#2 "Thats not our area."

On Christmas Eve this year I walked into the nearest Walmart with a mission to find a particular green oven mitt that was meant to go to my mother along with another gift. I had a picture of the fabric pattern on my phone and I knew the brand name. After looking through all the bathroom section, I called Lynnae and asked where the aisle was. She pointed me in the right direction. I found the aisle, but the mitts weren't there. I knew what I would do!

"I'll ask a helper!"

Disclaimer: I have traditionally had nothing but good experiences from asking Walmart helpers for a quick hand. But every once in a while you get the grumpy old lady at the cosmetics counter.

I looked around for a blue vest person, but there was not 1 in sight. Since patience is a virtue, I decided to just wait for one to come by. 15 minutes passed and still nobody was around. Here is where the befuddlement happened. I looked into cosmetics and saw 2 ladies in blue vests chatting to each other. "Score!" I thought, "They will know right off if the gloves are here." This is where the befuddling happened.

"Hey there. I was wondering if you carried any Green _____ Brand oven mitts?"


Both of these senior ladies looked at me like I was crazy. "Well you wont find any here in Cosmetics."


"Oh… ya I figured. Do you know if there is another oven mitt aisle or something?"


"Honey, you are in the Cosmetics section. You need to ask somebody in that section (pointing across the aisle)."


"I was just there for about 15 minutes and nobody has come past."


"We can't help you. That's not our area."


"Is there someone who could help me?"


"Go check over in sporting goods."

Am I alone in thinking that this is a little crazy. While I found it a little aggravating because of the fact that it was christmas eve and I was in a hurry, I left that experience chuckling all the way home. I am happy for the majority of people in the world that would "pretend" to help me but am even more grateful that there are these 2 ladies in the world that keep shopping unpredictable, unique and ultimately confusing.

p.s - I went back to the oven mitt aisle and asked a random lady if she saw any ______ brand green oven mitts and she said, "doesn't look like they have any in stock." As a male in my mid 20's who was searching for oven mitts, thats all I really needed to hear. Thank you nice lady!