It took a few minutes before noticing how profoundly different something could be . The feeling that something was completely out of the ordinary was near instant and yet it did take a bit of time to put the finger on what it could possibly be. There were no near collisions of shopping carts steered by frenzied shoppers frantically attempting to quickly fill them and finish their weekly shopping ordeal . No jostling for sought after items or impatient glares towards or from other grocery getters. Instead like a Seinfeld episode depicting the opposite Bizarro world all the shoppers calmly and gently steered their carts through the aisles to slowly make their choices and …. no children cried .
I can honestly say that I do truly believe it to be the very first time in my life that I ever shopped in a Walmart and there was no music playing . I mean nothing , there was no pop , no high pitched black girls loudly crooning nor the seasons usual endless Christmas tunes that typically turn retail employees into walking balls of snarling anger by the fifth hour of their shift . Apart from the occasional bump bump bump of a typical Walmart shopping cart wheel there was just … silence . And it was golden .
Just goes to show how easily affected we are by what we hear ….. or don’t .
