I love ALDI, or Why I Hate Wal-Mart

I adored the assistant principal at the school I worked at last year.  In fact, I adored everything about that place. It was a small system, they had great support, and the superintendent took the time to get to know all of his employees.  He even visited me in my classroom a couple of times.  If I could send Connor there and go back to work there, I would.  Unfortunately, it's 45 minutes away from where we live know.  If it was just me, I would drive it in a heartbeat.  But anyway, I digress.  Back to the assistant principal.

She looked just like Diane Lane and was super cheerful.  It was impossible to be in a bad mood around her.  She was fabulous.  She hated Wal-Mart.  With a passion.  She called it the "Big, Evil Giant" and hadn't been there in over five years.  I tell you, it takes guts to stand up to the man like that. ;)

Anyway, the whole point of this story was that I had to go to the Big Evil Giant today.  Let me tell you, it was extra bad today.  For starters, they were having a "Hunting Expo" in the parking lot which involved roping off half the parking lot so they could park a bunch of motors homes to show off.  So that means everyone has to park a mile away from the door.  Then, I get inside and people have apparently decided it was okay to stand in the middle of the aisles with their buggies blocking traffic and stand there and talk.  They wouldn't even move when I said "excuse me."  I know, how rude of me, right?

I have gotten so frustrated with Wal-Mart lately that my dad and I have started doing our grocery shopping at ALDI.  I LOVE that store.  I wish they sold everything.  I would marry ALDI if I could.  If you have never heard of ALDI, it's basically a no frills grocery store.  They carry their own brands (sometimes they have name brand stuff), and they always have good looking meat and vegetables.

So, here are my Top 5 reasons why ALDI kicks Wal-Mart's butt:

1.  Nobody tries to run you over with a shopping buggy.

     Admit it, we've all been the victim of an old lady looking to start something.  When I was pregnant, I got run over all the time.  I guess I was a bigger target ;)

2.  Everyone puts their buggies back.

     ALDI has a great system.  All the buggies are locked together, and you have to insert a quarter into a little box on the buggy to unlock one.  When you're done with the buggy, you go lock it back and get your quarter back!  Why doesn't everyone do this?  This means there aren't any buggies rolling everywhere hitting cars or blocking spaces.  When I first starting going there, I figured there would be some people who wouldn't care about getting their quarter back, but no.  That quarter is apparently a big deal.

3.  They have super quick check out lines.

    You can swipe your card while the checker is scanning your groceries, then you take them over to a table and bag them yourself (which is great in itself because if you're like me, you want your groceries bagged a certain way.  You know, cold stuff together, bread and chips alone...Apparently some people think its okay to bag your hamburger buns and put a jug of milk on top of it.  Go figure).  Plus, they don't take coupons so you don't get stuck behind someone with 20 transactions and 800 coupons.  (Not that there is anything wrong with that.  It's a good way to save money.  But ALDI has such good deals, you don't even need the coupons).

4.  They have good prices, and everything takes just like name brands.

     I don't think I have ever spent more than $70, and I always fill my cart to the brim.  Sometimes, I even have to hold stuff on.

5.  They have a small parking lot.

     Why is this good you ask?  Well, every spot is close to the door, and there is no room to park motor homes in it :)

6. (Because five just wasn't enough)  Apparently, their brand of dog food contains crack.

     Grover eats everything, so food doesn't really matter to him, if he can put it in his mouth, he eats it.  My dad's dogs on the other hand are super picky.  They eat that stuff like it is going out of style.  You would think they were eating filet mignon.

So by now, I'm sure your mouth is watering at the idea of shopping at ALDI.  I'll do you a favor and end this post so you can run (not walk) to your nearest location. :D