Warning...humorless rant ahead

I went to Wal Mart today. At the risk of sounding like a horrible snob, I will confess that I try to avoid Wal Mart. Our local store doesn't have the advantage of being a supercenter...no groceries to speak of...so there really is no draw. It smells weird, it is grossly overcrowded and it employs morons. But I needed thread and I didn't want to drive all the way to JoAnn Fabrics.

I stood in line behind an older lady, probably in her late seventies--about my mother's age. She had one of those hair styles that she probably gets "done" once a week. The curls in the back of her hair were flattened and I knew it would bother her if she could see it. She was of the generation that has separate wardrobes--house dresses for at home and nicer clothes for going out. She had obviously made an effort to look nice for her trip to Wal Mart. She wore black pull-on pants with a cream colored blouse and a purple floral jacket that probably had originally come with a dress. She just missed looking pulled together, but I applauded her effort. Her flattened hair and the individual-sized items in her basket made me think that she is probably alone at this point in her life. I wanted to hug her and thank her for getting dressed up and going out to buy two rolls of toilet paper, a roll of peppermint lifesavers, a bar of Dove soap and a packet of Austin peanut butter crackers.

She paid with a check. The clerk, a young woman with attitude to spare, began her eye-rolling marathon as the older lady searched deliberately through her purse for a pen. I finally handed her one. She bent low over the counter as she started to fill in her check. The clerk barked at her, "You don't hafta fill everything in. Just sign it!" The woman was so intently focused on writing legibly with shaking hands that she didn't hear the girl. At that point, the clerk actually grabbed the check away from her and barked again, "I said you don't hafta fill it in. Just sign it!" The poor woman was thoroughly confused. The clerk shoved the check under her nose and stabbed the signature line repeatedly with her finger while barking, "Hurry up and sign it! There's people waiting!" The woman dutifully signed the check and handed it to the clerk who scanned it and gave it back. More confused, the woman asked in a plaintive, defeated voice, "What do you want me to do with it?" The clerk replied, without explaining, but with excessive eye-rolling, "Do whatever you want with it--it's yours!"

I tried to explain to the woman that the clerk had taken a picture of her check and had all the information she needed. I tried to tell her that it would be best to tear the check up and to be sure to record it in her check register. I'm not sure she heard me. She looked so frightened and embarrassed, as if all she could think about was getting out of the store and back into her comfort zone.

An outing to Wal Mart shouldn't cost you a big chunk of your dignity and self-confidence. And people who bully the weak and make them feel like unwelcome strangers in this fancy high-tech world should be strung up by their thumbs.

I hope she doesn't give up. I hope she doesn't start letting her neighbor or niece or someone else start "picking things up for her." I hope she can dress up tomorrow and brave another venture out into a world that often doesn't have much patience or kindness. And I hope that I will do whatever I can to ease the way for my older sisters when they cross my path. Until I am in their shoes...