Sunday, November 05, 2006

Tired of all the bashing..

I have no idea what the issues are with Wal-Mart these days, perhaps I live in a cave. What exactly do they pay their employees? If they're such assholes to their employees, why do they shop there? One of my neighbors works there, she is an immigrant from Jordan. She seems to enjoy her work, and I often see many of her family members there. I don't hear them complaining that Wal-Mart is evil or treats them badly. And why Target vs Wal-Mart? I've shopped both, and prices at Wal-Mart are usually cheaper. But what makes me MOST angry is this whole US vs THEM attitude about the shoppers. People commenting that the shoppers at Wal-Mart are ugly, or dress badly, or wear NASCAR stuff.. they yell at their kids and wear fuzzy slippers. Who cares? Seriously?

This is the story which I found, comparing Wal-Mart to Target.

If I want to see beautiful people, then I go to beautiful places. If I need to buy some groceries and save some $, then I go to Super Wal-Mart. I don't care if the other shoppers are naked, I have things to do and can't be bothered. I just smile at them, converse if the situation arises.. and move on. What happened to courtesy? I'm sure that just because some lady is wearing fuzzy slippers, that doesn't make her a lesser person than I am. Perhaps she has issues with diabetes and just liked the slippers because they were cute? And what's wrong with NASCAR? WTF? Does liking NASCAR make you any less than anyone else? No, it doesn't. I'm tired of Americans bashing Americans. I've had it. If you don't like the way people look, then move. We're about diversity here. People can wear what they want, be who they want and do whatever they want.

I remember once going on a back-road trip with my father in our new sportscar. We whirred past this run-down old farmhouse and I blurted out, "I bet they couldn't afford a car like this, Dad!". I was just a kid, and he snapped me into a reality check right there. "Don't ever say that. Just because they don't have the things we do, doesn't make us better than they are (Not that we had a lot, my dad just loved sportscars). And they may have the money to buy a nice car, but their priorities might be elsewhere. Maybe they have a home in Europe, you never know." And I have always remembered that, and I always try to treat everyone with the same respect.

Stop looking down your nose. I feel pretty certain that the people out there bashing Wal-Mart shoppers are just 1 paycheck away from being the very person they assume Wal-Mart shoppers are.