I had the most disturbing experience tonight at Wal*Mart. Well, aside from the trauma of actually being at Wal*Mart. I thought I'd hit the pinnacle of budget-shopping drama the other week when I watched the entire front end staff of the local Wal*Mart chase a couple of shoplifters through the parking lot. All the while shouts of "I didn't steal nuffin bitch" rang out while the 'alleged' offenders zigzagged between cars like ebonics spewing ghetto pac-men, crapping cd-turds as they ran.
That was amusing. Tonight was agonizing. We'd entered another Wal*Mart in the hopes of grabbing a few necessities before heading home for the night. I am notorious for getting irritated by stupid people in stores, but tonight was something else.
As I stood alone in the electronics department, trying to leave, I suddenly realized that nobody, not a single soul within 50 feet of me spoke English. In fact, I was literally surrounded by about 30 people all speaking various dialects of what I recognized as Spanish.
Now I have absolutely nothing about my south-of-the border brethren, but all the same it's highly disconcerting to find yourself in that kind of fish out-of-water scenario.
Then I figured 'Hey, in a non-racist study, I'm going to count the number of Spanish speakers between here and the door.'
I lost count. I think our Wal*Mart has 'ethnic attractors' built into the walls to pull in people who don't speak English.
I could be wrong though.
