Ammunition shopping at Wal-Mart

16 June 08

Weasel-words from Wal-Mart, from a friend in FL:

"Over the weekend, I was shopping for ammunition, particularly 223.

I went to one Wal-Mart, but they only had a few boxes of 223 in stock, which I purchased. Then, I hit the other Wal-Mart, which is the newer of the two. There, I was told that they didn't sell ammunition at all. When I asked to talk directly with the manager, he, with a straight face, said they were not selling ammunition 'because there is a high-school down the street.' When I went outside to check out his dubious tale, I discovered that the school in question is actually separated from the store by a huge South Florida Water Management Canal!

I then informed him that, at the other Wal-mart I visited that same day, there are two schools practically adjacent to that store, with no canals inthe way, and that they sell ammunition with gay abandon!

He regurgitated and embarrassed mumble or two, exactly like a criminal suspect who just got caught in a lie, and then quickly slunk away and disappeared, saying he would 'check on it,' so softly he could barely be heard.

Interesting that this 'manager' had his canned 'school-excuse' locked and loaded for any customer coming into to purchase ammunition. When his bluff was called, he came undone and slipped away like a weasel!

If he had just stood up and said, 'I'm sorry sir, but this store does not carry ammunition,' and left it at that, I would have at least retained some respect for him and for Wal-Mart. But, he obviously thought he was expected to generate a glib-tongued cover-story, which turned out to be an anemic, and obvious, fabrication."

Comment: I don't know where one has to go to get a straight answer any more! Bureaucracies are all the same, be they public or private. One might think that in the private sector at least, we might find supervisors who revere traditional American values, if not private gun-ownership, then at least truth, personal integrity, and insuperable self-respect. We would be disappointed!

It's the same, old story: "We don't care. We don't have to!" And, they call it "management."

/John