kris and I stopped at walmart last night around 9, and as we were walking to the car, we heard brakes squealing, and a man in a van hollering many, many expletives at a small sedan in front of him.

I told kris to hurry up and get in the car, and we locked the doors quickly. why, you ask? I’m not sure, just the preservation instinct, I reckon.

I drove to the back exit, where we once again encountered the van and car. from my vantage point, it looked like the van was right on the car’s bumper, and when the car pulled out onto the road, the van tore off right behind him. I thought to myself that this would probably not end up well.

then I started thinking, and I’m wondering: what is it about walmart that brings out the worst in people? when I worked there, I saw several mild disagreements, more than a few arguments, and one near physical fight.

you have to wonder what is going through peoples’ minds when they are standing in the middle of the store, in front of God and everybody, screaming obscenities and pushing each other. is there no shame? no embarrassment? do people need to be the center of attention so badly?

often times I think of my grandparents, and how they might react to the goings on of the current occupants of the planet. back in the days when parents didn’t even let their children know they had disagreements, what would they have thought of a ‘fight up in the walmart’? I especially thought of them at Christmas, when I saw more and more signs announcing businesses open on Christmas day. what happened to spending time with families, celebrating a special birth? (I realize that I’m not the best person to comment on this, as we keep the poor chinese people and cinema workers in business on Christmas, but this year, I saw 3 different restaurants advertising they were opening at 5:00, and the little store down the road opened at 8 am).

anyway, y’all know I love walmart, but I also think decorum is under rated. if I EVER showed my tail in public, I knew that it would get blistered when I got home. and now that I’m grown up, my husband would probably walk out of the store and let me find my own way home. it’s a long walk from walmart home. well, it’s really only 5 miles, but still…it’s enough that it keeps me behaving. mostly.