I think we all have some sort of love/hate relationship with Walmart. Nobody WANTS to go there, yet you are inevitably seduced by their low prices. I guess this is why you see all walks of mankind sauntering down their aisles like zombies looking for the best deals.
As you approach any Walmart, the first thing that catches your eye are the beggars outside panhandling for a variety of causes, mostly local charities such as school programs. Once you get past the gauntlet of beggars you are greeted by a Walmart employee who is more than happy to give you a shopping cart. Next you notice wafts of food odors emanating from the local food court near the entrance, usually popcorn or whatever special they have that day. Frankly, I don't think there's anything better to put you in the mood for shopping like the smell of burning popcorn or corned dogs.
Following this, you start down the conveyor belt of narrow aisles that circle the store. Now it becomes a game of bumper cars as you weave in and out of aisles to avoid the unthinking clods who either stop without warning to examine some 29 cent item for sale or who lean heavily on the cart and move as if they have polio and are learning to walk for the first time. Wouldn't it be great if the carts every once and awhile discharged an electrical jolt to prod the people along a little faster, or at least to wake them up?
As I said, you see just about anybody at your local Walmart, representing every social strata imaginable. This means you also see some of the most avant-garde clothing worn by people, everything from pajamas, to suit and tie, with everything in-between. But most people dress incognito so they cannot be easily recognized. You also see a lot of people wearing sunglasses inside for the same reason. Yes, we love the low prices, but we don't want to admit to being a patron which I consider rather odd.
Frankly, I see the local Walmart as a sort of Statue of Liberty with a similar inscription:
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to shop cheaply,
The wretched refuse of our teeming shelves.
Send these, the desperate buyers to me.
I lift my hand out just beyond the exit door."
What is perhaps most interesting about the Walmart phenomenon is that regardless of what we say about it, we keep coming back for more, which is all the company really cares about. Kind of sounds like an addictive drug doesn't it?
Such is my Pet Peeve of the Week.
Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.
Tim Bryce is the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com
For a listing of Tim's Pet Peeves, click HERE.
Copyright © 2008 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.
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Comments: 15
Another thing you forgot to mention is their parking lot. It must be a countrywide problem because I noticed the same thing in California. Their lot is always jammed, and even hancicapped people have to park way in the back, not such a problem in southern California. But in Michigan in the winter, it's bad enough to make you willing to pay more elsewhere.
Until recently, though, Walmart was the best place to go for prescription drugs. I have no drug coverage, and I could get my high blood pressure drugs for $4. Now Kroger does that, too, and their parking lot isn't as bad.
My sister-in-law works at a Walmart in Alabama. When her husband was dying, the Walmart management was remarkably supportive, providing food and supplies, and holding her job while she nursed her husband.
I've got no complaints about Walmart.