Couldn't we all just get along? - A week's long journey in America's playground - RETAIL..

From Tuesday night visits to Walmart, and Saturday afternoon journeys to the Bay Area's Great Mall, a fun filled week can be had.

On Tuesday, October 30th, I surprised Diana with a secret trip to the local Walmart. Guised by the fact that I was meeting a craigslist stranger at Union Landing to buy a car roof rack, we ventured into Walmart. Mind you, it was about 8:00pm when we rolled in. It took us about 15 minutes to find a parking spot in this huge outlet mall area. Up and down aisles just hoping for cars to pull out. It seemed as if nobody was leaving!

We eventually parked on the side of the store, about 100 yards from the entrance, no biggie. I was a bit agitated, however, as the anticipation of the deal chasers awaited me as I entered the fluorescently lit store.

It was a mad house. The return line to the right was out the door. The cart line to the left wasn't so much of a line as it was a "pigpen" for carts. People were all over the place, rushing left and right filling their carts with all that Walmart had to offer.

The only reason we went in was to kill time before meeting the rack guy. It is so easy to get distracted in this store as they have the oddest of things. Diana was side tracked by some plaining fingertip-less gloves. I looked at the video cables. I eventually remembered practical things to buy and picked up two jugs of oil and some face wash and headed to the exit. Diana sensed my uneasiness. Its something about the way people act at Walmart that gets to me. Everyone is in a rush. Is it the deal chasing? Is it desire to be in and out and avoid the lines? Is it the tension one feels when people are cutting you off and yelling across the store?

It took about 30 minutes to check out. Two jugs of oil and a bottle of face wash.

***EARTHQUAKE HIT!*** on my way to meet the car rack guy.

Fast forward to today. Great Mall. Not much to report here. I anticipated lots of people, rowdy teens, and messy stacks of clothes. My anticipation was not left unsatisfied. Highlights of the trip featured an African American young man arguing at mall security guards about them asking how about stealing or something. He played the race card and did not shy away from using obscenities. Walking through Kohls, we saw a teen female being escorted HANDCUFFED by a police officer.

WHY STEAL AT KOHLS? I mean really!! Kohls?!