Looking for opportunities to be offended

When Tracey Wilson went to Wal-Mart in Atwater California last Saturday (20 Aug 05) she was shocked that the Playboy channel was playing on the Direct TV kiosk in the electronics department. (Shocked, SHOCKED I say!) Her 14-year-old daughter was also exposed to this lurid porn – possibly causing irreparable harm in the form of suddenly believing that viewing the human body in the nude is a good thing, and not something to be ashamed of.

Mrs. Wilson did complain to Wal-Mart, they did turn it off. And then Mrs. Wilson, with daughter in tow, left the store.

But it hasn’t ended there.

Apparently the Wal-Mart employee wasn’t contrite enough. Okay, it would not have hurt the employee to say something like, “Oops! THAT isn’t supposed to happen! Sorry!”

Instead, Mrs. Wilson left without any further apology, acknowledgement, or even a ‘give us your phone number’.

So Mrs. Wilson went home, immediately reported Wal-Mart to the media, and then spent the rest of this week shopping for attorneys to take her ‘case.’

The Media contacted Wal-Mart the same Saturday night to see if this shocking event is, in fact, true. Wal-Mart responded by apologizing to Mrs. Wilson via phone, and by offering her a gift certificate. But apparently it’s too late for that now. It doesn’t “make up for what she and her daughter went through.”



Excuse me Mrs. Wilson?

What did you “go through”? Your daughter is 14. I figure two equally probable outcomes. Either your daughter is too sheltered, and now has questions that you must be bothered to answer, or your daughter is like most 14 year olds, and already has all these answers. I’ll assume that you, as a mother, already have the right answers.

Either way – this is a wonderful opportunity for you to TALK to your daughter about sex. And if you haven’t had that talk already it’s long overdue!

Okay Mrs. Wilson, we get it. Wal-Mart screwed up. You ‘exposed’ them to the news media. Isn’t that enough? Apparently not – because it seems to me that you’re smellin’ the Mother Lode here (excuse the pun) and are taking them to court. You could be rich! And you didn’t even have to spill hot coffee in your lap!

But perhaps I’m just being cynical – perhaps your only goal is to secure your daughter’s college fund.


Yea, that’s it.