microwave cover but passed by more than one Walmart employee, none of who gave even gave me a glance live alone asking me if I needed assistance, but then I tried to check out. The lines were ridiculously long so with only one item, I went to the self-checkout. There was a Walmart employee overseeing the self-checkout and as a register opened and since I was next in line, I went to it, she put up her hand and yelled, “Yo! You! You be needing to wait” and after looking around for no apparent reason, motioned me rather rudely to the check out and glared at me the whole time.

While it may be a good low cost option for some, I just can’t see myself going to Walmart for healthcare.

I live in the York PA area and my primary care doctor is in the Wellspan system. And I like her and all the Wellspan providers. What I like is that I have continuity of care across their entire system and all their providers. For instance, when I went to see a doctor in the Wellspan system for numbness in my arms and hands and underwent testing for carpal tunnel, the report was not only sent to my primary care doctor but also posted in my patient care portal, same with when I saw an orthopedic for my back problem and a trigger thumb and all the Wellspan providers can also see all the medications I am taking and all my office visits. When I get my yearly mammogram and routine annual blood work, the results are posted on line, sometimes the results are available for me to see on the patient care portal in less than 24 hours. I can also see the doctor’s detailed office visit notes.

Walmart healthcare for me?

Based on my Walmart experiences – nope.