Recently I was forced to take a late night trip to Wal-Mart for a 3 oz. tube of toothpaste to enable me to pass through airport security in less time than the flight would take. What I made up in time going through airport security I lost in the Wal-Mart check out line. It was 2 am and I still had to wait for an eternity behind a mother with two children, aged about 7 and 10 (what were they doing up at this hour on a school night?), with a cart full of clothes and groceries; a very overweight Goth couple; and last but not least, a senior who paid for his half dozen items with change. Would someone explain to me why they have roughly 40 check-out aisles but never more than 6 open at any one time? I have never, in the entire time Wal-Mart has been open in St. Augustine, seen 3/4 of them open, let alone all of them. The store is shabby, the aisles too crowded, the personnel surly, uninformed, rude and/or indifferent (with a few exceptions). The only two redeeming features are that they are open 24/7 and if you go there after 1 in the morning, the people shopping are really weird and sort of interesting to watch. Thankfully we have a Target.
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