Barbie Perkins-Cooper, Author

Dearest Readers:

Interesting thing happened yesterday at Wal Mart. The sales associate working the register was slower than a snail. It took her the bulk of five minutes (at least) just to change the register tape. After we stood in the line for a LONG…LONG time, she began to ring up our purchases. I, very diplomatically, asked her if she could please TRIPLE BAG the drinks. Two liter bottles. When I said “Triple bag,” she did not know the definition of Triple. It isn’t a difficult word. Triple equals three. Doesn’t it? Has the English changed???

I mentioned my last experience with the super cheap and super thin Wal-Mart plastic bags. We’ve all seen them – unless we do not shop at Wal-Mart! On my last shopping day, I had double bags carrying two, two liter bottles. When I picked up a bag to carry it inside, it split and the bottles fell to the ground. I did not want to experience this again.

Remember…Diplomatically, I smiled and said, “Could you please triple bag the drinks?”

When I was is elementary school vocabulary was one of my favorite subjects.

Triple? TRIPLE? T-R-I-P-L-E??? Oops. Excuse me, I think I defined what triple means. Consisting of THREE!

Her reply? “What’s triple?”

Oh my God. She. Doesn’t. Know. The. Meaning. Of. Triple?

I suppose I should give the clerk a bit of a break. In America we now have to push one on the phone for English. Two for Spanish. Well…What about the other immigrants we have in America. The boat people. French. Swedish. And all of the other languages. Why are we suddenly forced to push one for English???

Just the other day I was somewhere and I heard someone mention, “She only speaks Spanglish.”

Spanglish?  Have I missed something? Maybe the clerk at Wal-Mart only speaks Spanglish. Incidentally, she was not of Spanish heritage.

After loading our bags, I noticed an interesting action from the clerk. Yes, she used triple! What did she do? Well, it’s really simple, I suppose. That is – IF you don’t understand English, or you do not know the definition of simple words such as triple! The drinks were double bagged, with THREE two liter drinks in each of them.

Duh? Didn’t I say, “Could you please triple bag the drinks?”

Fortunately, this time the bags did not split. Double bags. Not TRIPLE BAGS.

Think I’ll stay away from her line next time.  Never have I been so relieved to leave Wal Mart!

Triple. Even commercials on TV show what Triple means. Triple decker sandwiches. Triple decker stacks of pancakes. Maybe there’s a Triple decker pizza. See, I know what triple means!