Walmart Woes Turn into Wows

I'm a bargain shopper. I coupon -not the extreme way but enough to save about 30 bucks every shopping trip. I love sales and especially clearance sales. Though I look for the best deal everywhere, usually when I have to get the basics of grocery shopping done, I go to Walmart because that's where, as a whole, I get the best bang for my buck. That being said, I generally do not like Walmart.  It overwhelms me in the extreme. Between the drug deals I have personally seen go down in the parking lot, the police cars that screech up at least once a month while I'm shopping there, the scantily dressed customers, and the cussing I hear in the aisles, I get overloaded quickly. Add that to the volume of merchandise that is continually rearranged and the tired associates that work there, and I am a melt-down waiting to happen. I know-how can it be worth it, right?

Honestly, as bad as I've made it all sound, I am blessed (or cursed?) with being able to see the good in most everything. I get that characteristic in myself pointed out to me often. Some people think I just make excuses for the behavior of others. I prefer to call it seeing the goodness. I've said before that I pretty much love everyone-even if they act rotten. I still see the good things inside....the same is said of Walmart and the people there.

Yesterday was an exceptionally trying day at Walmart.  I was already tired. I walked into Walmart and they had rearranged the store-again (this time putting in a bunch of self check-outs.) Because of this, I couldn't find anything, and prices on just about everything I usually buy have gone up in a week's time (I'm sure to pay for the new registers!) I made it to the checkout lines-4 of them were open with about 10 people in each one. They all had very full carts. I'm looking around at all the tabloids-which are such a sad reflection on the world, and noticing everything around me. Crying babies. Yelling (and spanking) parents. Sassy kids. Grouchy checkers. A stressed out store manager shoving his way through everyone without a single "excuse me". I started feeling woeful. Overwhelmed. Sad, impatient, stressed out. I was ready to leave my full cart and just go home.

As I was looking at others, seeing that they all looked like I felt, I realized we were all feeding off each other, and making everything feel worse! I saw good people in a hard situation. Holy cow-WOW! Aha moment! At that moment (for that moment anyway) I pasted a big ole smile on my face. I let a lady with just a few items go ahead of me. I picked some things up for a mom whose child had dropped them all over the floor. She smiled back at me. She said, "That made my day, thanks!"  To the man who got called from another duty to come open a  register and ring me up, I told him how much I appreciated him taking the time to help. He said, "Thanks! I really needed that today!" No. I didn't change the world. Maybe I only changed me and my attitude. But I felt better. I made it through. I saw that we're all human, and tired, and we all have goodness in us. Sometimes we just need a reminder that it's there.