Walmart: Good vs. Evil

Someone pointed out a few days ago that I had stopped signing my posts on "Clem's Blog". It never occurred to me that there would be any question about who wrote what and I thought it might make it more interesting initially to guess who was posting. But again, not everyone thinks like I do so from this point on my posts will be in green text.

Sometimes we give things a bad rap just because it is popular to do so. Case in point Walmart. First off Walmart in the South seems to be different than Walmart in the West. Maybe I am wrong about this but my observations are that in the south EVERY Interstate exit has a Walmart and a Cracker Barrel. Consequently many Southerners who have witnessed the death of all the locally owned businesses in their community due to Walmarts domination of the market place have a bad taste in their mouth over this phenomena. I am one of those Southerners.

At any rate I still find myself looking for something that I know I can find immediately at Walmart and I take the easy way out and shop there myself. Two days ago I was in just such a situation. I wanted a small "I am living in a camper" sized crock pot. I have been eating from a crock pot since I was a kid and thoroughly enjoy coming home in the evening to a dinner that is ready to be scooped onto the plate . I knew that Walmart would have one and within 3 minutes of entering the store I was holding a crock pot perfect for the production of a two person dinner.

The place was packed of course and I found myself wandering around not so much looking at the "stuff" there but at the people. I remembered the days when I headed in a beeline to Walmart after picking up the kids from school, having no groceries at home for tonight or for lunches tomorrow, kids yelling out for school items that they had to have, and needing a new pair of panty hose to wear to work in the morning. What a blessed place Walmart was back then.

Passing by the school supply isle brought back lots of memories and for a few moments I felt shame for all the Walmart bashing I have done since my children have grown up. I watched young army men load their cart with CASES of ramen noodles, Mexican families putting Christmas presents in lay away, and elderly people riding around in motorized carts purchasing what looked like just enough food to keep them alive for the next week.

One of the things I love about travel is observing the culture of the area and I am here to tell you that Walmart definitely has a culture of its own. Walmart customers are dominated by a certain portion of the American socio-economic scale. They are busy people hustling to make ends meet and attempting to get the most efficient use of their time and money. In this respect I certainly feel like Walmart plays and important role in providing for the community.

So why am I writing about Walmart? Well I had one of those moments when I was there buying my crock pot. You know the moment. When you look around at something that just happened and no one else seems to think it is remarkable but you and you have this strange sense that you are in the twilight zone or maybe you passed out and are dreaming? This is what happened.

I am watching the army guys loading up their ramen noodles wondering how long it will take them to consumer the huge quantity in their buggy when a lady on the loud speaker says, "Attention Walmart shoppers will the person who owns the blue VW beetle please go to your car it is rolling through the parking lot". Her voice wasn't alarming just matter of fact and I immediately began looking around for someone to start dashing through the doors. I even walked up to the exit so I could witness the show. I was laughing out loud but when I looked around me I could not find one, not one person who seemed to have heard this or think that it was strange.

Feeling like maybe people were too preoccupied to hear the announcement I actually commented to a few people about the car rolling through the parking lot and they looked at me like maybe I was there with the people on the short bus. I think it was the second announcement about five minutes later that sealed it for me. Again the same lady with essentially the same message, " Will the owner of the blue VW beetle go to your car it is still rolling through the parking lot". Again nothing. No reaction. No comments. No laughing. Then It hit me.

Living with the fear of your car rolling through the parking lot was a valid concern for many of the people there. I actually began to wonder how many had had that experience. Probably a greater percentage that we could ever realize. Humbling isn't it. I suddenly realized that I have forgotten about the struggles that I had raising a large family and that my life has not always been as charmed as it is right now.

I left Walmart that night with a different attitude. I realize that the people who write bad things about Walmart are people who have the money to afford to go somewhere else to shop. Yes their stuff is cheap, yes they bully their suppliers and put people out of business, yes they are not always good to their employees, BUT many people NEED them especially right now. There are alot of people out there right now thrilled to have dented cans of green beans for half off and the thought of buying "organically grown produce" at three times the price seems insane and is just not an option.

So what did I take home from there other than the crock pot? A personal resolution to walk a mile in someones Walmart shoes before forming arrogant opinions. Hopefully it will help me be a more "real" person.