People of Walmart
This is a story about the People of Walmart. Yes, I’m sure by now you have seen the website. With all the photos showing the people of Walmart. I know I have. And honestly some of the photos on that website make you scratch your head. Some are funny. And some are sad. My people of Walmart story is a little different.
There may be affiliate links in this post. Please read my policy on affiliate links (here) if you want.
My Story
You know how some days you just have bad days? Everything goes wrong! It seems like everything that could go wrong does. I won’t go into details but a lot of stuff went wrong on this Friday. The day I met 4 people at Walmart. The people of Walmart.
That morning I had been listening to Ed Mylett’s podcast featuring Charlie Rocket [HERE] and [HERE]. You probably haven’t heard of either one of them. And hopefully after this story you will want to hear more about them. You see Ed always talks about reticular activating system. You should think about the positive because it brings the positive in your life. More or less it’s already there but you become more aware of it.
The best example is you’re at a restaurant and a table a few tables over says your name and then all of a sudden your ears perk up. Out of nowhere you are now aware. Same thing with good thoughts. Think good thoughts and you will have good things happen to you.
Charlie Rocket has an amazing story. He went from weighing over 300 pounds with a brain tumor to competing in an Ironman. If you don’t know what an Ironman is, check it out [HERE]. To summarize it’s a 2.4 mile swim followed by an 112 mile bicycle ride and then a 26.2 mile run. Yes, you read that right. He does this thing that when good things go his way he calls them winning streaks [HERE]. Keep reading to hear about my winning streak.
Winning Streak
I got to Walmart with 20 minutes to get in and out. For 1 item. That’s it. I pulled in and the parking lot was more packed than Walmart at Christmas time. People stopped and talking and not walking. Couldn’t get to a spot. Finally parked and got out and opened the back of my car. It has an automatic lift gate. Somehow it closed on its own and hit me in the head.
Just added on to all the bad things that happened that day.
I have this amazing Binxy hammock for the baby [HERE] and needed a shopping cart. Normally I try to park close to the shopping cart thing so I can snap it on and then get her in. But there was no carts in site. Not a single one.
So I get the hammock out and then get her out of her car seat. I head to a cart holder with what seemed like 100s of shopping carts. Imagine a baby in your arms. Holding this baby hammock and my purse while trying to get the carts unlocked. Every single cart I tried to pull apart wouldn’t pull apart. They were all stuck together. My head was hurting. My arms were tired. Bad day just getting more frustrating. Finally got a cart. Then I got the hammock out (which I’ve used probably 25 times) and I couldn’t get it to work. I couldn’t hold her and get it to fit on the cart and I was almost in tears (I was recovering from strep throat and an ear infection).
Then I hear someone scream “mam” really loud. I assumed it was someone talking to someone else. Before I knew it there was a lady walking towards me. I really didn’t want to see or talk to anyone. Maybe if I looked down she wouldn’t approach me. She said mam again and I looked up. She said “mam, I saw you struggle with those buggies for a few minutes then I saw you start to struggle with this thing. I don’t know what it is or how it works. But let me help you”.
Y’all.
Those 4 words. “Let me help you” Was all it took.
I thought immediately of Charlie Rocket and Ed Mylett. I could continue to think of the bad stuff all day or I could think of this kind stranger that helped me. I’ve never had anyone help me with a baby in a parking lot before. This was a win in my book. “I’m on a winning streak”
Helping Others
I got inside Walmart and with only 3 items on my list I headed to the baby section to get what I needed. I was on a time crunch after all. A few minutes later I was approached by this very large man. When i say large (my husband is 6’3”) he had to be 6’6” or taller. He started walking towards me and at this time I’m looking around thinking is this man going to attack me. He said “mam. You look like someone who would know” all while he’s making a circular motion around his chest area “where are the boob pumps.”
I about died on the spot. Here is this huge guy looking for someone a breast pump. I didn’t know. (now if we would have been at target I could have told you exactly where they were). I told him this was the baby section and that I would assume any of the aisles nearby.
He started to walk off and I thought you know that lady took 5 minutes out of her day to help me. The least I could do was use my phone to pull up the Walmart app to see if they had them and what aisle they were on. So i did. I then chased him down. And got some funny looks in the process. Here i am with a baby in a hammock still sweating from the ordeal outside chasing a huge man down. I’m screaming “sir” while chasing after this guy. He finally slowly turns around and I show him my phone and said “they are on this aisle right here” while pointing to the aisle letter and number. He looked up from the phone and smiled so big and said “thank you so much I knew you looked like you would know.”
I smiled big. My mom is probably reading this thinking i’m a brown noser (that’s apparently what she’s called me my entire life). But you know what. That lady helping me in the parking lot put a smile on my face. And even though I was on a time crunch I knew taking that extra minute to help that guy out would probably put a smile on his face.
Because honestly I didn’t know how many more women he could go up to while making circular motions around his chest asking where the boob pumps were.
Winning Streak Continues
I got my items and decided to check out and leave. I got to my car and my order of events is usually unload the car and then take the shopping cart to the return rack and get baby out and and carry her back to the car.
Well for some reason my new car decided to bonk me on the head with the automatic lift gate AGAIN! I’m not sure why, but when I was unloading the cart it went back down on me and hit me on the head (anyone know about Ford expeditions and why this would happen?) I thought great back to the terrible day. And not 5 seconds later the man next to me said “mam i’m taking my cart do you want me to take yours too” My mouth almost hit the floor for the 2nd time that day. I said Thank you so much. Honestly no one has ever talked to me in the Walmart parking lot much less helped me.
The End
I’ll tell you what. Those 2 people going out of their way to help me in the Walmart parking lot really turned my day around. It was a winning streak as Charlie puts it. Bad things continued to happen but I tried to find the positive in each and every thing that happened.
That’s my story about the people from Walmart. Do you have any stories of strangers helping you out? If so drop a comment below I would love to hear them.
If you want to check out some of my other short stories you can [HERE]
