Retail Therapy

On Thursday, the media gleefully reported that First Lady Michelle Obama had been photographed shopping at a Target store in Virginia. Since Alex and I had been shopping at another discount store, our local Kmart, the day before, I thought a comparison and contrast of their shopping adventures might be interesting.

Mrs. Obama was photographed wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses in an attempt to shop incognito. Alex, too, often wears a baseball cap and sunglasses in public places; however, he needs them to deal with the glare of fluorescent lighting in discount stores.

Mrs. Obama pushed her own shopping cart; Alex also pushes his own shopping cart.

Mrs. Obama shopped with an assistant and a Secret Service agent. Alex shops with Ed and/or me, his personal assistants who know how to run security detail, should he become agitated.

Mrs. Obama reportedly bought dog food and toys for First Dog Bo. Although we’ve never owned a dog, Alex enjoys going down the dog food aisle and seeing the big bags (40 or 50 pounds) of dog food, so he would have enjoyed shopping with Mrs. Obama. However, this week Alex shopped for athletic socks. Apparently, socks sounded like “sucks,” which led him to muttering and complaining, which led me to put down the socks and lead him out of Kmart before a meltdown erupted.

Mrs. Obama supposedly was not recognized by anyone in the store except for the clerk in the checkout lane. Alex moved through Kmart unnoticed, thanks to my quick response, until he decided to push the buttons angrily on the credit card reader at the customer service desk on his way out the door.

On Mrs. Obama’s way out of Target, customers probably noticed that she was having her picture taken by newspaper photographers. On Alex’s way out of Kmart, customers probably heard the beeping caused by his pushing buttons on the credit card reader and may have noticed my grabbing his arm as we hurried out the door. Fortunately, no photographers were available to record his annoyance or mine.

After all the attention Mrs. Obama received for her Target shopping trip, she may have to limit her visits to area discount stores. After his griping during our last Kmart shopping trip, Alex may find that I’m not terribly eager to take him shopping there again, at least not by myself. Maybe the next time we’ll take along our personal assistant/security detail, Ed. If he’s not available, maybe Mrs. Obama’s Secret Service agent would be willing to tag along with us since he’s a seasoned discount shopper.

I’m just thankful that Alex decided to voice his displeasure at Kmart, which is my least favorite of the “big box stores.” If we were banned from Kmart, that would be no big deal. However, not being able to shop at his favorite store, Wal-Mart, or my favorite, Target--now that would be a loss. In the meantime, we keep praying that we can target (no pun intended) whatever may be causing these irritations in Alex and hope that they disappear rapidly so that we can all enjoy retail therapy in peace.

“But the others replied, ‘We don’t have enough for all of us. Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves.’” Matthew 25:9