Inhumane Stalee

I love Thursday's
Sister #4 stalee
In Kindergarten one of the first rules you learn is how to get in line and stay in your place. My Lucy is in Kindergarten right now and I constantly hear the teacher say, “Everyone in a kindergarten line.” The kids follow this command and line up perfectly. Once in a while you see a kid who thinks he doesn’t have to follow the rules, but don’t worry Kindergarten kids usually take care of him. At five years old it is still acceptable to yell out loud, “Hey get back in line, don’t ‘budge’ in line.”

Clint and I went to wonderful Wal-Mart a few days back. We bought our girls boots that were on sale for $3.50. It was a great deal and the girls were so happy. When we got home Lucy was heartbroken to find her boots were brown not black. A few hours later we were back in the car heading to Wal-Mart for the second time that day. When we got to the returns line it was huge. Wal-Mart is known for customer service… right? Well we had been waiting in line for quite some time when finally, it was our turn next. I was so thankful and I told Clint we should have just bought the stupid boots because $3.50 was not worth this wait.

Right before it was our turn I noticed another couple that walked up beside us. My guard went up as I thought, wait they are not in line. Immediately I felt myself digressing into a five year old Kindergartener. I wanted to yell, “Hey teacher they “budged” in line.” As adult I have learned a few social skills and I am pretty sure that is not an appropriate thing to do. Instead I sort of stood in front of them to let them know I was not happy with what was happening. I guess I boxed them out as they say in basketball. Well the Wal-Mart lady said, “Next”, and what do you know these people walked up to the counter the same time as us.

Clint and I were fuming!!!!! The couple proceeds to tell us a story about how they had already waited in line and the cashier told them to just come back up. Do you think I cared? Um, no I did not. I was in line and they were trying to cut in line. My only thought was, don’t give me your story just get in the back of the line……so kind right. Thank goodness I did not say any of that. The cashier helped them and about one minute later another cashier helped us. It made us so mad and it took a while for us to snap out of it.

It made me think about who I am and who I try to be. Normally I try to be a loving, kind, sympathetic person. Normally I try to think of others needs before my own. Normally I try to be polite and kind to strangers. So what happens to me in these moments? I start to feel an inhumane side coming out. When it comes down to it I am being selfish and caring only about myself. This happens in the car, or the grocery store line, and I can’t forget Disneyland to name a few.

A few years ago my sister Judi and I decided we wanted to try and get Pantene pro-V that was on sale. I think it was on sale for 50 cents a bottle. We knew that if we were going to have a chance at it we would have to get there at 6:30 in the morning. We got up early and when we arrived we saw a line outside the store. I remember looking at Judi and I could see the nervous feeling on her face. We were never the kind of family that tried that hard for sales, in fact I had never been to black Friday until after I was married. We got in line and I said to Judi, “What the heck are we doing?” After deciding the sale was worth it we made a plan. I was going to go to the Pantene line and Judi was going for some diapers. They opened the doors and everyone screamed and we started to run. I had to laugh to myself because this was just not me. I have to tell you when I reached the isle I turned into someone else. Maybe I should call it “Inhumane Stalee”. It was the same person that came out in Wal-Mart the other day. I started dumping bottles into my cart. I am tall so I had an advantage over the other girls and that made me feel happy. After a while I realized I had way too much and I came to my senses that this is not how I want to live. I had like double the amount that I needed. Feeling guilty I started handing the rest out to the other women. Judi and I were successful with that sale but I did not get up early for a sale again. I did not like the way it made me feel.

I was taught my whole life to think of others before myself. I think it is dangerous when we are more worried about getting ‘our own’ than about how that makes other people feel. Recently I saw two ladies on Oprah that ran a place called “Love Kitchen.” The Love Kitchen serves food to people who are down on their luck. They told Oprah that one rule they live by is to never take the last piece of bread on the table because there might be someone who needs it more than they do.

Somehow I have got to get rid of the “Inhumane Stalee” and remember what really matters to me in those tense moments. So sorry to that couple at Wal-Mart. Sorry for the box out and the dirty looks. I guess I am a work in progress!

Stalee