The difference between the poor and the very poor is openly exposed when you go shopping.
Saturday Carol and I bopped about buying stuff.
First stop was Ocean State Job Lots.
I feel dirty in that store. I feel like I have to keep my hand on my wallet to fend off fellow shoppers. I don't like the way the store smells. I don't like the way it looks. I HATE the fucking jingle.
I used to feel that way in Wal-Mart. Still do actually. I just haven't been there in a while.
But somehow I think Ocean State is worse.
The people look downtrodden. They look uneducated. They look frustrated and angry. They look dirty.
Guaranteed, if I grabbed a shirt simultaneously with another shopper I would release it immediately. I believe I would avoid an ass kicking that way.
I bet the ratio of smokers to non-smokers in an Ocean State is 300 to 1.
Later, we shopped at Bed, Bath and Beyond. I felt perfectly comfortable there. Fellow customers appeared brighter; both in expression and intelligence.
The atmosphere was lighter. It did not wreak of poverty and broken dreams.
Bear in mind, it is still not an upscale place. How upscale could a place named Bed, Bath and Beyond be?
Still you get entirely different clientele in these two stores and never the twain shall meet.
Except when Carol and I shop.
There is a huge gap between the uber rich and the rest of us exploited majority. It sucks, its there and it is getting worse. They float on luxury air mattresses while the rest of us drown.
But even within our ranks there are divisions and understandings and class distinctions and separations.
I have also noticed that at Christmas time the most frenzied shoppers are the ones who appear to have the least amount of money and education.
What does Christmas mean to them?
A chance to pretend to be successful?
I don't know. Perhaps I am over thinking this whole deal a tad too much.
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