I don't think I stepped into a Wal-Mart until my later teenage years, and most likely, it was out of necessity when I went on one of my many trips. May have been a missions trip or a vacation, I don't know. But I can safely say I've never quite had an experience like I did this past Saturday.
It started out innocently enough, not giving any money to a cause nodding at the greeter, and getting the items I had come for like cream cheese, yogurt, lemonade, and beans. Then, it was time to head over the hardware and sporting good sections; I was looking for zip ties and a headband. I'm walking down the aisle just minding my own business when all of a sudden, a guy walking with his kid stops me and smiles, shakes my hand, and immediately, I'm thinking...what is going on here? I have to remember that I'm in the south. He wound up inviting me to his church and to an event that evening called Saturday Night Extreme, which was sort of what Saturday Night Live would be if it was done in church. I explained I was busy but I do appreciate churches that get creative in their presentations. I found out later that this church does street preaching every Saturday at 10 am.
So I took his card and went over to the next aisle. There were about five guys in that aisle, and the guy who I would be chatting with soon joined them. So right away, I knew they were all together from this particular church. They were casually passing a toy football around. One of the guys took a 3 step drop towards me, he was maybe three feet away from me, and he gave me a quick look and said two dreaded words.
"I'm Brady."
That was all I needed to hear. I slapped the football down from his hand, looked right at him, and casually but firmly said, "F Brady." The other guys left, leaving just me and him. Now he was a decent sized guy, he is actually in the Navy, so he'd probably whip my ass. I explained I was a die hard Jets fan, and he admitted to me that he was a fair weather fan between the Jaguars, Cowboys, and Patriots. He also explained that he starting rooting for New England because of a girl he was dating at the time. My immediate response was to question the girl's intelligence and decision making.
We wound up talking for about 20 minutes and exchanged numbers at the end. I'm not sure that we'll communicate, but it went pretty well. I'm not sure how to feel about the church, just because I'm so uncomfortable with outreach. Maybe I'll visit one time, but I'm not sure as of yet.
The fun was just beginning. I get my zip ties, but not the headband, and I get on line. I'm behind 3 carts and they moved so slowly, so I called my father and told him what had just happened. Our conversation lasted ten minutes and I was still waiting. The person right before me was some 50 year old weathered looking Southern woman with a sharp mountain accent. She was trying to use a business check and it wouldn't process. The manager came over and still couldn't get it to work. I groaned, and the woman said "Sir, be patient, sometimes things don't always work." I ignored her, feeling it wasn't worth it to engage. The cashier and manager asked if she had another method of payment and she angrily responded that she used the business check every week and she was never going to shop at Wal-Mart again. She pushed her cart away in disgust.
And I don't know why I said this, but I just casually said, "And you wanted me to be patient." Her response was to yell at me, "Shut the hell up asshole." I just really pitied her. I couldn't not say anything, but I was not going to let myself get angry. I just said, "God bless you too!" She walked away and the cashier rang up my order. We just couldn't get over how rude she was. I admit to having a temper, but in that setting, to insult someone personally like that? Pretty sad.
Walking out of the store, everything came together. First, I had to make sure this crazy woman wasn't waiting to beat me down or anything. Thankfully, I didn't see her. But I'm walking back to the car and a guy is passing me slowly in his car, looking for a spot. He had a NY Jets license plate frame. I had him pull down his window and told him about the Virginia Jets Fans club. So who knows, maybe I helped the club to grow!
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