Like most people I live in my own little cocoon where I mostly just know people who are not that much different from myself. It’s natural I guess to assume that the people you know are all just average and everybody else in the country is just the same. I remember reading the comment by bewildered film critic Pauline Kael after Richard Nixon trounced George McGovern in 1972, “Nobody I knew voted for Nixon!”
Yesterday I got a hint that all was not the way I imagined. Dad needed a few things and I took him to the local WalMart, since that was about the only place open in his small town on a Saturday afternoon. I don’t get out a whole lot it’s true, but I have been to WalMarts before. However I don’t remember them being quite like this.
The parking lot was packed. Guys with missing front teeth were wheeling around in jacked-up pickups with Confederate flags in place of the front license plate. They barely stopped at the pedestrian crossing for me and my 93-year-old dad in his walker and then they impatiently stepped on their gas when we were not even halfway across.
Just when I was beginning to think this could be a set for a remake of Deliverance, we stepped through the front doors and into what was apparently a county convention of 13-year-old girls. Luckily the crowd thinned out once we were safely past the lobby and into the main store. In fact we had the men’s department pretty much to ourselves. There was even a helpful young store clerk who directed us to everything on our list.
He was not typical though. Most of the employees looked like they should have been retirees. They wore little vests covered with badges. I would like to go back sometime and talk to them about the badges. They remind me of the “snowbirds” I see when we visit my father-in-law in the RV park. They wear the same kind of gear.
It seemed odd that the employees were generally so much older than the customers. Not so long ago store clerks all seemed to be teenage girls who stood around chewing gum and ignoring me while they gossiped with each other. Here they all had wrinkles and shaky hands. I saw one elderly employee on a ladder getting something off the top shelf and I felt a pang of guilt. I had to repress an impulse to ask him to have a seat while I got the item for him.
Not being experienced with the way the store works I had neglected to pick up a shopping cart when I came in, so I had to leave Dad there and push my way back up front to get one. Apparently I was not the only one to forget this. Awhile later after we had filled it up with a half dozen items we left the cart alone while we walked down an aisle looking for something. When we returned someone had dumped our merchandise out and made off with the cart. I left Dad alone again and stomped back up front one more time for another cart, muttering under my breath.
I believe this is a new low in my shopping experience. I can’t recall ever having a shopping cart stolen before.
Luckily we got through the cash registers and back through the parking lot to the car without being run over.
The trip gave me some things to think about. I’ve read about this but it was the first time I had experienced first-hand the changing demographics of low-wage employees. And having my shopping cart stolen that way - apparently I have been over-estimating the human race.
Comments (7)
Hey Bill,
My friends fuss at me for not shopping at the one stop shop megastores. I always leave so disappointed because I spent far too much time in line buying what I need. In addition, I can never find assistance. I prefer the stores that others don’t frequent. The prices may result in fewer shekels in the pocket, but I do have more time.
Glad you made it out in one piece!
I REFUSE to go into Wal-Hell again. The one here is a magnent for all of the mis-fits in the state. If an Alien were to come down, and see the quality of patrons that frequent that store, they would shudder and leave, not wanting any genetic material from this planet.
Wow. Stole your cart. That is a new low for store behavior in my experience, too.
Our local Wallmart is a fair mix of employees. All ages, all types of people. Everyone in that store is unfailingly polite and smiley. I remember working retail and some days smiley is hard to pull off.
Next time your dad wants to go shopping, go ahead and go to Wallmart - but have your dad wait in the car and run in and get one of the motorized carts for him. Nobody will steal that while he is sitting in it and the trucks will just have to cool their jets when he is crossing.
If he needs a bit of excercise, go to a park and get some walking and talking in.
Faith, friend. There is bad, but there must still be good, as well. Even in the wretched soul who was too lazy to get their own cart. There must be…
Wal-Mart shopping is a relatively new experience for us Calgarians and even on the busiest day (pre-Christmas), it’s not half as bad as what you’ve described. It’s a pity the seniors aren’t management rather than clerks and greeters. The 50+ years of experience they have under their belts would go a long way.
I second Jenn’s comment. He should have one of those motorized thingies. And we’ll just hope that the person who stole your cart needed it really, really badly. Like, a mother of two kids, one of whom was a screaming infant and the other was a toddler who had to go to the bathroom right now, and the bathroom’s at the other end of the store, and the mother’s at the end of her rope (or already lost it) and so she just grabs the first cart she sees . . .
I agree with Mary Lou about WalMart - plus it seems like there is always a disgusting smell about it that overwhelms one as soon as you go in the door - sort of like stale burnt popcorn……..The one near me is a MegaWalMart that seems to have no rhyme or reason about the placement of the aisles……..Went once & haven’t been back…….I prefer the super Target stores or even Sam’s when I want to buy in bulk- usually cleaning supplies a few times a year.
Never been in a WalMart and never will. I refuse to support this malignant tumor on the face of our planet. I’d sooner cultivate bindweed.