Wednesday, August 13, 2008

A new Wal-Mart is born

Today Wal-Mart opened in our town. The whole community was there with smiling faces. There was a talking toothbrush who drew even our son into conversation. The town shall be forever changed from this day forth. I can't say it's not nice. I can't deny it's nice to buy large, ripe, edible tomatoes and my favorite Lawry's taco seasoning packets right here in town. I can't say it's not nice being able to buy low cost toilet paper and paper towels and camping toilet chemicals without driving 70 miles one way. I can't deny it's great to see the economically impoverished families in the area able to buy food and products at lower prices than usual in this tiny, out-of-the-way, off-the-beaten-track, place. Since many retirees reside in this area many of the Wal-Mart employees are retired seniors who seek a second income. We will be sad to see the small stores in town disappear though. Wal-Mart had a lot of problems finding employable people. The rate of drug use here is so high (meth) that out of one set of 100 applicants, six passed the drug test. Apparently they found people to hire finally. Seniors aren't into meth.

On Monday we heard a pastor was going to Wal-Mart to bless it. Everyone's wondering why Wal-Mart is getting a blessing. It's the little shops in town that need the blessing. Wal-Mart's going to kill them.

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