Kill the Skunk! – Plus open ranting in the comments about experiences at the West Duluth Kmart

I recently evicted a family of skunks from under my kids' playhouse with none other than...mothballs! 

An uncle relayed a story to me this summer about a skunk that was getting a little too comfortable in his yard, prancing about in broad daylight and getting a little too close to his kids. He heard that if you pick up a skunk by its tail it can't spray you. After a few weeks of this he decided to try the theory out...and it apparently worked. He was able to pick it up by the tail and put it in a trash can, cover it up and drive it several miles away. It was back the next day, however. The skunk was allowed to stay after that.

Speaking of Kmart sucking: 

I've ranted about the horrible service at the Kmart in West Duluth before (Next Level column from December 2007) and received a lot of feedback from people who agree. 

Lately, something other than the service has bothered me, though. Have you ever noticed that the scanners in the checkout aisles make a loud humming sound that never stops? It's horrible, and it must drive the workers absolutely insane.

kmart sucks

I was there in August and bought a fantasy football magazine.  The receipt was over ten inches long for 1 item.  I asked the clerk if her machine was broken and she told me they were all like that.  What a waste!

My one-item receipt last night was 11-3/4 inches long.

Two things that have improved at West Duluth Kmart recently:

1) There do seem to be more checkout lines open these days than there were a year ago.

2) Cashiers have finally stopped asking me at the beginning of every purchase if I want to sign up for a Sears card and then at the end of every purchase if I want to donate to some charity.

http://www.last.fm/music/William+S.+Burroughs/_/Kill+the+Badger!

Did you measure your receipt with your Bridgeman-Russell ruler?

None other.

Am I ghetto if I actually like the West Duluth Kmart? I like not having to drive all they way up to the mall area...

Ditto Black Cat. Also, Icees are basically priceless.  You west Duluthers have no idea how good you've got it with KMart, this morning I was craving the Hillside Market on my way to work ... now we've got basically nothing until the co op unless you count Uncle Leroy's Candy Shop.

It's not that we don't appreciate having a department store in the neighborhood. We do. I go there all the time.

The point is that it shouldn't be such a major ordeal to get in and out of Kmart with what I want.

Speaking of that ... what happened to all of the Department Stores downtown?  Glass Block, Wahl's, Chez's ... 

(rhetorical question alert - and WAY off the topic of dead skunks)

skunky

What's up with Uncle Leroy's Candy Shop?

my aunt Bobbie retired from Kmart.

Which is the bigger waste of paper, though: A fantasy football magazine, or a 10" receipt?

Uncle Leroy (Mr. McGowan)sells not only candy, but barbecued chicken and automotive anti-freeze, as well.