I bought two new dogs this week, and the purchase of these little brindle beauties gave me cause to go and get an extra bag of dog food, new collars, and some leashes. This may not seem like a major development to you, and at the time it wasn't a big deal to me either, but it turned into an evening of unanswered questions concerning some deep social issues. I hopped in the truck and headed toward our local SuperTarget, this is my favorite grocery store slash get what ya' need place to go. As I was cruising down 33rd W. ave I noticed the clock read 9:14. Now the bad thing with the ST is it closes at 9 (what a bad idea). I was faced with two options, neither of which suited my fancy, I could a) continue past ST and go to Wal-Mart, or b) turn around and go to the Warehouse market close to my house. Gasoline being a zillion dollars a gallon, I chose to go to the Warehouse Market. I knew I couldn't get the collars or the leash, I'd get them later at Petsmart, but I could get some Kibble and fix the little girls some dinner.
I try to avoid Warehouse Market because it seems to attract dirt, grime, and undesirable individuals, but I was just going in for a moment, and I needed dog food. It was here that I had a disturbing revelation - the class system of the ancient times is alive and well, and it is nowhere more evident than in our grocery stores. I am hard pressed to explain why the seemingly lower income individuals shop at a place where the prices are twice as high, the floors and isles are dirty and the employees seem as if they would rather rob you than ring up your $4.00 gallon of milk. It seems like people wold migrate to the cleaner, larger, and better priced places like Reasors, Food Pyramid, or even the ST. You would find it easy to believe that the upper and middle classes have a bias, or even prejudice against the lower income families of America, but I propose a different theory. I think the bias goes both ways. The only logical reason to go to such a (pardon me for being so blunt) trashy grocery store is open rebellion against upper/middle class. Individuals get in their cars and make a conscience decision to shop somewhere that costs them more, and looks much worse. This just speaks further of the division among people in our supposedly tolerant and understanding modern society. We don't want to admit it but cultural lines are drawn everywhere, I literally felt dirty shopping at this place, but others perused the shelves with indifference to their surroundings. It was an eye opening experience for me because I looked at these people with disdain for being grossly overweight ( I am with them on this one point), horribly dressed, decidedly under bathed, and an all around disheveled mess. I fancy myself above that type of thinking, but I found out I wasn't.
The assumption I wanted to make is; that I feel if they would come to my ST and see me shopping with my family they would have a lot of the same types of thoughts about us, stuck up, over dressed, self-absorbed, so on and so forth. Maybe they are right, maybe I am, whose to say? The point is we have come along way it society, but we still have a long way to go. In Tulsa you've got your Westsiders with their mobile homes, home made Koi ponds, and cars on blocks - then there is the South Tulsa crowd in their gated communities, and driving their BMW's sharing the city limits but that's about it. The bad news is with all our divisions and differences I see little hope for ever rectifying the problem of the class system. The good news is I got the Kibble, got it home and gave Boxie and Princess Blaze their first meal in the Robertson family. Someone remind me not to go to the store any time soon, it's to disturbing. RLR
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4 comments:
You're right that inequality of all sorts is one of the most durable and vexing social problems. I'm sure the sins of greed and envy won't ever be eradicated, but I hope we can see some improvement. I no longer have faith in any purely free market solutions and I'm still suspicious of any massive redistributions of wealth.
I do have a question about your story. What is the neighborhood around Warehouse Market like? Is it a residential area? Is it a generally poor part of town? If it is then it isn't really surprising that the residents go there rather than a Super Target, which are not usually situated in residential areas, much less poor residential areas. The poor do not have the easy mobility others have, so they have to stick to places within walking distance.
You say the poor may be rebelling against the middle and upper classes. It is just as likely (more likely?) that they simply do not want to be the objects of scorn in places where the middle and upper classes shop, like Super Target, so they go where they do not feel that derision.
thekibitzer is me, by the way.
Jeremy Not Frog
That is just the thing - their are WM's all over town, and near nice places. As a matter of fact the Sand Spring's WM shares a parking lot with the Wal-Mart Super center and is in a very nice retail district. The locations are something I analyzed before I wrote my post for the very reason you suggest.
I idea I had was that WM and other small time grocers were local before there were the Super options, and these people just might not be comfortable with the switch. The ones who are not bothered by the appearance and the prices see no reason to switch from the grocer they have always used.
I'm still as confused about this as I was the other night. I need absolution on this issue and your are supposed to be the answer guy.
With Wal-Mart and Warehouse Market 100 yards from each other (not that Wal-mart is the best option, but the prices are better and it is a fraction cleaner) why would the seemingly less affluent crown choose to go to WM. Help me out here!
I'm not sure. Sounds like a question for an economist, not a muckabout like me.
Thanks for the link to my blog, by the way. Feel free to comment anytime. One problem, though: you have one too many http// in the link, so it doesn't work.
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