Three Walmart stories

Tonight I have three tales to tell, all of them involving Walmart. When I went there tonight to get a few things, four female Walmart employees were encircling a woman who had tried to shoplift. They moved toward the exit, where I was coming in the entrance. I wish I would have taken my phone out of my pocket to take a picture. When they got to the door, the woman walked away into the parking lot and the four employees stopped at the exit door.

I knew Walmart’s policy is to forbid employees to follow shoplifters out into the parking lot. When I worked in the Parker, Colorado Walmart a few years ago, two of our managers got fired for doing just that. It was upsetting to me because they were two of our best managers.

There is a man who pushes carts here at this Espanola Walmart. He does not wear identifying Walmart clothes. Yesterday I saw him pushing carts and asked him why he doesn’t just apply for a job pushing carts at Walmart. He said he does not have a Social Security card, a New Mexico I.D., or a birth certificate. I asked him where he was born. He said, “Albuquerque.” He quickly added that he had been adopted as a small child, but the adoptive parents were “in it for the wrong reasons.” He explained that he meant they were in it for the money. They “kicked me out when I turned thirteen!” I asked him where he sleeps at night, and he replied that he sleeps outside using his backpack as a pillow.

I told the man I knew of a Biblically based program that takes people in who are homeless or suffering from addictions. I asked if he would mind if I contacted them. He said he knew the program because they had set up a table in front of Walmart one weekend. He asked me to call them for him. I did, then later yesterday afternoon I returned to the Walmart parking lot to tell him the people were willing to send him a bus ticket so he could come to live with them. He said he would call them later that evening. He was not at Walmart tonight, so I hope that means he is on his way to a new life where he can sleep inside and eat nutritious meals. There is no doubt in my mind that he is a hard worker. Please pray for him!