Dear Walmart:

To whom it may concern (including but not exclusively- Walmart owners, management, and relevant staff.):

While shopping in your store today, I experienced the most concerning of incidents. Having completed my shopping, I stood in line at the checkout, waiting patiently for the cashier to complete the ringing-up process for the customer ahead of me. Not that it matters, but I couldn't help but notice the customer's child crying (loudly) about some unicorn game she was trying to play on her mother's iphone. Who gives their screaming three-year-old an iphone to play with? Ever hear of an Etch-a-Sketch? Or anything that isn't two-hundred-bucks-down-the-drain when she gets cranky and pitches it across the store?

I digress. I set my basket of items on the conveyor belt, and as it rolled towards the cashier, she pulled it to her, and instead of grabbing the items out of the basket one at a time to ring them up, she turned the basket completely upside down and carelessly DUMPED its entire contents onto the conveyor belt. She even gave the basket a couple of hard shakes before declaring, "Yep. That's everything." My jaw dropped as three huge bottles of body wash and shampoo (which were on the bottom of the basket) crashed and smashed into the loaf of bread and bag of buns (which were obviously on top), and the bunch of bananas that I had carefully selected went flying across the pile and bounced to a stop on the edge of the counter. Then, just for good measure, Angie (or so her name tag proclaimed) grabbed the loaf of bread and buns and chucked them to the far end of the conveyor belt before she began running my items across the scanner.

Now, I've never worked at Walmart, and therefore am not privy to training techniques, but I can say without hesitation that never in my twenty years of patronage have I witness such an action. (And I have certainly never had such an experience at TARGET.) I realize that not everyone is having their best day while at work, and sometimes our personal lives affect our attitudes. I never fault a cashier at ANY establishment for not greeting me with a smile, or not attempting casual chit-chat. And I'm certainly not upset if they fail to wish me the obligatory, "Have a nice day." I'm not an unreasonable person. However, I draw the line at physical abuse of my groceries. I shop at Walmart for two reasons: it's cheap, and it's open 24 hours. And until someone else can beat the hours or the prices, I'll probably continue to shop there...unless the disgruntled employees continue to treat my purchases like roadside trash. I'm sorry, ANGIE, if your dog died. I'm sorry if your husband left you for his secretary, or if your daughter is a toothless crack whore who stole your credit card to pay for frozen pizza and meth ingredients. I'm just a customer who showed up for some Village Hearth and a couple bottles of Suave. I don't need any special treatment, I don't want to be your best friend, I don't even care if you're polite. I just want to get out of the store with my purchased items intact. I'm sorry if your life sucks, I'm really really sorry that your hair is in that grey straggly mess. (Have a little pride in your appearance for God's sake! You don't have to look like a 'People of Walmart' photo just because you work there.) And mostly, I'm sorry that you work at Walmart. But if you don't like your job, fucking get a new one and stop taking out your frustrations on my bananas!!!