How is buying water so difficult??

Ok so. It’s been a long few weeks. Like everything just blurring together long. And yesterday was WEIRD on top of it.

Started with summer school getting canceled an hour before drop off. No warning. Just… canceled. The reason was heavy… not getting into it, this isn’t that kind of post… but it set the whole day off before it even started. You know that feeling.

Then work. Work was busy. I was tired. Bone tired. All I wanted was to go home, kick my shoes off, not speak to a single human for the rest of the day.

Except we’re out of water. And it’s 90 degrees. And we don’t have AC. Did you know most places don’t?? Its an american thing. Now you know.

So instead of going home like a normal tired person, I go to Walmart. In heels. Because past-me apparently did not think future-me would need flats “just in case.” Past-me never thinks of future-me. Rude honestly.

Find our 3 empty 5 gal jugs a spot in the cart, wrestle 3 full ones off the bottom shelf because OF COURSE there’s only a few left and OF COURSE they’re on the bottom, and drag my tired cranky feet up to self checkout.

Type in the water. Primo 5 gal exchange. Qty 3. Rings up wrong. 10 bucks less than it should be. In my favor, sure, but no. Not how I roll.

Look up for help. Three employees standing right there having a very important conversation about whose mama is meaner. Not even a glance my way. Sigh.

Do I just pay and leave? No. Of course not. I wait, I politely flag someone down, I say hey I picked the wrong item. One of the girls comes over with this crumpled up ball of receipt paper trying to scan a code off it like she’s willing it flat with her eyeballs. Not scanning. Never gonna scan. Have to get a manager.

Manager comes over. “This price is wrong.” “I’m aware, I’m the one who reported it.” She fixes it. I say thank you. I pay. Almost home.

Walking out, one of the jugs isn’t full.

No! Why??

Do I just swap it myself and let it be someone else’s problem later? Could’ve. Almost no one would know. But no, I go to customer service instead because apparently that’s just who I am now.

“This one isn’t full, can I exchange it for a full one?”
“We don’t do exchanges.”
“Ok but I don’t want this one, I want a full one.”
“We don’t do exchanges.”
Deep Breath.”…so how do I get a full water jug then?”
“I can return this one and you can buy another.”

But wait. If I hand this back and it goes in the defective pile, my receipt still says I bought 3. I can’t just walk over and grab a third jug I supposedly never returned. This is SO much extra work for both of us for a problem that shouldn’t need steps.

She stares at me. I stare at her.

“Okay. Sure.”

She refunds it to my card. I say thank you, because I always say thank you even when I’m screaming internally, and honestly I could’ve just left. Refund in hand, half jug gone, technically done. I could just leave. No I came here to get 3 bottles of water. I have survived all these shenanigans.

I go get another jug. Walk back. Pay for it all over again. Because I’m really trying here. I’m really trying to be the better person, every single time, even over water jugs, even when nobody’s watching, even when it would be so easy not to.

Is it just me? Does everyone else have this much trouble with the simplest, easiest tasks? Or is it just me who can’t get through a Walmart run without three separate moral dilemmas over five gallons of water?

I don’t know. But hey, when I get to the pearly gates, I hope somewhere it’s written down that on this one random exhausting Tuesday, in heels, in 90 degree heat, I was a good human.