They would have moved out of the way if they understood what you were saying. They probably only speak spanglish.

This country was built on Immigrants, how come now "they" seem to be taking more from the society than adding to it.

An I say that loosely because I personally know many "Immigrants" that would make great additions to this society, but are getting hassled doing it.

Unfortunately it seems the most effective way migrate into this country is to hop a fence and start running to collect unemployment.

hmm...not the direction is was going with my post, but ok. it was just about me annoyed with inconvenience. not an uncommon topic around these digital parts.

as far as the pedro maria and maria joke, yes, most of the families in my sam's club are hispanic. not a surprise in socal. it was more a joke about how every hispanic family i know has a daughter named maria. like the "nick" joke from the greek wedding movie. only i don't know many greeks.

back to your point, i don't necessarily agree with you about illegals in america, nor do i agree about them taking more than we are getting. i am curious about why you feel that way though. i'm not sure this is the right post to discuss it, but i'm pretty sure your comment might see a fair amount of discussion from my readers.

In the direction you were originally intending: I'll point out that it may be the only entertainment they can afford, and that the expense to get a sitter for [Pedro+Maria(cubed]may be far more than the savings realized at Walmart (figure $2/head/hour, minimum). Although I'm with you about the behavior thing; my husband and I took our two kids to dinner and had to wait 25 minutes for a table. While we waited, a single mother brought FIVE kids under the age of eight in to dine. The kids were AWFUL, made the crowded foyer nearly unbearable (picture twin two-year-old boys playing in a fountain...). In this case, the sitter would have been cheaper than FIVE children's dinners. No excuse for this deplorable lack of parenting.

As for the immigrants direction your first commenter pursued: I heard on NPR today that immigrants working in this country send 30 BILLION DOLLARS a year home to their families. That's nearly double the 17 billion the US government spends on foreign aid. They do contribute a lot -- it's a discretionary foreign aid program which helps other impoverished families abroad.

No, you're a metrosexual.

I too would like to know why Web feels the way he does about immigrants...

As far as rude people go, my favourites are the teenagers. They park their cars in the middle of the street - the BUSY street - and chat with their whorish friends, all the while sipping their lattes. And the Left Behind series? Easily some of the worst books ever written.

you're not just an optimist... i mean, you're getting paper towels too, right?

although... they're a bit rougher than tissue...

In general I feel like people take their children to way too many places. I had my regular appointment at the doctor's today and let me tell you that Maria and her kids Pedro and Maria would have been better off left at home than languishing in the waiting room while I sat there flu-ish and pregnant wishing them dead.

word.

In response to the first post, why do we assume that anyone who's of Latino descent is a recent immigrant? Or worse, an illegal alien? Many Latino families have lived in Southern California for generations but many seem to forget that they're just as American--and have as much right to be here--as people of European descent.

I also don't understand why the first poster had to assume that they couldn't speak English or that they were at Sam's Club spending their unearned unemployment checks. Regardless of one's position on illegal immigrants, it sucks to see that we have a long way to go before we're rid of racial stereotypes.

On the large families at the stores, my pet peeve is when the kids run ahead of the parents out in the parking lot, and the parents don't seem to care. H.E. and I call that retroactive birth control.

On the illegal aliens, one of my former co-workers turned out to be an illegal alien (my company didn't/doesn't know), and I totally lost respect for him because he talked about voting and HMOs and whatnot, and he wasn't even legally supposed to work or live here. It pisses me off because my family went through all the processes and paperwork to come live here from the Philippines, and there he was, working alongside me under false pretenses, probably getting paid more than I was.

Some people have racial issues. Maybe it's Spic envy...

Jay,

who is singing Mexicans'favourite song:"We are family, I got all my kiddies with me."

On a positive note, the "Web" didn't leave an anonomous comment! He should get extra points for that, right?

I know and understand where everyone is coming from, I too can get really annoyed at "family" outings. After thinking about though, I had to give my head a shake. At a time when so many parents are both working and kids are so often left to fend for themselves, at a time when so many families don't even ask how each other's days went, it's pretty sad that we get aggrevated at those families that do want to spend time with their families and do everything together.

Just a different look at things.

I must say that you hit the nail on the head on this one. Total oblivion is a bit of a pet peeve for me. My favorite 'family outing' is the >5 piece family that must walk side by side spaced just so as to completely block the walkway in the mall. Usually as I'm about to snap and kick the baby stroller, they stop (suddenly) and I slam into the second Maria.

People and their damn gaggle of kids suck. Period.

And good score on the condoms AND paper towels... what's THAT about?! You need just one or the other, right? ;-)

An optimist to the end... ah, I love Jimbo.

