Fucking Wal-Mart
I got my first real paycheck in many months today. It was barely enough for my car payment, which is past due. I have been working in a bakery for over a month, now, and I generally have been having a good time. The people are all right, a motley bunch of pirates and vagrants, and I think I will start calling them such. They generally like my jokes, as long as I don’t hit on subjects particularly sensitive to their pasts, and they don’t bother me too much with there admittedly lower class ideas.
I guess I like the job because I got it. I’ve had the worst time trying to secure ‘real’ employment in the last year, so it’s nice to just stand and use my hands for six to eight hours a day instead of staring at a computer or shuffling paperwork. I like to just let my body work so my mind can take a hike, or dismantle the repetitive pop songs that freely bleed from the shop radio over the mixer. I like that people come to the front counter to find me during the day, because they know I’m there. I like that I’m surrounded by people who like food, and like to make a good sandwich. That’s refreshing.
What is not refreshing is that the only place within 30 miles to buy music, movies, or books is Wal-Mart. There is a bookstore downtown, but I admit that I’m snobbish about small-town bookstores that focus on new releases rather than used books. Used bookstores are awesome like vintage toy stores are awesome. Small book storefronts are usually the kind that serve niche markets… Christian books, children’s books, etc. The variety of books on the shelves is generally disappointing and often appalling. So I don’t shop there. Because I’m a snob.
Unfortunately, sometimes you have to shop at Wal-Mart. Kroger and the dollar stores don’t carry everything, so the trek up the hill to the Wal-Mart is inevitable. The guilt is less than the price of gas to get to Mansfield or Newark. But here’s the real issue…
When I got paid today, I figured I’d make good on my promise to get Carly an Easter present (she got me an Optimash Prime and a bag of chocolate), and pick out a yoga mat or a CD for her to listen to. The only yoga mat they carry is the one that Carly already has and complains about. The CD I wanted to get her was James Blunt’s record, “Back to Bedlam.” But Wal-Mart only carries the edited version, lacking the ‘explicit lyrics’ in Blunt’s various songs.
I understand why the record companies create edited versions of records. They do it so they can sell more records to people who don’t like the word ‘FUCK’ so much, and to people who buy records for their kids and don’t want their kids to hear the word ‘FUCK’ all the time. It’s about money and it’s probably a good idea for that end. I feel that it dilutes the art of the music, and, like all things, you should seek the original if you want to understand what’s really being said. James Blunt used the word ‘FUCK’ in his hit radio song, “You’re Beautiful,” which Carly loves, and though it was edited out for the radio and the Wal-Mart shoppers, I want to hear him sing it. It just bothers me that Wal-Mart doesn’t carry both versions, because they’re trying to promulgate some kind of whitewashed, moralistic idea of America, and the word ‘FUCK’ isn’t in it.
Luckily, we’re heading to Akron and Cleveland this weekend, and I’ll have time to swing by a proper record store and buy the thing. I think I will also buy the Avril Lavigne record, which disappointed me for the same reasons. Yes, Avril Lavigne. It’s a good pop record.
April 4th, 2008 at 1:02 am
I refuse to go in there for any reason. I hate it.
I also commute to Columbus for work tho, so if I want something I can also stop there and get it.