Jen and I were in Kansas City for a convention when Jen decided to exchange some newborn-size diapers for a larger size. Unfortunately, we'd left the receipt at home (because we don't make a habit of carrying around receipts for every bit of baby gear we take with us) and that completely flummoxed the Wal-Mart staff.

When all was said and done, I had to give them my driver's license so that we could make the 26-cent swap between two unopened, undamaged packages of baby diapers. I gritted my teeth and managed not to say anything that would get me banned from the store, although I was so tense that I signed the exchange form hard enough to shred it.

And this is why I think that I probably now officially hate shopping at Wal-Mart. We weren't trying to exchange a plasma TV or a box of donuts. We just wanted to trade up to a larger size of diapers, and this ended up requiring my driver's license and a signature.

I absolutely hate going to Wal-Mart these days because they hardly ever collect carts from the parking lot, so when the cart corrals fill up, losers leave them all over the place. And thus begins a vicious cycle:

1. Losers overflow the racks
2. Nice people don't go there anymore because they don't want their car destroyed while buying milk
3. More losers rush in to fill the void

Wal-Mart, I know your employee wasn't the one who slammed a cart into my door, but I don't really care. No matter who did it, there's a chip in my paint job because I did business with you. Make your parking lot a safe place to leave my car and I'll come back more often. Until then, I'll take my chances at Target where they never seem to have this problem.