Parking Lot Bingo

As I entered the WalMart parking lot this morning I thought,"What if no one paid attention?" The parking lot is always filled with shoppers. But there are other things going on too. Every day there are several big rigs parked in the lot. I can only assume they picked the lot because it is large, making it easy for them to park so they can take a nap. So what if they are blocking the view of drivers trying to get into or out of the parking lot.

Almost everytime I go or leave WalMart, I have to watch the traffic more closely than I do driving the streets. With several entrances, it is frequently a game of chicken. People drive around the lot without paying attention to where anyone is going. A Houston traffic cop could not keep up with the random comings and goings. I don't know how many times I have nearly met disaster because I am going down the lane and someone is driving all the way across the parking lot with no regard as to traffic patterns. The farther down the lot you get, it seems to become a free for all as to who is going where. No wonder there are always several wreckers parked in the lot. Easy pickings for them. And they don't even have to disturb the "real" traffic. This morning I did get a laugh as I looked at a wrecker driver taking a snooze waiting for the coming crunch.

That doesn't even include the guys racing each other as they grab the shopping carts. Somehow it doesn't matter how many cart parking spots a store has, the carts always end up all over the place. So, I guess the employees have to race to get these carts back inside. We certainly don't want a shopper not to have a cart.

Then of course there are the parking space predators who cruise the lot looking for a spot up front. During peak shopping times it is a contest to get the best one. As soon as they see a shopper putting bags in their trunk, they swoop in and wait right behind the shopper. Hurry, hurry they seem to be telling the shopper as they lay claim to the space. Traffic jams have occured because several people want the same spot. They don't believe that walking is good exercise. Then they have the nerve to get annoyed when a mother with three kids takes too long to get the bags and kids loaded up.

Just watching all this activity can be not only annoying but tiresome. No wonder the wrecker guy was taking a nap.