WalMart: Low Prices, Low Compassion During Hurricane Preparations

I spent my Labor Day making arrangements for our rescued pets, ensuring their safety and few hassles for foster parents needing to take care of their own families. So, I braved a trip to WalMart to stock up on dog food, chewies, water, and an 8-pack of paper towels. It was only as I was putting everything away that I realized I left the paper towels.

On the way home from work today, I stopped and took my receipt in to the customer non-service desk and explained the situation. After looking in "the book," the rep said there wasn't anything she could do because it wasn't listed in the book. I asked to speak with a manager. After hollering "Kathy" multiple times with no one answering her call, the rep finally walked off and got "Kathy." I was not greeted with a smile or "how can I help you?" as you see on the TV commercials (maybe she gets paid much less than those actors, who knows?). Instead, I got a "you need somethin'," said with great impatience. I explained the situation to her again. She looked again in "the book," and said there was nothing she could do. I explained that these were storm supplies for our animal rescue. Her response? "It's not our liability." Nice. What great compassion to show during the first tropical storm threat to our area since Hurricane Floyd.

I know my boycott of them (I even passed up the $3.49 gas) won't do much of anything, but it makes me feel a little better. At least Kroger is just up the road. I guess I'll be seeing them a little later tonight.

Doing Good is Actually "Hot"

Last year, I was named to the "REAL Hot 100" list, a list that served to show that women who work to make themselves and the world around them better are just as hot, if not more, than those selected on superficial values. I was flattered, but no where near as much as when I discovered, many months later, that a gentleman had posted about me on someone else's blog.

Apparently, one "journalist" believed that the list was skewed, as most of those select to the list were also found as physically "hot" as their actions.

... it seems like either:

a) pretty much only cute, conventionally attractive women become activists, journalists, poetry slam coordinators, etc., and the Real Hot 100 nominators are just working with what exists, or

b) there are plenty of non-cute non-conventionally attractive women out there who meet the criteria, but the leftysphere isn't nominating them.

I was even more astounded at one observation posted in a comment (#10):

As to the Hot 100 list, I must say that I barely made it through the first page so far, but my babe-o-meter only dinged 5 times, even including the blurbs attached to the photos. However, it went absolutely off the scale when I got down to Lisa Scarbrough.

The rest of them seem to be more about the progressive scene and awareness raising. Yet Lisa Scarbrough put her assets where her mouth is. And not for the standard causes, but for abused and neglected animals.

Now that’s REALLY hot! I wonder if she likes guys that can cook… I finally figured out the Insta-Chicken recipe, you know.

It wasn't that he called me hot, but that my work was validated. In the three years I've been divorced, it has been heartbreaking at how many times I would attempt to get to know someone, only to find that my passion was "intimidating" and not of interest to most. I was so happy, I printed it out and saved it for those rainy days that I needed a little lift.

But the entire blog post brought me to some serious thinking: is there anything really wrong with having a strong passion? I know that I am often asked why I do this with my life, why don't I work with children instead, why don't I just go start a family, who will ever be satisfied with being second in my life, and so on. I don't have one real good answer. All I know is that running this rescue has given meaning to my life. It makes me a whole person. I spent a couple of years lost, trying to find my place, figure what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. In that time, many strays found their way to my house, but it was really them who were showing me the way home.