Walmart Strangers
Superstore Small Talk Gone Right
One day this past semester, I had a delightful conversation with a stranger at Walmart. I’d gone to pick up printer ink. As it happened, this was my first time—did you know they lock printer ink behind glass cabinets? I didn’t.
I stood in the ink aisle and encountered countless numbers and price points for the ink. I had no quick answer for this puzzling fact, so I scanned for the cheapest one and marked it in my mind. I then made my way to the service counter.
I never got his name, so I’ll call him Bob. When I encountered Bob, he was stocking. After I asked for his help, he told me he’d ‘meet me over there’ in a second. Back in the printer aisle, I felt social. I commented on the ink cartridge numbers.
“Hey,” I said. “Out of curiosity, what’re the numbers for?”
Bob—halfway through pulling the ink out—paused.
“Well, the numbers are for the printer. You need them to match, or your printer will get ruined.”
I had no idea.
Bob directed me towards a binder with printer information and asked me to grab him after I found the right ink.
A few moments later, I found the right one. Bob grabbed the ink and walked me back to the service counter.
“So, where’re you from?” He asked, walking a few steps ahead of me.
“I’m from Raleigh.”
Bob arrived at the register, but I was a few steps behind.
“I know a Raleigh, Mississippi,” Bob said.
I paused because I’m not from Mississippi. That and my friends like to tease me about my ‘lack of southernness.’ I also considered what I wore: a shirt from where I got my first tattoo and bootcut jeans over sneakers. I didn’t consider myself dressed from Mississippi, either.
“Oh well, I’m from Carolina,” I replied.
Bob nodded at the correction and told me that he and his wife intended to travel up there for the football game—Ole Miss played Wake Forest that weekend in Winston-Salem—and that they planned to visit the Billy Graham Museum. We then talked about Carolina and what brought me down to Mississippi.
I bought the ink, and we exchanged best wishes. I left bright as a bird. The wonders a conversation can do.