Walmart weirdness
Saturday night going through the check-out lane at Walmart I had the following conversation with my clerk:
Her: “Hi!”
Me: “Hi, wow! You are quite cheerful for being at work on a Saturday night.”
Her: “Yes. Have you found Jesus as your personal saviour?” (It was literally completely out of the blue!)
Me: “No. I haven’t” (I’m sure I was standing there with my mouth open in shock)
Her: “Why not?”
Me: “Well, I’m an atheist.”
Her: “Ohhhhh…. Why?”
Me: “I just don’t believe. Has anyone else ever told you that?”
Her: “Yes, you are the third today.”
Me: “Really? Wow, that’s great.”
The cashier finished ringing up the groceries and bid me adieu with a cheerful, “I hope you accept Jesus into your heart!”
I am sure she was going against Walmart’s corporate policies in starting this conversation. And I did ponder going and complaining to management, but 1. Two hours in Walmart with two kids had left me drained. 2. She was really sweet and I wouldn’t want her to get in trouble.
Does she ask everyone this? This may be totally un-PC, but I shop at that Walmart a couple times a month and I’ve often noticed people of Arabic descent and lots of Pakistani and Indian families, all of which may very well not be Christian. Does she ask them?
I would assume not.
However, if she doesn’t then, really, how effective is her proselytizing?
September 2nd, 2008 at 5:21 pm
oooh, I would have turned the conversation around and counter-evangelized. They never see it coming.
September 2nd, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if this WAS totally in line with WalMart’s corporate policies. I can’t imagine WalMart having a problem with Jesus . . . unless Jesus wanted to pay their employees a living wage and decent health benefits. Then WalMart would have Jesus shot in the head.
September 2nd, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Just a few days ago I had a clerk at Walgreens say Have A Nice Day and God Bless You, which I found odd. Not really odd, but odd nonetheless. No-one has ever asked if I had found Jesus Christ as my personal savior though. That’s *really* odd. I think I would have answered with “Huh!?”
September 2nd, 2008 at 6:03 pm
“I would have turned the conversation around and counter-evangelized. ”
You and Ollie always do…
September 2nd, 2008 at 6:08 pm
PI, I’ll bet it was the same Walgreens clerk who asked me if I was on my way to church a few Sundays ago. I promptly told him I do not attend church. He now keeps a safe distance from me.
September 2nd, 2008 at 6:38 pm
You must either a) look like you need saving, or b)at least look *saveable*!
OTOH, I must be an obvious lost cause, because no cashier at any store has asked me that. haha!
September 2nd, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Keep yer evangilizin’ to yourself, I say, and bag ‘em up.
September 2nd, 2008 at 7:00 pm
The crappiest thing about my walmart experience? I was charged over $5 for two broccoli crowns (the sign said $1.12 each)!
September 2nd, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Maybe if the cashier had been focused on ringing in the correct produce code instead of saving your soul, she wouldn’t have charged you more than double for the broccoli.
September 2nd, 2008 at 7:44 pm
That’s why, Jenners. Don’t you know why they say “Jesus Saves?”
September 2nd, 2008 at 8:06 pm
How come I never get Jesused?? Man. You have all the fun.
September 2nd, 2008 at 9:21 pm
I *HATE* when people go all religious on me. In Indiana, people would always tell me to have a “blessed day”, which I sorta found funny because “Blessed Be” is a Wiccan thing, and I bet all those wishing me a blessed day didn’t know how similar it was.
I always fantasize about going a little batsh__ on religious people and telling them that drinking the blood of innocents is a lot more fun then letting Jesus wash my sins away, but I never do.
Having been fired from a job or two, I probably wouldn’t have talked to masnagement and risked getting some random cashier fired, but I would be irritated.
September 2nd, 2008 at 9:51 pm
I used to celebrate Festivus, until it got all commercialized.