If you don't have anything nice to say...

Then don't shop at K-Mart.

While in K-Mart yesterday afternoon I was insulted, perplexed and down right astonished at how many rude people there are in this world...and yesterday they all seemed to be shopping at K-Mart.

As I was picking up some padded envelopes, I was insulted by a young girl who was shopping for school supplies. The kids were being a bit fussy as I walked into the aisle. It was our last stop in the store, so I just asked them to please keep the noise level down and we would be leaving soon. The girl in the aisle heard us and turned to me and said, "Are they yours?" to which I replied, "Yes." Her response?

"I'm sorry."

WTF? I shot her a look that totally said, "You've got to be kidding me, right?" The girl immediately started to apologize, but it wasn't genuine. She then told me that she was in college...her freshman year just started. To that, I said to her, "I'm sorry." and we walked out of the aisle.

On our way to the checkout counter (and every time I'm in K-Mart they only have ONE cashier working no matter what time of day or night), the kids are following along behind me. We get to the only cashier working and they started to head towards the narrow check-out area. As they walk in front of me, this short, pudgy woman on a motorized scooter/shopping cart cuts in front of us. In all of her barefooted, cankled up, purple jumpsuit glory she says to me, "I'm sorry, I was just trying to get in front of you." and she kept whizzing on by in her scooter. The kids turned around and the looks on their faces was priceless. They couldn't believe that they almost got run over by an older woman in a scooter.

As we were checking out, Malia saw a magazine with The Jonas Brothers plastered all over it. She squealed with delight. I told her that she could look at it, but I was not buying it (I'm still trying to get over the fact that last week I spent $40 on a t-shirt at The Jonas Brothers concert!). There was an old woman in line behind us who proceeded to say, "That stuff rots your brain anyways." I did my best to ignore her. I mean, it wouldn't be right of me to say anything to her...I'm supposed to respect my elders, right? I paid for our things and gathered the kids. As we headed to the car, I asked Malia, "Did that woman say what I thought she said?" Malia nodded.

So, the moral of this story is --

If you need to pick up a few things on your way home from work, don't try to cut corners and save time by going to K-Mart...just keep on driving and go to Wal-Mart.