Material Girls

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

If you'll allow me, I'd like to get up on my soapbox for a minute...

I was at the Dollar General store the other day and saw something that's becoming way too common in my opinion. There was a woman in the Dollar General grocery shopping with her two kids that were in clothes two sizes too small. Yet while she was shopping, she had her cell phone glued to her ear, held by her perfectly manicured fingers. It's entirely possible that I could be reading too much into the situation, and I don't like to make snap judgements, but it seems to me that if she can afford manicures and a cell phone, she could afford decent clothing for her kids and to shop at a real grocery store.

I worked at a grocery store for over 5 years and saw several variations on this theme. People would buy steak and lobster with their food stamps, then head to the office to buy $100 worth of lottery tickets. I know not everyone is like this; in fact, several of the people who worked at the store were also on food stamps. I think that's why the other people made me so mad. I watched people work hard for 40 hours a week, jump at the chance for overtime, obsessively clip coupons and still not get the luxuries that these other people were getting.

I just can't help but wonder how people's priorities get so out of whack.