Sick Wit’ It

This was about 4 or 5 years ago in a Walmart near Orlando. It was quite late at night, so not very crowded, but there happened to be a couple with two young kids near the photo station in the center of the store. One parent was carrying one child and the other parent was pushing a kid sitting in the cart. They looked like a normal family…dressed just fine… not overweight…kids being quiet. I was busy trying to find camera batteries when I heard an unpleasant sound and looked up to see that the kid in the cart had lost his dinner all over the floor. After a considerable amount of vomiting, he looked pretty green yet, so I can understand the parents wanting to help him as quickly as possible, and maybe rushing off. Of course I thought one of them might take the kids and run to the rest room while the other tried to get help cleaning the floor. No. On both counts. While there was an employee working in the photo development area, the parents did not alert them, or anyone else…instead they casually pushed the cart away (the kid was still slightly wretching), as if nothing happened, and left a lovely mess on the concrete floor behind them (the wheels of the cart were also helping to drag the mess further along). I’m pretty sure the walmart employee looked up, but whether they heard or saw the mess (the photo counter may have blocked the view), they didn’t stop what they were doing. Finally, beyond disgusted, I alerted the employee to the “problem area”, and he/she said they’d take care of it. I think I left without buying anything….just hoping I wouldn’t run into the parents still shopping while their kid was continuing to be sick!