After
reading all the bile against Walmart, I was shopping at Walmart last Friday when
I became aware of two older, fragile people sitting on stools at the door to
welcome me. A man with a club foot was straightening
shelves, there were a number of senior citizens at counters. I ran into a friend that works there that has
one glass eye and a bad back, he has just been shifted to the night shift with
a small pay raise.
None of
these people are getting paid what we would consider good wages; but without
Walmart most of them would be unemployed.
I bought a
new George Foreman grill for $29 and some groceries. We looked at some of the RV products and
priced some computers. I need new
jeans and will probably pick up a pair of Wranglers next week.
We wax
nostalgically about the old mom and pop stores that no longer exist, but if we
actually had to shop, have the limited selection and pay the prices of ‘before
Walmart’ we might feel differently.
It is like
twitter, facebook and the internet – we may not like them but this is where we
are in time.
the Ol’Buzzard
