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Has anyone ever tried to find an associate who works in the paint department of Walmart? It is nearly impossible, as my recent purchase of paint has lead me to believe. It is my conclusion that “paint department associates” do not actually exist.

Finding paint is the easy part, but what if once you find the desired paint, you need it shaken? There is never anyone around to operate the device for you, leaving you to wait without any idea on how long it may take for someone to walk by. Sometimes, by chance, someone will walk by, but usually it is not an associate who is knowledgeable enough to press the green (start) button or the red (stop/eject door) button. All they end up doing is paging someone else to assist you, leaving you to wait even longer. Even more frustratingly, there may even be a sign in the paint department directing the customer to walk halfway across the store to the electronics department to ask for paint shaking assistance. In one case for me, the associate in the electronics department only then paged someone from the automotive department to assist you, who may go there before you arrive, see no one, then leave.

Luckily there is an alternative that eases the frustration: The machine is fool-proof and you can do it yourself, as I resorted to doing. Here is a small guide on how to get away with it:

  1. There is a diagram on the machine that indicates how to place the cans, and a small instruction guide explaining that if you are mixing a certain type of paint, to change the timer to 3 minutes, otherwise it is defaulted to 2 minutes.
  2. Place the cans of paint in the machine as directed by the instructions, close the door and press the green button.
  3. Walk away for 2-3 minutes and perhaps go to an adjacent aisle and pretend you are looking at some other product until you hear the machine stop.
  4. Beware as an associate may walk by. Usually if they see no one there, they will assume some other associate is helping a customer that they cannot immediately see, and walk away.
  5. Once the machine stops, nonchalantly walk over, press the red button for the door to eject, grab your paint and leave.

1 of 3 possible outcomes can occur:

  1. A Walmart associate sees you doing the paint shaking yourself and asks you not to do it, but you can always do it again.
  2. A Walmart associate reports you to a Manager, who questions you, to which you can respond with them not having a convenient knowledgeable associate to assist you and as a result, you had to take matters into your own hands.
  3. You get away with it frustration free.

If you need anything more than paint shaking, such as tinting or information on what type of paint to use for what type of project, you can forget receiving any help from a Walmart associate.


As everyone knows, the Walmart in Medicine Hat has a self-serve checkout. What everyone does not know is that the self checkouts are meant to provide an expedient way for customers who have only a few items to get in and get out without having to wait in lengthy lineups. Unfortunately Walmart does not post an item limit for using the self checkouts. Customers who go to Walmart for a few items often have to wait for an unnecessary amount of time while some customers with 40+ items in their cart try to fumble around with the item lookup or not knowing how to scan their items.

I have been caught in the self checkout line many times waiting behind people who are scouring their cereal boxes for where an elusive UPC code might be, or more commonly, not knowing how the item database works when they have to look up vegetables or fruit that do not have a UPC. Some customers seem to think that the key to the self checkout is to get the UPC as close to the barcode scanner as possible, but as anyone who has worked in retail knows, this is not the case. Other customers seem to think that the key to the self checkout is speed, but as they soon find out, scanning a bunch of items at once and trying to cram them into the bag quickly just does not work.

Walmart offers 3 types of checkout lanes for customers:

  • The first is a small to medium item limit that has a maximum of 6 checkout lanes. Go here if you are not buying a full cart of items.
  • The second is a medium to full shopping cart item limit. This is where anyone who is buying a large amount of food or items should go.
  • And the last one is a self checkout that should only be used by people who are getting 1-10 items, ideally ones that do not need to be weighed or looked up on the item database, and most importantly, not used by people who do not understand the concept of expediency or being mindful to other people who may only be getting a few items.

I am not saying that my time is at all more valuable than anyone else’s. It just pains me to see someone not know how to locate a UPC on a box or understand alphabetical item listings in a database.

In short, if you cannot efficiently use the self checkout, then don’t.


This is a review of the Walmart-based salon Regal Nails that I stumbled upon during one of my frequent Facebook explorations written by Darcey Swennumson:

On Saturday, March 5, at approximately 5:00pm, I went to Regal Nails to have my eyebrows waxed.  It was my first time using any type of service in this salon.

