planetdan

Tuesday, December 07, 2004 :::

Wifebeaters.

I was at Target over my lunch break (to pick up the Gilmore Girls Season 2 Box Set - Yippee). Sometimes going to discount chain stores is like visiting the zoo. It's like watching wild animals in their natural habitat, only for dumb humans. For instance, I got to watch (and photograph) a fun exchange between a couple frumpy clueless women and this older-than-average Target employee. Seemingly unaware that the term "Wifebeaters" was not a brand name akin to Fruit of the Loom or Hanes, they caused quite a hullabaloo that went something like this:

Trashy lady: "Scuse me, you got Wifebeaters?"
Elderly Target employee: "Whitebeaters?"
Trashy lady: "No, Wifebeaters."
Elderly Target employee: "I dunno let me check." Gets on walkie talkie. *beep* "Frank? Do we carry Whitebeaters?"
Frank: *beep* "Whitebeaters?"
Trashy lady: "No, Wifebeaters, W-I-F-E, Wife, like as in you beat your wife."
Elderly Target employee: "Oh goodness, oh my, I don't think we carry anything like that."
Trashy lady: "They are T-shirts. I was told to get Wifebeater T-shirts."
Elderly Target employee: "Oh, well you may want to try Walmart."

Where else could I have witnessed that?

::: posted by dan at 2:04 PM :: [ link ] :: (24) comments

Comments are Closed On this Post

24 previous comments:

Wait... Are you sure the trashy lady could really spell that well?

imp

By

imp (Iva-Marie Palmer), at 2:58 PM

Very unsettling (but humorous) incident. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if Frank had replied, "I never touched her and that restraining order had expired anyway!"

L-O-V-E, yes LOVE(!!!) the fact that the Target employees are so repulsed by the terminology that they refer TrashyLady to Wal-Mart.

By

Will, at 3:33 PM

I find it funny how different Targets attract entirely different clientel. For instance the Super Target by my office is in a very nice suburb and thus has very nice suburban customers. The Super Target by my house is also in a very nice suburb, but is located close to a big 'ole trailer park (closer than the Wal-Mart) and well - they sell a lot of wifebeaters at that one.

By

cursingmama, at 3:47 PM

I find it hard to believe that the trashy woman & her cohort had no clue what a wifebeater tee was. And look at the poos Target employee. She looks so sweet- *of course* she wouldn't know what a wifebeater was.

By

hot babe, at 4:21 PM

I am not one to post comments, but this Target story reminded me of a Wal-mart experience I had a few years ago.

I was standing in the check-out line at this Wal-mart located in northwestern Wisconsin. As I am so inclined to do while waiting in line, I start people watching. First, I spot this girl maybe all of 12 sporting the ever-popular and classy sh#t happens t-shirt. Then, I look at the products that the lady in front of us (with her 8 kids) had on the conveyor belt, and I noticed she had two extra large tubes of KY Jelly and a bottle of Pepto Bismal. I had to make the comment, probably a little too loudly, that someone was in store for a good time that night.

Anyway, after that day, I am scared to go back to any Wal-mart.

By

Kbomb, at 4:39 PM

ha ha...that a classic!

By

Anonymous, at 4:50 PM

I was standing in line in a Wal-Mart in Northern Kentucky one time when I saw a bleach-blonde, tatooed, tank-top and cutoff wearing twenty something yank her toddler by the arm and announce, "If you don't shaddup, I'm a gonna rip your arm off and beat you to death with it." Instant classic.

Put that one right up there with the time I was on a "let's slum-it date" in Ryan's Steakhouse in Cincinnati (think a southern version of Ponderosa) and I saw our average 350 pound dude take the decorative iron skillet off the wall and fill it up with ice cream from the ice cream machine at the dessert buffet. Apparently it didn't click with the guy that the iron skillet hanging on the wall was decorative, which does make sense as who would hang up an iron skillet as decoration. Another instant classic.

Finally, there is one of my favorite games to play whenever I find myself in WalMart. It's called, "Find the randomly placed object". You might find a bunch of engine oil funnels hanging from a rack in the candy section, Shrek DVDs on a shelf next to the tupperware, or my favorite: an entire rack of 'freshbaked' bread and dinner rolls strategically placed in the middle of the boys clothing section. It wasn't just waiting to be moved, it was placed there by an employee.

Some people are just born with superior marketing skills I suppose.

By

Anonymous, at 6:44 PM

Stop trashy lady - tell her don't go to Wal-mart!! It's killing our nation!

By

talwrite, at 6:49 PM

that's priceless! I can also comment on the different clientel at different targets/walmarts. There is one about 25 miles from me where I am the only person in the store with all her teeth, then the one near my office is all rich ladies hunting for bargins. They call it "Tar~jay"

By

Anonymous, at 6:52 PM

That is the funniest thing I've ever heard!

My local Target is pretty snobby except for the weird smell eminating from the Pet section.

