Monday, May 14, 2007

Bag Me Up a Nervous Breakdown While You're at It

Y'all know what Wal-Mart does to me. If you don't, you don't read my blog often enough (shame on you!).

Anyway, while I was checking out at Wal-Mart yesterday, I had the pleasure of being right in front of the "Family Fun Center" aka arcade. Now, I don't know why they call it a FAMILY Fun Center when it's really just a refuge for the Hellion Children whose parents do not supervise them, but whatever. The world is full of misnomers.

So I'm waiting for the lady to finish ringing up my purchases and out of the corner of my eye, I see movement in the FFC. I looked up in time to see a little boy (probably 4 or 5 years old) standing on top of the basketball arcade game. I was at a loss for words. I just pointed and gasped. I just knew he was going to hook his little beaten up cowboy boots in the ledge of the machine and fall the three feet down to the hard floor on his face. Where was his daddy? Oh, he was sitting on a bench beside the arcade, but he didn't bother to even look up or tell the kid that he shouldn't be stomping around on top of arcade games. The little boy jumped down and they soon left without incident. Thank goodness. I nearly had a nervous breakdown in the few seconds in which I witnessed the hellionism.

On a related note, I was watching BookTV the other night as I was falling asleep. I'll pause while you laugh at me for being a dork.
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This was the book that was featured. The thing I like so much about BookTV is the interaction the audience has with the author who is giving a talk on his/her book. Well, apparently in the book, she has lists of "That's So Ghetto" things. And the audience was sharing things they've noticed people doing that have made them stop and think "That's So Ghetto". So as I was watching the little boy at Wal-Mart narrowly avert death in the Family Death Fun Center, I couldn't help myself. I immediately tagged it as "So Ghetto". And it wasn't necessarily the kid I thought that about. I thought it about the mom and dad who didn't have enough sense to know (or just didn't care) that 4 year old boys can't be trusted not to climb up on arcade games and tempt fate.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm just glad we've moved beyond the DogArse Chronicles.

;-)

Mercy's Maid said...

Hey, I warned you that it was tmi!

And I'm still waiting for my "When Good Blogs Go Bad Award" banner.

Anonymous said...

You know, it's when the kids stand up in the front seat part of the shopping carts that send me into cardiac arrest. I'm a bundle of nerves anyway, and seeing this sends me into all sorts of panic. What is it with some parents?

Pamela said...

I haven't been to walmart in a very long time. Hate that store. Hate to shop.

But so many kids just run off down the aisles and out of sight == don't the parents know there are predators.