I fully agree that too many of them are in bad economic situations or suffering from mental issues.
But there are more than a few that know they’re going to be judged just for being who they are so they’re just cranking up up to 11 as a figurative middle finger to everyone else. The 450# guy in the dirty tutu as a potential example.
The ones in full costumes with heads I put down to losing a bet or just having fun. Or it’s Halloween.
Pajamas and robes don’t really rate an honorable mention these days.
If we’re talking about things like pajamas, I can kind of understand that. Some people are probably thinking “If I’m going to be on an 8 hour flight, I’m wearing the most comfortable clothes possible”, especially for an overnight flight.
Anti peer pressure and bullying campaigns for the last 30 years have pushed traditional social mores into unspoken rules. This has had a negative effect on the very people it was supposed to be helping. People with traditional support don’t generally have to learn dress, table manners, cleanliness in school. I’d much rather cry in middle school and be employable at 40.
Some people complain that this forum is a progressive hivemind. This thread proves how conservative it actually is.
Time marches on and styles change. People don’t dress the way they did when you were young. Or how they did when your kids were young. Your values are no longer normative. Shocking, I know.
The only Walmart withing 100 miles of me is 25 miles away. For years there was a nice elderly gentleman, an employee, that would greet you at the entrance and have a cart ready for you.
“Hi, hello” was his greeting. You could ask him what isle stuff was in. It was very nice to see his friendly face. Everyone recognized him.
Wow, you do live far out if you have to go an Isle for toilet paper.
We had a hat lady at our Walmart. She was an employee. Her hats would come out near holidays, decorated to tell you which one it was. She was written up in the local rag when she retired.
I got a laugh out of the guy who had Jolly Ranchers braided onto the ends of his mini dreads.
While some is definitely punching down at the poor, ignorant, and/or unhealthy, more of it seems to be people who have made deliberate poor sartorial choices. Or who can’t seem to keep their clothing appropriately arranged and adjusted.
And yeah, the Wal-Mart Experience differs greatly as to where you have that experience. If I go to the one by my house, it’s not unlikely that I might see someone with their ass hanging out, or with 9" fingernails, or something else extraordinarily trashy. And parts of it look like a bomb has gone off because the patrons have strewn stuff everywhere. But if I go to the one near where I used to live in West Plano, it’s quiet, clean, well appointed, and well stocked. . It’s like an upscale Wal-Mart, or used to be at least.
Ha! I remember we used to think of the kids from West Plano as rich while us East Plano kids were the poors. It was shocking going to another city and hearing the kids refer to us as the rich ones.
Hahahaha. My Wife is 1300 miles away checking in on her mom in assisted living. There is a ‘theme’ tonight for dinner where assisted living place is. ‘Breakfast for Dinner, wear your pajamas’. My Wife is going to do it. Maybe a few others will (her aunt and uncle will not [they are at the same place]).
My wife’s PJ’s are modest flannel. But as a young 63 yo, she may get a standing ovation.
I think Plano’s had a reputation for being wealthy in the Metroplex, even though it was mostly West Plano and the north/north-central parts. I suspect that Plano on the east side of Central has never been particularly wealthy, but people lump the whole town as wealthy anyway.
I live close to Forest @ LBJ - the Wal-Mart near there is the one I’m talking about. It’s an odd part of town, in that Forest @ Audelia is right there, and is one of the poorest and most violent parts of Dallas, and yet within a mile and a half, you’ve got Moss Farm and million+ dollar houses, and a bunch of other upper middle class suburban neighborhoods. So the stores in the area have the strangest mix of high-end choice and low-end value options, with a lot of them leaning toward the lower end. I’m assuming that’s because of mobility- the apartment people can ride the bus or walk, but someone in my neighborhood will just hop in the car and drive the 2-3 miles to Trader Joe’s or HEB Central Market.
“Trailer Park Chic” has been a thing for decades now and took on a political dimension in 2016. Many of these people give a lot of fucks about setting themselves apart from the “elite mainstream” (as oxymoronic as that sounds) found in woke places like a Target.
So, you lived in a trash can? People kept throwing you out of their house? I don’t follow.
As far as Walmart, among the other reasons, Walmart is often open late, so many of the people showing up in PJs might be there making a needed buy in the wee hours.
As far as PJs are concerned, why should we wear our most comfortable clothing only when unconscious? Some of the sartorial choices highlighted on PoW are anything butt.
If you don’t know the term “trailer trash,” then, nope, you’re not going to follow. I suggest you open your mind to the world around you. Once you do know the term “trailer trash,” then you won’t make stupid mistakes about the meaning of “literal trailer trash” and look like a stupid idiot.
