While patiently waiting in line
to check out at Walmart, I noticed a fellow in front of me sporting
tattoos. It wasn’t enough for him to
have tats on his arms, and legs, but he also had them on his neck and face.
My mind wandered to where a
fellow like this worked that overlooked this body art and decided to hire
him. I was certain he wasn’t in a
public-relations position because not everyone enjoys seeing a life-sized
tarantula tattoo climbing from a shirt collar.
To call a seven-inch spider below
your ear a distraction would be to minimalize a situation. That’s akin to saying World War II was a
tiff.
He turned to likely see who was
standing behind him, only to reveal more body art on his face. Bluish tears streamed from his right eye, and
a blackish scroll circled the left one.
The only tattoo missing was the “LOSER” on his forehead.
As per usual, Walmart has 28
check-out lanes and only two cashiers.
Perhaps people can’t get hired because they don’t know what money
is. But, I digress.
This was the first time I was
delighted to have limited checkers so that I could stand in line longer.
When I was a kid we would
occasionally go to the county fair where I wanted to visit the sideshows
consisting of The Bearded Lady, Fattest Man on Earth, and Tattooed Woman.
Throughout life I’ve seen The
Bearded Lady in a Food Lion market, Fattest Man at a Chincoteague restaurant,
and now finally witnessed the Tattooed Woman – in the form of a man – inside a
Walmart, this time at no cost to me.
After a three hour wait, he
reached the cashier only to reach for his wallet to remove his EBT card. Those of you reading this outside of
Virginia, EBT is an abbreviation for Electronic Benefits Transfer.
Years ago these downtrodden folks
were issued “food stamps” in the form of travelers cheques. They were given to the recipients in book
form and torn out to be used.
Now, they are simply issued a
credit card-like affair that can be conveniently reloaded until the
recipient/user gets off the guvment program.
Actually, one person was removed because they mistakenly got a job seven
years ago.
In any case, the tattooed man seemed
to have plenty of money for body art, but not enough for food.
Sure, I was glad to be of
assistance because we shouldn’t make him wait for anything in life, much less a
job or tattoo.
The best part of all this is that
I know deep down that he’ll likely get more tats either on the streets or in
prison.
No, I’m not angry this dude has
more tattoos than teeth. I’m angry
because my tax dollars paid for this conduct.
And the great equalizer for such
stupid behavior is Hepatitis B.