Obviously, they weren't mexicans. Mexicans don't eat pickles.

You have a point, but really, the "Maria and Pedro and Maria and Maria" is not that funny and kind of offensive.

Thank you for the comment. This is actually what I was hoping for when I wrote this. I never claimed to be politically correct and don't choose to be. I'm making fun of stereotypes - not the people.

But let me ask you a question. Is it offensive because the joke came from me? Would the joke be equally offensive coming from a Latino? Ask yourself that, and then question why.

I grew up in Tucson - raised in a community that was very Mexican. I am the least biased person I know. But fact remains, most of the families that shop at this store are indeed Hispanic. I am not going to change the picture I paint in my story to reflect something other than reality.

I am, however, making a joke at an obvious stereotype based on an obvious pattern. It is not a shot at Hispanic people or intelligence or history or personality or potential. It's a shot at (in my opinion) an amusing pattern in the that particular culture - again cribbed directly from the "Nick" joke in A Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Every joke about a black man's penis or every time someone says "You go girl" or more directed at my own life, every time someone makes reference to a Camaro driving Italian or claims that New Yorkers are rude does the exact same. We are making fun of a stereotype based on the little idiosyncrasies that make us all different.

My jokes about Porsche driving USC graduates with hair plugs and penile implants in Corona del Mar raise no eyebrows. And more all intents it is a FAR more offensive joke. My jokes about gay culture and lesbians and my FAMILY are far, far more risque. Am I offensive in shining a light at this? Where do we as a people draw the line?

It is my opinion that people need to relax and learn to determine intent with regard to humor. There are jokes intended to belittle and offend. And there are jokes that are not. Stereotypes are funny because of the grain of truth within them. I take aim at those stereotypes. Sometimes I might miss, and I'll apologize when I do. If anyone feels differently, I would like to hear why.

Regarding any "deplorable lack of parenting," as Rayne said, it is possible (and in my experience, probable) that the parent(s) in question have little financial options and cannot afford a babysitter.

At the same time, they probably eat at home 95% of the time and wanted to get a break from cooking, and the kids were driving them nuts at home and had been cooped up awhile, the parents had to get them fed somehow, and they decided the quickest solution was to take them out, get them fed, and let someone else cook for a change.

In the case of Jim's Sam's Club experience, the parents most likely couldn't afford a babysitter -- if they could, they might not be stocking up on diapers and macaroni and cheese at Sam's. As for their failure to move out of the aisle, well, people have their reasons, whether a language barrier, cultural misunderstanding, fatigue, crabbiness, being overwhelmed with kids, etc.

Having said that, I will add that my son is usually very well behaved, but when he's hungry he can be a tad rambunctious. (He's almost three.) Parenting is a *lot* more challenging than most people realize, and it is sometimes a struggle to consistently be at one's best and most vigilant.

It would be great if others showed a little compassion and understanding -- like offering to help a parent whose child is running in the parking lot, or telling jokes to the kids playing in the fountain at the restaurant.

When a stranger is behaving (or driving!) poorly in my presence, I generally assume I've caught them on one of their off days. Heaven knows I've screwed up when I was tired or grieving stressed or whatever. It really makes a difference to the overall positiveness in the world when we have a little more patience with people who are doing the best they can and perhaps failing at the time.

Hey, I help out. When a kid is running around out of control, I stick my foot out, and trip the little brat.

How's that for compassion?

As someone who gets to spend about 2 hours or less a day with my kids during the week, I'm more than happy to take them to run the weekend errands. However, I hope I am teaching them to be courtious to others (unlike Pedro et al). There's no excuse for people (young or old) to be rude.

As an aside; Who goes to somewhere like Sam's for 3 items on the weekend? You're asking to get frustrated and stessed out.

none of this race stuff - i was just laughing at the optimism/paper towel combo. i'm glad someone else caught it.

Maybe it would be good not to have kids if you can't afford the upkeep- either provide some real parenting and ensure that your kids are not infringing on other people's sanity or pay someone else to do it.

Ah, Rita..."provide some real parenting" and "pay someone else to do it." Hmm. Interesting contradiction. I'm guessing you don't have kids. :-) Also, regarding infringing on others' sanity, I've got to say people who are severely allergic to kids might do well to do their shopping during non-peak hours, and to patronize less child-friendly restaurants. There's nothing wrong with taking one's kids to the store or to a restaurant. This is how kids learn how to behave in these situations -- experience. But you will think and say what you will think and say, and I will do the same, and we'll probably never change each other's minds. Oh well.