All my adult life I have enjoyed watching people. The late TV personality, Art Linklettter, hosted a program called "People Are Funny." The name of the program stated a fact—human beings, in the normal routines of life, can be very humorous, even when they are not trying to be funny.
Shopping at Wal-Mart gives one an opportunity to engage in people watching at its best. We have a Wal-Mart Super Center a few miles from our house and I usually have a need to stop there at least once a week to pick up one or more items. Wal-Mart carries just about everything—groceries, clothes, automotive supplies, all kinds of gardening items, hardware items, small electronics, tech gadgets, etc., etc. Like other Wal-Mart Super Centers, ours has a pharmacy, an optical department, a hair salon, a bank, a place to get copying done, a tax preparation assistance center (during tax preparation "season"), an auto repair center, and at one time a McDonalds. In my retirement years, as my needs have become fewer and simpler, I have often said if I can't find it at Wal-Mart I probably don't really need it. Plus, they have a good return policy. If for any reason you are not pleased with an item, return it and they will replace it, refund your money, or give you a gift card for the amount of your purchase—no questions asked.
Wal-Mart shoppers come in all sizes, shapes, colors, and in both genders (and sometimes—with reference to the latter—it is hard to tell which is which). They come dressed (or practically undressed in some instances) in all kinds of garbs. Many come not only to shop but also to socialize. Benches are found at the front of the stores and these are usually occupied by people visiting with one another—often older men waiting for their wives to get through with their shopping. Sometimes it is hard to negotiate the aisles of the grocery department because women have parked their carts in such a way that it is virtually impossible to get by them. There are no "driving rules" in a Wal-Mart, as shoppers switch from one side of the aisle to the other. Often several women will be engaged in conversations around their carts, creating a real "traffic jam" for other shoppers.
Shopping buggies serve a variety of purposes at Wal-Mart. Not only are they used to hold items the shopper purchases, but for older people, especially those who are somewhat obese, they are used as a kind of "rolling walker" on which to lean as they negotiate their way through the store. One is able to surmise a great deal about people's eating habits and overall health habits just by observing them at Wal-Mart. Not long ago, I saw a middle aged couple, both using electric carts, loading their shopping cart with several sacks of candy.
Wal-Mart has its downside. Take, for example, the check-out lanes. There may be as many as fifteen or twenty checkout stations at the local Wal-Mart but only two or three open at any given time, creating a long wait for people. Exacerbating the problem is the fact that some customers will wait until all their items have been checked and bagged to begin rummaging in their purse, wallet, or pocket for their checkbook or credit or debit card. What's the problem with having the card ready or the check already written except for the amount of the purchase? People's failure to think or plan ahead is something one learns by shopping at Wal-Mart. Come on, folks, get with it! Don't you know that we retired folks are in a hurry, with places to go and things to do?
One other matter: Some people who can get to Wal-Mart at least once a week—sometimes more often—can't make it to church on Sunday. If I were to do an interview with certain folks I see at Wal-Mart and ask them where they go to church I have no doubt that some of them would say, "Well, I've got this old arthritis so bad or this problem with the gout so bad or this knee problem or this hip problem that I am not able to go to church." (Maybe sometime I will tell you about the lady who suffered an injury in a car accident that put her on crutches and kept her out of church for about six months, and was embarrassed when I saw her hobbling high up into the stands at Ladd Stadium in Mobile, Alabama to see the Senior Bowl game!)
Like I said, people are funny and you can learn a lot just by watching them—especially Wal-Mart shoppers.
Hugh Fulford
November 15, 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment