Home Depot Drama — by Guest Mom Debra Mitchell

With school quickly approaching I am having flashbacks from a traumatic school related incident that happened in the Spring. When summer hit, I thought I had put this crazy experience behind me, but no. I guess I just finally need to deal with it, what better way than share it.

To explain what a big deal this was to me, until this incident happened, Home Depot was one of my favorite design inspiration spots. I love utilitarian hardware, and obscure and random findings. But I will never go back after this experience. Also, this might just be the most humiliating thing that has ever happened to me — so you may not want to read it. On the other hand, feel free to enjoy a chuckle at my expense.

Ok. So I was in charge of buying supplies for the 4th grade Gold Rush (panning for gold) activity. That included buying 200 lbs of sand and 100 lbs of pebbles. I went to Home Depot and put in my cart the bags of sand and pebbles with the help of a red vest employee. At the same time I was working on getting the final touches to my website and was in the middle of a phone conference with 3 other people. Phone to my ear, it all went very smoothly through checkout — until I pushed my cart out. At the exit, there was a 1" raised area on the ground, where the pavement didn’t match up. Normally a shopping cart just bumps right over it, but I found out too late that 300lbs doesn’t just bump over anything.

This is what happened: my cart hit the (1”) wall, causing the sand and pebbles to shift to the front of the cart, causing the back wheels to lift off the ground.

So I stood there, phone still at my ear sounding as natural as I could while bracing, and holding on to the 300lbs that was soon going to go flipping out of the cart. At the same time, I am desperately trying to catch the attention of anyone that would come and help me hold on to the cart — but the 2 men in line near me just stood there with gaping mouths. I could almost see the thought bubbles over their heads saying “Wow, that shopping cart is going to flip over any second.” But no one helped! And then just as I expected, the last bag flipped forward, causing the weight to shift again, this time with such force it took the cart out of my hands. Then. . .

(This is the unbelievable part. And I risk causing some of you to think that I am not telling the truth, in fact it even made my husband, a physicist/engineer, take an academic look at it, but now all he can say is how“impressed” he is by the physics of it all.) As the cart flipped forward, one of the bottom wheels grabbed me right between the legs — lifting. The next thing I knew I was in the air. And like it goes with situations like this, everything went in slow motion, and I saw my own thought bubbles as I distinctly remember myself thinking, “My feet aren’t on the ground, I wonder what will happen next?”

At that point I’m not sure if I flipped over or just catapulted over the cart, but I was over the cart one way or another. Bruised legs and 6 feet from my purse and phone (which I should never have been on in the first place) as the 2 men continued to stand there — probably trying to believe what just happened. FINALLY someone came to help, quickly trying to get me out, I noticed. And there I stood shaking and disoriented in the parking lot, heart beating so fast. I did find my way home but I was amazed that almost an hour later my heart was still beating hard. I have since been so thankful that it wasn’t 7 years ago when I most certainly would have had a child in the seat in the cart!)

So there it is in black and white. I’m relaxing already. I think I am ready to move on.