Another K

As I walk in the store there is noise in the parking lot.  There's the chatter of a few people, the small roar of car engines as they come and go.  The bustle of traffic on the nearby highway is constant.

It's quiet in the store and the lights are bright.  There's one employee at the customer service desk immediately at the entrance.  I notice that Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA" is playing.

I walk to the kids clothes section, it's the first department to the right of the entrance.  There is a mother and a her high school aged son.  She rummages through the racks of clothes.  Her son is wearing a hoodie and is content with scrolling through something on his phone.  She pulls out an outfit made for a little girl and looks at it before putting it back.  They end up leaving the section.  I walk around the clearance racks.  Items have either fallen off or have been pulled off the racks.  There are small piles of clothing on the floor below each of the racks.

There is a girl in a polo with glasses in the junior clothes section.  Her hair is up in a pony tail.  From afar I see her roaming around, and at first I think she's a customer that I could observe.  Then I realize she's pulling a cart around behind her and putting things back on the shelf.  She's an employee at the K.

As I make my way to the shoe department I notice a family.  There are two little girls (they're young, probably 6-9 age range), the mom, and an older boy (probably 12-15 years old).  After a moment I realize that the girls are twins.  They have matching hair cuts, are the exact same size, and even have on similar clothes.  They have lots of energy.  They poke each other and giggle loudly.  The group is moving from the shoes to the athletic gear section.  They get a little farther away from me, but I hear one of the twins talking about Ninja Turtles.  But then something happens; one of them starts crying.  The mom jumps in and says "Wait until I get home and talk to your dad."  They stay in the section a moment longer, and the mom makes another comment about telling their dad how they were acting.  Then they leave.

As they do, two more people pass me.  The guy is older.  He has a cowboy hat on, a button up shirt, jeans and cowboy boots.  He says something in Spanish.  The woman following him I assume is his wife.  She appears to be a little younger but is heavy set.  She has big black hair.  Cowboy makes eye contact with me as they pass.  They walk down the aisle about 20 feet and meet a young girl.  I think she is their daughter. She's tall and skinny with hair like her mother's.  Tall Daughter asks their opinion on a few items she has.  "I can get him this or this" she says.  The mother responds, but in Spanish.  Tall Daughter holds something up, but I can't see what it is.  "Good?" she asks.  The rest of the conversation I can't understand because it's all in Spanish.  They walk away.

Around the corner, I see another worker, I know because of his polo and name tag.  He's looking at mattresses.  He's moving slowly and the way he's walking around makes it seems like he's lost.  He comes to the edge of the aisle to look at the price sign and then moves back to the mattresses.  A minute later I hear him on the phone.  He's telling a customer that the mattress isn't in stock but it is on sale right now.  Lost Employee tells them that they can order it.

Meanwhile a boy comes strolling down the aisle.  He chants loudly "peanut butter jelly" in a very rhythmic tone repeatedly.  I count at least four times.  His mom pushes a cart behind him.  She looks tired, but is presentable.  Her hair is pinned back, she has jeans and casual red stripped shirt on.

A voice comes on the intercom.  "Barbara to layaway" it says twice.  There are three guys standing at the cash register where Lost Employee was on the phone earlier.  I've noticed them for several minutes, but they aren't doing anything.

I look up and notice that the store has huge signs advertising sales.  They're at least 5 foot by 3 foot.  One has a picture of clorox bleach.  It's on sale for $3.99.

I move to the Halloween section.  The twins are there.  I hear Twin 1 say, "Eww... Who would want to be this?"  Mom responds, that's a zombie bride.  Twin 2 jumps in, "Mom, look at this!"  But then they leave.  I'm also distracted by another family.  At first I pass a guy in one of the halloween aisles. He's looking at costumes.  Then from afar someone says his name.  It's a little girl.  As I walk out of the aisle I see a little girl in pig tails, a high school aged girl with a Dance shirt on and their mother, Cool Mama.  Pigtails shouts, "I hear him!".  They meet with the man and convene as The Family of Four.

Across from the Halloween section is the edge of the food department.  There is a group of three people- a guy, a woman, and a little boy.  The woman is complaining about chips.  She says, "are these the only chips they have?  I want chips, but I don't want any of these."  Nice guy responds, "Babe, they have more over there."

I take note that there are already Christmas decorations out in the store.

I loop back around the the Halloween section.  Cool Mom is talking- "That'd be cool".  Pigtails ask what it is.  Cool Mom tells her, "We'll put you in it and inflate it.  It's the puff guy."  Dad asks what she's talking about.  "You know, the marshmallow guy. . . Oh my god, you know the name."  Dad begins walking away.  They're interrupted before they can officially figure out what costume it is.

At the check out, I see more than half of who've I've seen at the store.  There's the Spanish speaking family, the well-kept mom and PB&J Boy, the twins, and the Family of Four.  I look at PB&J Boy for a minute- he's cute.  It ends up that he has a Dad, Absent Dad.  I wonder where he was at for the rest of the trip.  PB&J is still making lots of noises.  I take note of more detail about Well Kept Mom.  She has brown flip flops on with lots of rhinestones.  Her jean capris are Silver Jean Co..  I notice that PB&J is getting a long box of toy cars.  That's the only item that I can see in their cart.  Absent Dad doesn't say anything.  One of the Twins is running back and forth between the check out aisles, messing with the candy.

There are only 2 lanes open, but there are several people in each line.  PB&J starts a conversation with Cool Mom.  He tells her that he's getting a spaceship.  It's in a package that you can't see exactly what it is.  Cool Mom asks him which one he thinks he'll get.  He says he doesn't know, but she tries to get him to take a guess.  Cool Mom is much more interested in him than his own Well Kept Mom.  PB&J says, " I think it's this one," pointing to a small picture on the package.  "No, I think it's this one," he changes his mind pointing to another small picture.  He tells Cool Mom that he's excited to open it.  Cool Mom calls the item something specific, but I don't catch the name.  PB&J is taken by supplies, "Wait! How do you know about Star Wars?"  "How do I know about Star Wars?" Cool Mom asks. "I used to watch it," she says.  PB&J says that all of America knows about Star Wars.  He messes with the package.  He says, "it feels like the round one".  Well Kept Mom jumps in and calls him a chatterbox.  PB&J keeps talking with Cool Mom though.  Finally Well Kept tells PB&J to put the package on the counter.  Absent Dad is no longer in line.  He's off by the small sports gear section that's in front of the cash registers.  Well Kept and PB&J make it through the line, get with Absent and head to the door.  PB&J opens the spaceship package.  He yells back to Cool Mom who is now paying for her items, "Look what I got!".  Cool Mom replies, "Oh!  Yeah, right on!"

The line is moving slow.  I only have two items and the check out process seems to take a while.  The worker moves slowly.  I pay and then take my bag with me out the door.