Stranger Danger

Sometimes things weigh on my mind more than they ought to.  I've been told this my whole life.  I am a worrier, a ponderer, and more often than not it causes undue stress and even has known to cause ulcers.  (I'm not kidding.)  Something stressed me out today, more than it ought to have.  But it did and yes, I've decided to vent a little about it.

This afternoon on my lunch break I ventured with a friend/coworker to WalMart.  We went to get some odds and ends because we work nearish a shopping center.  There is an Old Navy, a Target, a WalMart, a HomeDepot, a Marshalls...the list goes on a little further but I stray from my point.  Surprised much?

I went to WalMart today on my lunch break so that Josh wouldn't need to run to WalMart on his way home to get these odds and ends.  It seems that during the week by the time we get home, feed Belle and Sadie and ourselves, do the dishes and get our jammies on that it's time for bed already.  So I went to WalMart really so that Josh would come home earlier and we could spend as much time together as possible before getting up for another work day. 

Right, sorry.  I need to quit overexplaining and get to the point.  WalMart.

What do you do when you come upon someone you don't know and you're face-to-face or next to one another in line?  Do you avert your eyes, do you look him/her in the eyes, or do you gawk and wave like toddlers sometimes do?  Do you scowl at someone who smiles at you?  Do you give dirty looks to people who your toddlers wave and talk to?

More often than not I come across how unfriendly people can be.  Sometimes the over-friendliness of people really takes me pleasantly by surprise (driving through potential new-home-neighborhoods this weekend we received waves and smiles from 100% of the passersby, walkers, bikers, etc.) 

But more often than not, as I said, people are so unfriendly. 

What is it that makes you, WalMart Stranger, so upset with me, when I offer you a warm, unoffensive, nod or a smile?  Should you really give me a go-to-Hades look in return?  What did I do to you, anyway?  Oh yeah, I smiled at you.

I truly hope I don't come across to strangers as offensive.  I don't walk around with a mean look on my face.  I don't look at people like "I'm about to bite you!" if you tip your hat to me or nod, or wave, or smile. 

It's funny.  I never venture to WalMart anymore.  I did today because my coworker friend wanted to go there for the produce department.

So, WalMart Stranger, if I am standing there patiently waiting behind you, putting my Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner and bag of Dove chocolates on the conveyer belt politely so as not to touch your items, why look back and--in response to my smile (I call it an acknowledging-you-as-a-fellow-human-being smile)--why, why, WHY do you feel the need to scowl at me? Do you think I want to grab your peanut butter and put it in my section to buy it and take it home?  I don't even like fishsticks so I'm not about to steal those from you.  Do you think that since I'm buying a bag of chocolates that I'm going to swipe your bottle of Gatorade to wash them down with?  I don't think so!  And you don't think so either!  You're just an angry, mean WalMart Stranger!  And your 'tude depresses me.

You guessed it.  I don't usually go to WalMart.  I am a Target gal, through and through.  At Target, I don't run into these issues or Grumpy Strangers and I don't have to wait in line as various customers create six transactions to use their foodstamps for  food, shortly thereafeter pulling a (huge) wad of cash from their pockets with their impeccably manicured hands to pay for their alcohol, then handing cash over to their friend to buy a video game or two. 

Not me.  I go to Target.  Quiet, friendly, friendly, quiet Target.

I know why people shop at WalMart (to save $$$)--and I am I-can't-tell-you-how-glad to pay an extra few dollars for the convenience and good feeling I get when I leave Target.  As you can tell, I get kind of worked up after WalMart visits.