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But I’m not a fool. I know when a brand or a company doesn’t give a damn about its customers. And – after my brief experience in Walmart today – I know what many of my friends and I have thought about the Neptune Walmart for some time – this store does not give a damn about its customers.

The Walmart in Neptune Township, New Jersey does not care about its customers

I’m not going to go off on a rant because I don’t have the time or the inclination right now, but let me rundown the brief series of events that I just encountered. First, my intention in going to the Neptune Walmart was to get two money orders. That’s it – I didn’t need or want anything else.

When I walked in the front door, I noticed there were about ten people in the customer service line (typical at the Neptune Walmart – where they never have enough people working on the front end). Instead of waiting in that line, I figured why not go and buy some stuff that maybe I don’t need, but that I have to get at some point anyway. With that thought in mind, I make my way to the back of the store to the automotive section and after spending about ten minutes browsing around, I picked out two Rain-X windshield wipers (the ones that are $18 a piece – I was feeling good) and some Rain-X bug remover wiper fluid (I like Rain-X). All together I had about a $40 purchase in my hands.

Then I walked up to the front of the store and literally did a double take at the cashier lines. When I tell you that each line was 6 or 7 customers deep, that’s not an exaggeration. In fact, it’s probably an understatement because most of the lines were backed up into the clothing areas.

Some of you might ask, “What could make the lines so long on a Wednesday early evening?” And you’d be asking the right question – partly. One of the major disappointments about the Neptune Walmart is that they have around 25+ cash registers, but typically only have 7 or 8 open for business. They clearly need to have more cashiers operating at all times, so why aren’t they putting more people out there? Do they think that the few bucks they save in personnel costs is worth the aggravation of their customers? Talk about being shortsighted!

After realizing that I wasn’t getting back to the customer service counter without waiting 15 to 20 minutes in line to buy the Rain-X stuff (yes, when you shop at the Neptune Walmart, you typically spend more time in line than actually shopping), I decided to leave the stuff up at the front of the store and leave. As I was walking out the door, though, I noticed that the customer service area had no customers in it, so I redirected myself to get my money orders.

And when I asked the woman behind the counter for two money orders she very politely told me that the money order machines are down and they don’t know when they’d be back up. I looked at her for half a second, smiled, and thanked her as I walked out the door.

As if that wasn’t a big enough, epic failure of a trip to the miserable Neptune Walmart, don’t forget that it was raining today. And when it rains in New Jersey, no one remembers how to drive. Apparently, my neighbors in Tinton Falls and Neptune Township really forget how to drive when it rains because those folks couldn’t figure out how to get out of the parking lot without stopping short left and right, forgetting to use their blinkers, cutting people off, etc. It was misery.

But, believe it or not I’m not that mad at the whole experience because this was indicative of a typical trip to the Neptune Walmart. They just don’t give a damn about their customers. And you know what? That’s okay. That’s their prerogative. Just like it’s my prerogative to not shop there for the next month. That’s right, folks. After today’s abysmal experience at the Neptune Walmart, I’m not going back there for a month. I spend a lot of money at the Neptune Walmart each month and I hope that the good folks at the Ocean Wegmans and Neptune ShopRite enjoy my money because after today’s experience, the Neptune Walmart is on probation.

Unacceptable, Neptune Walmart. Unacceptable.

I don’t mean for this post to come off as sexist or any other “ist” that the extremists out there might be able to conjure up, but I think what I ran into at Wal-Mart was a mid-day rush by a bunch of local housewives. And if this is the condition that the local housewives are in, then Neptune Township really needs to consider some type of public health campaign for its citizens to address this issue. And it wasn’t just the size that shocked me, but almost every single huge person I walked by had a tremendous odor. Personal hygiene is so critically important – especially now that diseases like swine flu are expected to hit the country hard.

It was just shocking. I had never seen so many large, loud mouthed, smelly people in my life. And in truth, while the scene appeared to be about 75% larger housewives there were also people walking around where I wondered, “Don’t these people have jobs?” Sure, I was walking around, but as I’ve already stated – I’m on a staycation. Could that many people really be on vacation, too? Did I stumble upon masses of people that live off of the government’s (and, ultimately, our) dole? What the hell was it?

With all of the discussion about improving America’s energy future and President-Elect Barack Obama’s pledge to make energy security the top of his domestic policy agenda, let’s hope that situations like this don’t happen for too much longer.

This reminds me of the blackout from 2003 that knocked out power for most of the northeast states as well as Ontario, Canada. How pathetic was that? If you remember, for a brief period of time after that blackout there was some talk about fixing the electrical grid so that something similar would never happen again. Yeah, well, apparently that was forgotten real quick, huh?

At the very least, America should have a secondary energy grid running at all times just in case the primary grid goes down like it did in 2003 or a few weeks ago in Neptune Township. The secondary grid should be built on green technology with wind turbines, solar arrays, and other renewable energy sources so that we know it will always be available (wind is always and sun is always shining…somewhere). Then the secondary system can be built upon and expanded which does two things. First, it actually creates a large portion of the “green collar” economy that keeps getting thrown around in political debate. Second, it begins to shift America’s reliance on coal and oil sources to renewable energy.

Or we can do the alternative – which is to keep bitching about the need for energy independence via renewable sources and do nothing to achieve that goal. And the next time there is a blackout in any part of the country, we’d have no one to blame besides our politicians (go figure).

Last week’s Coaster newspaper included an article that talked about how the township committee in Neptune was considering changing the name of the street where a major redevelopment project is taking place. This project is being spearheaded by my former employer as the developer in partnership with MURC as the community sponsor. The name of the street is West Lake Avenue and the idea is to change the name back to Springwood Avenue. The Springwood Avenue name is the historical street name. The Coaster article talks a little bit about the name change to West Lake Avenue…

Asbury Park changed the street’s name back to Springwood Avenue several years ago. The name was changed to West Lake Avenue after the 1970 riots in an attempt to improve the image of the area.

“I would be very much in favor of changing the name back. Historically it has always been Springwood Avenue and it has a very rich heritage,” he said.

The “he” in the quote above is Neptune Township Mayor Randy Bishop. I’d be in favor of renaming the street by its historical name so long as it is a resident-spurred initiative. If a group like MURC or a group of residents from the street come together to support renaming the block, then I think it is a win-win situation for everyone involved.

All I know for sure, though, is that the redevelopment project being built on the current West Lake Avenue is going to do great things for this area of Neptune Township!

If you want to get involved, remember to download the flyer to read the details and drop off locations. Also, I suggest that you all remember that there are a wide variety of children looking for toys during Christmas – not just the young ones. Gifts of footballs, basketballs, sports jerseys, video games, and books are also greatly appreciated. Please give to the best of your budgeted ability – even in tough economic times we should all remember those who are less well off than we might be.

Plus, I know the people at MURC and I know that this is an excellent program. Give it a shot this Christmas season!