Wal-Mart after-action report

So after finishing my regularly-scheduled errands, I stopped into Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. Lots of bare shelves there; the locusts have already stripped it of camp stoves, propane, bottled water, flashlights, and pretty much everything else that any rational person should already have in their homes. But still they flooded in, and the parking lot looked like it normally does on the day before Christmas. Inside, the check-lanes all had long lines and the aisles were seriously crowded.

Of course, moving around inside might have been easier except for the fact that so many of these West Virginia women are "double wide", if you know what I mean. Not surprisingly, there seemed to be plenty of Slim-Fast and other diet products remaining on the shelves. Coincidence? Doubt it.

I'd still be there but for my strategy of getting all of my items in a cart or basket, then going to Sporting Goods and buying one box of ammunition..."oh, and all this stuff too, please." The Sporting Goods cashiers hate me. But considering what they charge for ammunition these days, I don't feel too bad about it.

One thing that I am noticing more and more of: Spanish being gabbled about in the aisles. And it's not the employees, either. I swear that half of Mexico is shopping at my local Wal-Mart these days. Or maybe they're Guatemalan. Anyone got the number for Texas Department of Public Safety's Aviation Section?