people-watching in Walmart

[olmue]

So I live in the Holy See of Walmart, which means there's like, one on every corner. Hence the observations:

Friday night: Family date night! For all those couples with upper elementary school children and who can't get a babysitter--there's always Walmart! The air is slightly festive with that get-out-of-the-house feeling. Junior snuck an extra case of ice cream in the cart? Go ahead and leave it--it's Friday! Also to be seen--college students grabbing a little something for a party.

Saturday afternoon in November in Arkansas: Hunting day. I've never seen so many people in hunters' camo in my life. Children are having tantrums in the carts, little old ladies are beating their way through to get weekend provisions, but what's most obvious is trigger-happy folks buying guns in the middle of a department store. Maybe I've been in Europe too long, but does it bother anyone else that you can go to a family department store and buy a weapon designed to kill someone? The other thing you can see: every hairstyle of the past 50 years, frozen in time.

Weekday in December: a lot of glassy-eyed people buying corn syrup products (whether they knew it or not), and a woman who looked exactly like a Pekinese. Have you ever noticed that some people look rather like specific animals? 

(Obviously I had big plans for today, but they have been foiled.)

Comments

[juliakarr.livejournal.com]

definitely bothers me that people can walk into a department store & buy guns and ammo...
yes, hairstyles from the past 50 years & beyond!
and some people do indeed look like animals! lol

[olmue.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I wish I could sneak a camera into Walmart and do portraits of Americans in the Rough... :)

[juliakarr.livejournal.com]

lol - "rough" is right!

[robinellen.livejournal.com]

I don't think most Walmarts sell guns...do they? I guess I've not noticed. I don't HATE Walmart, but I do try to avoid going there ;) I only go when I need something only they have (like a certain type of chocolate milk).

[olmue.livejournal.com]

Yep. Every single one I've been in does. I try to avoid shopping there because I always spent more than I intended (and I see they've removed their "we will not be undersold" logo while I was gone), but there are a few things I do find mostly there.

[meredith-wood.livejournal.com]

I know you've heard me curse WalMart many times. *G* Welcome to the home state of that horrid wonderful store. ♥ my hubby's one of those obsessed hunters.♥ ;-)

[olmue.livejournal.com]

Well, when we're traveling out of state, DH always feels like we can take a rest stop there because after all, I'm from Arkansas, and it's like, my embassy or something. Now that we're here, though, it's a bit overpowering...

[meredith-wood.livejournal.com]

You know how sad it is for us? We actually never go out of town that we don't end up stopping at one for something. I swear I've been to every Walmart in the tri-state area. sheesh.

[edawn.livejournal.com]

The gun thing. Yep, something we don't see over here much.

[olmue.livejournal.com]

I'm sure that's why it stands out so very much to me.