The technician who waxed my brows completely disregarded my instructions on how I wanted my brows waxed.  Partway through the waxing, I confirmed my instructions, and at that point she still disregarded them.

During the waxing, she also dropped a glob of hot wax on the inner corner of my eye.  She tried for a moment to remove the wax, then simply advised me, “It will come off in the shower.”  For the record, it didn’t.  I still have wax on my eyelashes, and both the lid and undereye area are raw and slightly swollen.

When the waxing was complete, and I went to the counter to pay, their debit machine was not working.  They advised me to use the ATM machine located within Walmart.  I pointed out that that machine charges a fee on top of my bank’s fee to withdraw money, but they did not care.

I then went to use the ATM to withdraw money, and noticed an “Out of Order” sign on it.  When I returned to the salon and advised them of this, they asked me to make a purchase in Walmart and take out extra money at the till to pay for my waxing.

I found all of this to be extremely disappointing, not to mention a big inconvenience and very unprofessional.  However, I did as requested and then returned with cash in hand.

At that point I asked to speak with the manager of the salon.  I explained that it was my first visit, and would be my last.  He asked why, so I started to explain my reasons, based on the above.

He interrupted me partway through, and demanded payment for the eyebrow waxing, going so far as to reach for the money in my hand.

At that point I advised him that I would be telling everyone I know about my experience that day, and his response was, “There are 65000 people in Medicine Hat.  Go ahead.”  He then collected payment for the brow waxing, and I left.  During this encounter, the technician who waxed my brows was standing beside the manager, smirking and trying not to laugh.

I can honestly say that this is the worst treatment I have ever received at any place, at any time.  I would hate for anyone else to go through anything like this, so I’m trying to let everyone know not to use this place for any type of service!

I’m not gonna lie, either — his invitation for me to “go ahead” and tell everyone about what happened makes me determined to get the word out to as many people as I can, so go ahead and pass this on to everyone you know.


PART 3 of my 2 part series (WATT) What Are They Thinking ?

The other day I was driving near the hospital when I came up on the parking Monitor van.  It was double parked, completely blocking the lane in the direction I was going.  There was a person writing a parking ticket near  the van. I can only assume that the issuance of a parking infraction was the reason for blocking the road and forcing me into the oncoming lane to pass the Parking Monitor van.

Is it just me, or should the people handing out $50.00 parking tickets…  park properly themselves?


It should be a fun week – Medicine Hat’s tourism branding project is asking you to finish the following sentence:

“Medicine Hat is the only place in the world you can ____________.”

It’s week three of the tourism branding public engagement project and there have been some good answers on the previous questions. And this week may provide some of the most interesting comments to date.

So, what is the answer? What’s the one thing you can do in (or around) this city that you can’t do anywhere else?

Does the answer have to do with the weather? Or any of our facilities like the Drag Strip, baseball diamonds, Medalta or the Esplanade? What about the golf courses?

Is there anything with the river or the bizarre under-rated landscape of the valley?Maybe the snakes factor into it somehow. Or the fact that, if you know where to look, you can get fresh tomatoes in the middle of winter. Granted, that’s not quite an anywhere-in-the-world kind of thing but it sure does satisfy cravings for tomato sandwiches in January.

So let your voice be heard – this project is running for two more weeks and we want to hear from everyone. It’s not often that projects like this look for a month’s worth of input so go to the website and let your voice be heard.

www.whatismedicinehat.com


Awhile back, we posted an article from the city entitled “Council Identifies Top Five Priorities for 2011” which discussed the top priorities set out by the council for the year. What I want to figure out is, between the three contending topics, which in your opinion is the most important? Let’s see what the Medicine Hat Media readers (the most important group of people) think.

What should be the highest priority for 2011?

View Results

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Image taken from the SPCA Website

Image taken from the SPCA Website

In the latest trending Ticked Off topic, apparently some people think the city should aid seniors instead of the SPCA.

