Kroger Storm Trooper

Growing old is a pain—as I well know from personal experience. My lack of mobility challenges me. I can't stand for more than a few minutes, and I can't walk very far. Consequently, when I go shopping, I need to use the handicapped cart. 

At the Rocky Mount Kroger, I have enough trouble negotiating the aisles without added impediments. Some of the aisles are narrow, some are blocked by signs or by employees restocking shelves, some turns are hard to make.

Last Monday, in the produce section, there was an added impediment at the end of an aisle—a big inflated plastic storm trooper. Normally, swinging around this corner is challenging enough. Having this piece of crap there made it downright difficult.

What a storm trooper has to do with produce I have no idea. But it didn't help my shopping experience. 

Having a weapon pointed—even by a non-human piece of plastic crap—is disconcerting as well as tasteless and insensitive, especially with recent events in the county.

Last Sunday, a father in the county killed his three-year-old son with a gun. On Wednesday, our county made international news when a WDBJ7 reporter and cameraman were murdered during an interview broadcast live from Smith Mountain Lake. The woman being interviewed sustained serious injuries. One of the last things the young reporter saw before she died was a big black gun pointed at her.

If someone can explain why stores need to display—and sell—inflatable storm troopers with pointed weapons ($19.98!), I'd like to know the reason. 

When I go to grocery stores, I want buy actual groceries. Not tasteless gun-pointing crap.

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