Last week, I was sitting in the Walmart parking lot, waiting for my family to come out, minding my business, listening to some music, and casually looking out through the windshield.
Across from me, I saw a car pull into a parking space—but not cleanly. He had to adjust a little, because the car next to the space he was pulling into was already parked too far over the line and at an angle. You could tell he noticed it. You could also tell he wasn’t thrilled about it.
He sat there for a second after parking, just looking.
Then he got out.
Now, if you’ve ever been in a situation like that, you already know what kind of mood that can put you in. You’re thinking, “Come on, dude… really?” Like somebody couldn’t take the extra second to straighten up their car.
So he goes back into his car, grabs something—looked like a piece of paper—and starts writing.
And I’m sitting there watching this whole thing unfold like, “Oh baby… here we go.”
He walks back over to the car that’s over the line and starts sliding the note into the window.
Now I don’t know exactly what he wrote, but if he’s anything like me, it probably said something along the lines of, “Learn how to park,” or “Parking lessons are free. See ME.” I’ve been there before. I’ve done it (the latter message). The only difference is, I never got caught.
But this dude?
He was about to.
Because just as he slid that note in, the owner of the car came walking out of Walmart and saw him.
The author of the note tried to say something.
Didn’t get it out. The car’s owner saw the note.
Our “concerned citizen” caught one clean in the left cheek and dropped straight to the ground.
And I just sat there… stunned. Waiting for something else to happen. A full-blown argument, yelling, a one-sided fight, security being called… something.
Nothing.
The man on the ground stayed there for a second, holding his face. The other guy? He didn’t say another word. Just walked past him, threw the note on the ground, got in his car, and drove off like it was just another normal part of his day.
Now here’s where it gets interesting.
Because from where I was sitting… I saw something the man with the note didn’t.
Rewind
That car he was upset about?
It didn’t just randomly park over the line and at that angle.
The car on the opposite side of it had already been parked over the line. Way over. At an angle. Which meant the driver had no real choice but to adjust and take what space was left. He wasn’t being careless—he was working with what he had.
But the man who wrote the note didn’t see that.
He saw what was in front of him… and acted on it.
And just like that, he paid for a situation he didn’t fully understand.
I would’ve told him. I really would have. But everything happened so fast, and honestly, I wasn’t expecting to witness any of that in the middle of a Walmart parking lot. Then again, this is Walmart, where anything goes, in and out of it.
A few minutes later, the man finally got up, still holding his jaw. And like it always seems to happen, he looked directly at me.
I thought about shrugging my shoulders, like, “Hey… I saw it too,” but something told me that probably wasn’t the best move.
So I did what felt safest.
I looked down at my phone.
Like nothing happened.
I mean, c’mon, people… Just once, I’d like to be the guy who’s not directly or indirectly involved. You all know how my stories usually go. I’m tired of getting caught in the middle.
He walked into Walmart, doing the same thing—acting like everything was normal… aside from the fact that he kept rubbing his jaw as he walked.
Epilogue
Now I’m not going to sit here and pretend this is some deep life lesson that’s going to change the way we all move starting tomorrow.
But I will say this.
We don’t always know what people are dealing with… or what put them in the position they’re in.
There’s a prequel to every tale.
Sometimes we just see what’s in front of us, make a judgment, and react.
And every now and then…
That reaction doesn’t go the way we expect.
Just ask the man who might be scheduling a dental appointment for his loose molars right about now.
…and the man with the short fuse who thought he rode off into the sunset (or in this case, moonlight) might have a very different ending waiting for him—especially if those Walmart cameras caught the whole thing…
…including his license plate…
…because there’s a sequel to every tale too…
This has been another
Retail Re-Tale.
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