Saturday, October 27, 2012

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?

7 comments:

  1. Here in north Texas, it's not unusual to go into a store and hear mainly Spanish spoken. In Fort Worth, the Seminary South mall, built in the '60s, was re-purposed a few years ago as La Gran Plaza to cater to the burgeoning Hispanic clientele.

    I'm guessing that only the San Diego-Los Angeles corridor tops D/FW in the level of Latino influence. In 2007, the Dallas based <a href="http://www.pizzapatron.com/news/blog/2012/05/pizza-patron-gives-away-free-pizza-to-those-that-order-in-spanish.html'>Pizza Patrón</a> began accepting pesos, and this year added a free food promotion for call ins ordered in Spanish.

    I think [in Texas] today we're almost in the mirror image of the situation that existed in the 1830s - recent settlers from farther south are fast reaching 'critical mass'. Perhaps I should start looking in WY, MT, or Idaho (I hear they have an unused Governor's mansion - it might need a caretaker).

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  2. I 'think' it's the Guats... They've left Texas to the Mexicans...

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  3. According to my friends who live back in Illinois, Chicago will get third place....

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  4. Friend just back from Hawaii. Asked him what he liked the most. "not hearing Spanish".

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  5. Busy! And I needed just one thing so I checked out at the electronics counter. After scanning the ammo shelves to see if they had anything I could use at a good price.

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  6. Hunker down ML. Lu and I will be keeping good thoughts out for you two.

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  7. Well dont come to Bournemouth on the
    south coast of the UK as if you go down to the centre of town the most common languages you will hear being
    spoken are Spanish,Polish,Arabic some
    Russian,Kurdish,the town is full of Languages Schools and the area near where i live is known as Little Bagdad,Little Cairio,or the Gaza Strip.

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