By

lynne, at 6:57 PM

Like talwhite said, the lady shouldn't be referring folks to Wal-Mart...however (and this is a hunch not knowing which Target you were at Dan), she may be on a quest to rid Target of the people she thinks belong in Wal-Mart. This is a hard comment to make without sounding classist, but Wal-Mart attracts the folks who shop for wifebeater tees...because they also are the ones who are glad to have found the oil funnels in the candy isle. This reminds me of the following version of the 12 Days of Christmas by Jeff Foxworthy (of "You Might Be A Redneck" fame):

Whoo Hooo! Somebody done been to the Wal*Mart!
Man, this is the stuff I got for christmas!
12 packs of bud
11 Wresslin' tickets
10 (tin) of Copenhagen
9 years probation
8 table dancers
7 packs of Red Man
6 Cans of SPAM
FIVE FLANNEL SHIRTS!
4 big mud tires
3 shot gun shells
2 huntin' dogs
and some parts to a Mustang GT!

By

pierre, at 10:11 PM

HAHAHA!!!

That's awesome!!

rich target = Tar-jay
trashy target = Tar-ghetto

By

locomocos, at 11:25 AM

In September, on a visit to Washington, I drove by a Wal-Mart. There were people picketing outside.
One man was holding a sign that said :
"Wal-Mart screws their workers."
. . . Not employees, but "workers."

By

Anonymous, at 1:30 PM

Once again, my solitude has caused me to miss out on yet another phenomenon as I have no idea what a "wifebeater T-shirt is". But I'm totally going to play that "find the strategically placed item game" next time I visit Wal-Mart! I never thought of observing other peoples stuff at the check out, kinda seems personal, but now it's my new favorite pass-time!

By

Colleen, at 5:07 PM

I don't go to Wal-Mart because I literally get too annoyed by idiots like that. And, KBomb, I come from a family of 8 kids...but we're not the Wal-Mart type family of 8 kids...

By

Kiddo78, at 5:32 PM

My guess is that what I'm about to tell you, is on someone else's blog as "The Dirty Lady at Costco." Let me just preface by saying that I am not good at come backs and always think of what I should have said about half an hour later. For once in my life, I was on the ball!

I went to my local Costco to pick up a few items... pistashio's, body wash, kosher salt, filet mignon and condoms. (Keep in mind this is Costco and it was a box of a billion condoms.) There are 2 men in line behind me and a man at the cash register. I put my few items on the conveyor belt and hand cash register guy my card. We own a small business, so he scans the card, puts it on top of the register, grabs my first item and before scanning and WITHOUT looking, has it poised in the air, says to me... "Is this for business purposes?"

Now, what item do you think he had in his hand? I looked at him and waited until he made eye contact with me and oh, yes, this was pricesless... replied with a straight face... "Now, that would make me a whore, wouldn't it?"

The 2 guys behind me burst out laughing and register guy looks at his hand and turned about 50 shades of red!

True story!

E.

By

Anonymous, at 8:19 AM

E. is my new favorite poster...

By

Will, at 9:25 AM

OH, WELL DONE, E.!!!!
Awesome comeback!

Our Walmart (located in a small Texas town) is so full of potential Jerry Springer guests that a friend of mine and I have a contest going on who has seen the freakiest person there lately. I think I am winning, although, to be honest, this freak was at the Home Depot next door. I saw a grown man walking down the isle, and I kid you not, he exactly resembled one of those Treasure Troll dolls with the wild hair...

I will definitely play the 'randomly-placed object game' next time I go in!!!

By

pixelala, at 10:24 AM

That is the funniest thing I've read in a long time! I just posted about Walmart last night.

By

Busy Mom, at 3:30 PM

That is great! It is truly amazing what you will see people do in places like that. Where I live the Targets attract a more upper crust (relatively speaking) clientele than the Wal-Marts, but then wife-beaters are rather common here as well. I wonder where that term came from anyway? Why not just call them tank tops?

By

bigun, at 2:51 PM

They're called "wifebeaters" because that's what the guys arrested on "COPS" for beating their wives are always wearing.

By

Anonymous, at 9:31 PM

Since when do they wear shirts on Cops?

By

dan, at 1:31 PM

Wait. Doesn't the fact that the women don't know what wifebeaters are mean they're NOT trashy?

By

Anonymous, at 8:33 PM

Shhh - you are going to ruin everyone's fun...I don't shop at wal-mart cuz i am edjumacated..haw-haw...I see the losers in target, wal-mart, k-mart, sears, JC Penney, Kohl's, - oops, now I'm doing it...I mean, what is a wifebeater? - Hmm, people who need to watch their spending, go where the less expensive products are - wow. I love the want-a-be snobs, shopping in a discount store, making fun of all the lowly poor trash just to reassure everyone that THEY'RE better... grow up.

By

Discount Snob, at 2:12 PM

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