Unfortunately Funny

Some things are just plain funny.  And some things you don't want to watch, but you can't NOT watch.  That was the case as Whitley and I waited in the return line at Wal Mart the other day.  Right as we walked up, a lady, about 50, with crazy hair and her belly roll hanging out of her sweater approached a cashier and proceeded to tell yell at her about the lack of help behind the counter.  I think her precise words were "with half of America out of work you can't even get someone to help behind a counter!"  We all looked at each other awkwardly as she stomped back to her place in line.  I was feeling a bit ornery so I said sort of loudly "well Merry Christmas!".  She happened to be the next one in line so we all watched as the train wreck continued.

She was really jittery, I thought maybe she was on crack or something.  She kept switching her weight from one foot to the other and flipping her unruly hair out of her eye. Which, incidentally, would fall right back into her eye.  We couldn't hear what was being said but we could see that she was returning soap.  Yep, two big jugs of Softsoap.  Kinda weird, but whatever.  When he asked for her ID or something, she opened her purse duffel bag and began to dig through it.  She dug and dug, flipped her hair back, dug some more, flipped again dug, dug, flip, dug, flip and finally came up with something.  The very nice man told her to go get new soap and come back.

She had a George Foreman in her cart and she didn't want that to be messed with .  She informed him she would just park her cart over here (next to the wall).  He told her that would be fine, then she decided that might be too risky and maybe she should choose another spot.  He told her it would be fine and he would tell this lady (a coworker) not to touch it.  Just as he said that, she gave him the big "talk to the hand" and told him she would do it because "she was good at giving orders".  Really!  She said that, she told him she was good at giving orders!!  At that point I could no longer contain myself and laughed right out loud.  Total LOL.  I'm pretty sure that made my whole day.  She left to go find new soap and as I stepped to the counter I gave the young man my praises for his ability to remain kind and without a single eye roll or snicker. 

It was then that he informed us that the reason she was returning the soap was because someone had broken into her house, stole her passport and "tampered with her soap".  Yep.  Tampered with her soap.  Not to go on a tangent, but is it really Wal Marts responsibility to replace your tampered with soap??  Anyway, the whole thing was just too unreal to not be hilarious.

However, later I decided I felt really bad for enjoying her situation as much as I did.  I think she probably really is a little skitzo.  Like, actually.  That made me sad for her to have to live a life so abnormally paranoid and crazy.  I felt guilty for laughing and making fun of something that she was very serious and obviously distraught about.  I can't help that it was funny, cuz it was... but I can feel more compassion and less ridicule.  I'm grateful for a clear and very useful brain.  I guess I take that for granted.  I never worry about my soap hurting me.  So in the future, I will think before I laugh, or at least shortly after (some things are just funny) to try and be more understanding of things I don't really understand. 

PS - If she was really on crack, I take it all back cuz that's self inflicted skitzo and then it's really funny again.