This lunch box might just kill you

THIS BLOG MAY SAVE YOU FROM GREIVOUS BODILY HARM!

Whenever you try to scan something at a register that has been recalled by the manufacturer, the following message will appear: "SALE NOT ALLOWED - PRESS CLEAR"

What this means is that for some reason or another the item in question is not safe for consumers. Well, we got hit by a boatload of these Saturday & Sunday.

Every free moment the Service Desk staff had was spent scanning dozens of those cloth lunch bag holders that Wal-Mart is selling for Back to School to see if that particular color or that particular style was on recall. If it was a recall, we had to fill out a claim ticket for it. Turns out every lunch box in the store that's not made of metal is a recall.

At the end of the day, there were probably four buggies filled to overflowing in the back waiting to be returned to the manufacturer. This was on top of what they'd been taking off the floor all week.

What was worse? Parents and their kids had been shopping all weekend, so you never knew when you'd get one that had been hidden over in grocery for two days and just now discovered. Or shoved under a shelf and kicked around the floor. Remember the infamous "He can cry or he can burn" post? I can just imagine that scene going down at a register because Junior is married to the idea of a Superman lunch box.

So, if you have been shopping at Wal-Mart in the past month and bought your son or daughter a cloth lunch box - TAKE IT BACK. The manufacturer ordered a recall for some reason. We suspect they used asbestos in the lining and got called out on it, because the official reason was "poor quality stitching" - like when has Wal-Mart ever cared about "low quality" anything?

Make the service desk staff check to see if the item is indeed on recall. As far as I know, you shouldn't have to have a receipt to return a recalled item, because there's no question of it being shoplifted or stolen. However, without a receipt, you may not get cash back - only a store credit.