in Travelers Rest, SC

 

I went to Walmart in Travelers Rest, SC and asked several employees if I could put up the poster somewhere, even on the dedicated corkboard by the restrooms where the Auto & Tire workers said I could, "Because everyone puts their posters up there," they told me. But when I got there and asked another employee, she said Walmart wouldn't allow anything to be put up anywhere in the store. 

Every time I showed an employee the poster they just looked at it silently; they didn't know what to do.

I left and drove to the Dollar Tree store next to Walmart and walked in. I asked a soft-spoken manager if I could put up posters anywhere and he quietly responded, smiling, almost whispering, "We're technically not supposed to... but... if you wanted to put it up farther down I won't say anything about it."

I thanked him, went outside, walked down to where the windows were all covered in black, and started taping it up. I could see in the reflection of the black window an old woman standing behind me, pausing as she was getting into her red car, staring, eyes squinting, at what I was doing. She finally walked up behind me and said over my shoulder, "Is that a joke? Or what is it." I told her it wasn't a joke. "Well, what is it. What does it mean." 

I told her there were about 1400 of these posters being put up around the country today. It was just to get people to think, I said. She suddenly said, "Oh, well, that's good. Thank you for helping wake us up!" 

And she was totally sincere and happy. I told her I was just at Walmart and how I asked if they would let me hang it up, and how they all told me no. And so I told them, "Well, now I'm going to start crying." And then she laughed hard and touched me and said, "Oh, I love you, hon. God bless you, you have a good day."  —from Chris Koelle. (thank you!)
 

 

 

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