Walmart and other Oddities

Last Saturday I made a quick stop at one of the Anchorage Walmart stores close to my hair cutting shop.  Every time I go there I cannot help but looking at the different people who wander the aisles in search for some particular item or another.

As you walk in the door there is the ‘Greeter’ who gives you a good morning and helps you take a cart to put your stuff in.  Today was no different as I approached the door there was a woman and her two kids going inside just in front of me.  She was yelling loudly at them so it was no problem hearing the exchange as I made my way around them and inside the store.  She was a very loud, unattractive, mean-acting woman yelling obscenities at the two kids all the way through the entrance.

The greeter was there and trying to calm the situation said pleasantly, “Good morning and welcome to Wal-Mart.  Nice children you have there.  Are they twins?”  The ugly woman stopped yelling long enough to say, “Hell no, they ain't twins.  The oldest one's 9, and the other one's 7.  Why the hell would you think they're twins?  Are you blind, or just stupid?”

Without missing a beat the greeter replied, “I'm neither blind nor stupid, Ma'am, I just couldn't believe someone slept with you twice.  Have a good day and thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart.”

I could not help but laugh as I made my way out of earshot as their conversation continued.  I am not sure if this capable senior citizen will be an associate with Walmart very long but I thought he gave it a great try making light in an unpleasant situation.  I wander around the store for a few minutes seeing expected and some unexpected things.

What gets me is that many of these people should not be out in public with some of the outfits or types of clothing they wear.  I remember living in Atlanta that there was a big push for women wearing spandex and big curlers in their hair that might have been used orange juice containers.  It looked horrid but the store was flooded with these people and it was not two o’clock in the morning either.

How was the Walmart experience here in Anchorage, AK, USA?  It’s pretty dreary.  Crowds of mutants struggle through aisles of ultra-inexpensive supplies . . . pushing piled-high shopping carts.  Why mutants?  Well, I thought my fellow shoppers were the strangest bunch I’ve seen in a long while . . . too fat . . . too thin . . . mis-shapen in so many ways . . . snaggle-toothed . . . limping and oddly dressed.  5^th Avenue Mall it ain’t (my southern terminology coming out).  Other shoppers, looking at me, probably thought I, too, brought down the tone of the place, “Bubba, look at that pathetic old man”.

I thought about all the misfits seen and wondered if it was just me or was there something going on out there and I happily found on the internet a site devoted to the “People of Walmart” and someone else has a similar blog on the different cars in the Walmart parking lot.

Check them out for a few laughs.

Ice