David Rodeback's Blog

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Illegal Anti-Voucher Flyer Drop at American Fork Wal-Mart

I was an eyewitness. I guess the law doesn't matter, if it's "for the children."

Union Tactics

I don't recommend shopping at the American Fork Super Wal-Mart on a Saturday evening, unless you're planning to make an evening of it. It's much too crowded. However, some Rodebacks tried it tonight. We were in the store from 6:45 to 7:45 p.m., approximately. (Much of that was in a relatively short line at the checkstand, which leads me to a theory, of which more below.) While we were in the store, our minivan was parked in the parking lot. This is a lot that is clearly posted: unauthorized soliticitation or flyer distribution is prohibited.

On my way from the store to the van, I noticed that quite a number of vehicles had flyers on their windshields. Then I found that mine was one of them. It was an anti-voucher flyer, a small, full-color trifold piece bearing the phrase, "Paid for by Utahns for Public Schools." Your NEA dues at work.

I wanted to keep my flyer, so I found another one and took it into the store. I didn't get all the way to the manager, but the person I talked to say he was very certain Wal-Mart had not authorized this distribution.

So is it littering or trespassing? Both?

Never mind. I guess if what you're doing is "for the children" -- which these days is a pretty transparent euphemism for "support your national teachers' unions" -- the rules don't apply to you.

Non Sequitur: The Shortest, Slowest Line

Now, about that theory, inspired by a very slow line. You'll understand the problem when I explain that we were buying 48 identical cans of something, and the hapless cashier insisted on ringing them up separately. My theory is that I've been going about picking a register wrong. I look at the number of carts in line and the number of items in those carts. But now I'm thinking that I would be wiser to look into the cashier's eyes for a spark of human intelligence, and to watch his or her work for a moment, to see if the pace seems unusually slow.

Fast cashier? Never mind the number of items in the carts.

Slow cashier? An apparently short line is no blessing.

Food for thought.

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