It IS true the locals don’t like us. I go to South Fallsburg 8-10 times during the winter. I have family living there. The difference is, that for 10 months of the year, we are not the majority population. For 2 months of the year, we are.
Lets call a spade a spade. When the Wal-Mart in Monticello had to send a letter to the Agudah discussing the horrible chillul hashem made in many ways over the summer months, it wasn’t because they hate us. They love every one of the millions of dollars we spend in their store, summer after summer after summer. What they DO NOT like, and rightfully so, is that we take advantage of a return policy in ways not intended. Is there a reason Wal-Mart has been reffered to as the Toy Gemach, Bike Gemach and A/C Gemach? That we take advantage of a large air conditioned store and use it as a babysitting service. I dont know what the policy is on 13th avenue or Lee avenue or on Ave J (insert your own avenue here), but if store policy is that one should refrain from riding the bicycles around the toy section, then it must be honored, even if it just for “a few minutes”. Must camps take their staff to Wal-Mart UNSERPERVISED for staff night out?
The Laytzanus and Kalush Rosh that occurs in the store is unaccaptable by ANYONES standards, certainly not ours.
. Should teenage girls be racing shopping carts up and down the aisles? (Iv’e been hit by these wagons, luckily for the girls I was not a “local”.
. Should underage boys and girls be asking people to buy beer for them? (Been asked a number of times – where is the camp supervision of these kids?)
. Is it proper to return an obviously used bicycle during the last week of August because “my son is too big for it”? The customer service lines the last week of August with customers returning things is a sight to behold. I bet no other store in america does that many returns in a month, as this WalMart does in a week.
Lets leave the store for moment and head out into the parking lot. Double parking, horn honking, blocking pedestrians and cars. It doesnt matter that “they do it too”. WE should know and act better.
Lets leave the parking lot and head out to the streets. Speeding, double parking, incessant horn honking. WE should know better. We probably DO know better, but dont act on it.
I am NOT in any way saying that WE act like this. However, even if ONE of us acts this way it is a chillul hashem and it reflects on All of us. Unfortunately more than one of us act this way, a small minority to be sure, but vocal and visible enough to have US painted with a very broad brush a certain way.
Yaasher Koach to Ohr Naavah for having the guts to say it like it is and DOING something about it. At least the girls will have a place to go Motsai Shabbos. Now we have to find something for them to do 5 more nights of the week (hopefully, they dont go far on Friday night). Perhaps the camps should rethink where they let their staff go, and when. Parents who allow their children to work in the mountains have an achraiyus to make certain they know what their children are doing after work hours while they are 125 miles away in the city. Perhaps those who employ them should be required to keep an eye on them? I know it is not realistic, but from some of the comments people made about Agriprocessors and their choice of employees, at least THEY should agree that employers be careful who they hire.
At the end of the day, each individual is responsible for their own actions and the kiddush hashem (or chas veshalom, chillul hashem) it creates.
Is it WalMarts fault? Lets not be ridiculous. Is it the fault of the “locals” who “hate” us for blowing things out of proportion? Come on, lame excuse. Besides, we SHOULD be held to a higher standard, dont we believe that WE are the AM SEGULA? Parents and camps that allow children to roam free are the true culprits. What do they expect their children to do with unfettered freedom?