I read with dismay Christine Rousselle’s meditation on wisdom gained as a Walmart cashier (Dec. 19 Forecaster Forum). I was particularly alarmed by the violence implicit in the reference to “steel drums and cement” as a solution for difficult customers paying with WIC.

We often stereotype college students as idealistic, owing to their lack of real-world experience. Evidently, two summers at Walmart are sufficient experience for Rousselle to have developed a thoroughly hardened attitude and unimaginative outlook regarding how other people live their lives. (And perhaps she should examine her own more closely; assuming Rousselle does not fund her college education with Walmart earnings alone, she surely receives substantial financial support. I wonder if she believes that her benefactors, whether alumni donors who underwrite scholarships, the federal government, which subsidizes student loans, or her parents, have the right to scrutinize each purchase she makes.)

Rousselle apparently merits all she has received, from an expensive, high-quality education to a decent summer job, while her unlucky customers deserve neither compassion nor public assistance but steel drums and cement, or at least the contempt of their fellow citizens.

Alison McDonald
New York, N.Y.