Opinion and Commentary By Donna Westfall – February 16, 2026 First thing this morning we ate breakfast and then it was off to Walmart to shop. 10:33 am, lights went out. We were encouraged to get to the registers asap as they would stop working in 15 minutes. Well, we were the last one in line. Everything got swiped and bagged up. And then we went to pay. The machine wouldn't take our debit cards nor credit cards. Everything was declined. Between the two of us we managed to put together $200. The bill was for $197.87. Nope, it wouldn't work. Nothing worked. Not credit, not debit and not cash. When they say things shut down at Walmart, better believe them Guess what? They couldn't make change. We were stuck. They put our carts over to the side and said come back when the power was back on. Then we tried to get out. Couldn't. The doors would not unlock. We couldn't push them apart. Fortunately, one of the workers came and pressed some button overhead and pushed the doors apart. Whew! Now we wait to see how long it will be before power is back on and whether or not we'll be able to retrieve our two shopping baskets of stuff.