Wal-Mart through the eyes of innocents

Not that I would ever call Stephanie innocent, but she was a Wal-Mart virgin until this weekend. She claimed that they didn't even have them on Long Island where she grew up, but walmart.com and I quickly proved her wrong.

Stephanie has a bit of a Tori Amos obession, and had some old VHS tapes that she wanted to preserve on DVD. She decided that she would buy a DVD-R/VCR combo at Wal-Mart, use it, and then return it guilt free, because she hates the corporation.

This accomplished, I went with her to return the thing. She had expressed amazement at the sheer depths of white-trashiness contained therein—and this was a Wal-Mart in Houston. I made her walk around the store, and she was surprised that you could buy an engagement ring, a shotgun, and still do your grocery shopping in one convenient location. I don't think she understands the significance of their being open 24 hours, or how all Baylor freshmen seemed to shop there. After our first lap around the store, she looked at me, eyes pleading for me to say that we could leave. I didn't really want to stay there any longer, although perhaps in retrospect I should have—I think it would have been funnier.