Priorities people...priorities

I'm not one to hate Wal-Mart, many people are, but I love a deal so no hatred here. That being said, the minute I stepped into this particular Wal-Mart, on this particular day, I knew it was a mistake. I found the item I was in need of and made my way to the register. As I got closer to the line of registers I saw the hoard, large, teeth missing, out of breath from just standing, with a gaggle of matching little clones. This sounds like an exaggeration but sadly it’s not. As I stood there in a line of the dredges of society I couldn't help but smile at the astonishing fact that myself and these masses exist as the same species.

The wonderfully white-trash woman in front of me reached the register and unloaded the items from her cart. Its contents contained the following, a gallon sized jar of mayonnaise, a tub of butter larger than my dogs food bowl, a sack of sugar that could double as a sand bag in a flood, and one tomato. The last thing removed from her cart were sales papers from several other grocery stores, which she was using for price matching purposes, in order to save a life changing 76 cents. The last item to be rung up was the misfit tomato, amongst a group where it didn't belong. When the price came up on the display the woman asked in shock, "how much was that tomato?" After the price was confirmed as $1.03, she immediately asked for it to be taken off her purchase, as it was an outrageous price. Of all the items, the one that might help to de-leatherize her skin, and allow her to lift her 55-gallon drum of mayonnaise without breaking a sweat, had to be removed.

I completed my purchase, exited to my car, and maneuvered my vehicle through the grazing patterns of the patrons, towards the driveway. As I sat at the red light waiting to return to humanity, I looked in my mirror and saw the same woman sitting in her car behind me, and wouldn't you know, she was sucking down a cigarette, one long drag after another. That cigarette was removed from a pack with an estimated value of $6, a purchase that she gladly made...that $1 tomato however, was overpriced.

Priorities people...priorities