People of WalMart

3894 · 08-28-2009, 07:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LSPoorEeyorick

Ever been to a city that has completely fallen apart? I grew up an hour out of Flint, which collapsed when GM closed all its factories. There are no grocery stores left in the city of Detroit. Things are really bad for people right now.

And while the ridiculous pictures are funny, the ones that just feature photo subjects in poverty just aren't funny to me.

Do you know why you don't see them in art galleries? Because they didn't win the genetic/luck lotto you did. Do you know why they're wearing cheaply-made easy-waist pants? Because they can't afford anything else.

I agree 50%. As you all know, I live in rural Wisconsin. Most of the jobs here are minimum wage. For the better jobs, we had paper mills but only two of those are left now. There's also two big insurance companies but only the executives make good money and one of them has been quietly letting an average of 100 people go each month since November. Dairy farming is a good way to go bankrupt. There's a branch of the University of Wisconsin and several hospitals. Almost all of the good-paying jobs are held by outsiders. This is not a place where a young person has any future.

I see people just like in the photos every day. At the grocery store. At the gas station. They are the families of my children's friends and the girls in my Brownie troop a decade ago. They are the people my husband worked with before he retired.

You can get nice-looking clothes at WalMart, KMart, GoodWill, the consignment shops, and the rummage sales. If you need extra-nice clothing for a job interview, there's a charity here that will hook you up for nothing. There isn't much you can do to cover the general hard living - alcohol and substance abuse, long hours of physical labor, lack of medical and dental care. I wish everyone would try to look their best.

Most poor people keep themselves neat and clean. The people in those photos look like they've just given up.

As for the elastic waists and velcro shoes, check me out. My Eileen Fisher skirt has an elastic waist and my Ecco sandals have velcro. That's called getting older.