It’s on the city councils priority list to address the need for an expanded animal shelter; not urgent just yet, but as the city continues to grow the need will increase. It seems the city is simply looking towards expanding the center and don’t intend to start funding for it. Unfortunately, the SPCA currently receives no ongoing sources of funding from any level of government, so they rely on donations, grants, and community support. As of January 7, 2011, the organization was at full capacity.

Some believe that people come before animals. So what happens when the shelter cannot accept more unwanted pets? According to the SPCA, most dogs arrive about 9 months to 1 year of age, as it takes this long for people to realize they’re not suited for raising a pet. While the idea of adoption is to hope someone can care for it better, it would certainly be incentive to keep the pet if you know the only other option is to leave it on the street.

Medicine Hat SPCA


The council voted against the city’s public services committees recommendation to host the 2015 Lieutenant Governer of Alberta Arts Awards, typically a 2-4 day celebration. This event would have coincided with the Esplanade’s 10th anniversary and promote Medicine Hat’s art community.

It’s an estimated cost of $100,000 which has been argued that it would not draw thousands of people to the city the way large sporting events do. However, there’s an opportunity for the 2015 Western Canada Summer Games, which they guess would draw thousands of people – but would also cost $1,000,000.

Ald. John Hamill said the birthday of the Esplanade is nothing to celebrate, as many people opposed building it in the first place and “Many people have never darkened its door, and they never will.” Ald. Graham Kelly said if they’re supporting sports they need to support the arts as well.

The art community in Medicine Hat has grown significantly over the years, and recently lost the Struck Gallery. Now there’s no support for the Esplanade, and despite having equal ratios (10 times the cost, 10 times the turn out)  they’re favoring the sporting event. I would just like to toss in that I, and other people I know, haven’t “darkened the door” of the arena, and when the events center is built I don’t plan on entering it either.


After a listener to CHOZ-FM in St. John’s, NL expressed concern over the playing of the unedited “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council has ruled that the unedited song cannot play on the radio.

The song mentions the term “faggot” which takes on a totally different meaning in Canada compared to the UK where the band is from, causing one person to believe that it is discrimination towards homosexuals.

The ruling comes 25 years after the song was released. In a time where political correctness was less involved in society.

A caller to Edmonton’s “Classic Rock K-97” (CIRK-FM) said that in the United Kingdom the word means “dirty little jerk” compared to the “gay slur” in North America.

In order to stand up against this topic. K-97 has posted information on their rebel to the CBSC on their website.

What about Nickelback’s “Burn it to the Ground” or “Something In Your Mouth”, of course their songs would never be taken off, because then it would be a CanCon issue (30% of all music must be Canadian, for those unaware). I strongly believe that it is not, in any way, offensive, as the British meaning is completely different from the Canadian/US meaning.

CBC has posted an interview with the CBSC’s national chair online.


The following is a story by Matt Reeves posted on to Facebook yesterday recounting his near brush with death while being stranded on the blizzard-filled highway, last night. There is rough and “colourful” language here and this is an exact verbatim of his original note, posted here with permission. -Vaughn

*Edit* Medicine Hat News article

Matt Reeves writes:

How I and my basset hound almost died Saturday… YES quite literally almost died Saturday… THANKS RCMP BROOKS… I mean USELESS ORGANIZATION OF MORALLY BANKRUPT GOVERNMENT PAID THUGS

Today (Saturday the 8th of January 2011) I made the mistake of attempting to drive from Calgary to Medicine Hat… at 35 – 60kph depending on conditions… driving cautiously… and I did pretty well at that speed most of the trip. Really I did!!!

At 5PM I fishtailed and then skidded into the ditch north of Suffield only going 35kph and stuck the front of the jeep in four feet of snow… tried forward and reverse with zero movement… totally and completely stuck. I got out to see how badly stuck I was and got snow up to my crotch and then snow blown with what felt like a -40 wind chill factor. Got back in the jeep due to freezing cold. Now was soaking wet and really cold. THE JUMP – Read the rest of this entry »


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