wow...

So, we had this big, honkin' earthquake today. It was weird. I was on break, about 4:30 this morning, and we're just sitting there, and then the chairs were rattling across the floor. Very trippy. And I was okay, until people kept talking about aftershocks, so all my remaining hours at work, I keep looking up at all the crap that hangs from the ceilings at Wal-Mart. Have you ever noticed all that crap? Big, heavy signs, disco-ball security cameras. Stuff, everywhere, and I just knew I was doomed to get hit in the head with it. (I also work at the biggest Wal-Mart in Kentucky, and we have a lot of ceiling, too.) I called my friend when I got off work to have a complete "OMG" conversation about it (which we would never admit to), and she'd slept through it!

And I'm glad I'm not in the type of business where you have to comfort people at all, because I'm horrible at it. All these people kept coming in, because I guess Wal-Mart is the place to convene when something crazy happens, and no one's injured. I can't tell you how many times I got approached with "Did we have an earthquake?" or "Did you feel that?" And all I could say in reply?

"Um... yeah."

So, I'm not big on the empathy. I put things on shelves; they don't pay me enough to play trauma-counselor. I did feel bad for a lot of them though, just walking around with their mouths hanging open. At least with a tornado, which we're pretty used to around here, there's evidence of it. I think a few bricks fell off a building downtown this morning, but other than that, it's like nothing happened at all, and I think everyone was looking for something to justify how freaked out they were. I'm still a little freaked myself, but I'm really good at hiding it.