indexed

LOL.

Aisle 12?

More like "Where'd I park the mini-van again?"

Of course, then you'd need the repetitive beeping of the beeper ...

Or The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

-or-
BABY GIRL at a Bus Stop!!!!

Or, "Grocery shopping when tired/sick/hungry"

Monique in TX

Oh, Jessica, you are treading thin ice with this one! My precog sense tells me that you'll soon get flamed for making fun of hard working yet homeless people...

I wouldn't call this thin ice. I've known several of the local homeless around here, as well as the so-called "gutter punks". Most of them admit that they're at least a little bit insane. Most of them revel in it.

Oh, and none of them care about the internet, or those who attempt to "champion their cause" there.

nice one keep em coming!

Not *questionable* sanity for they certainly are insane.

for someone with a unusually witty, clever perception of human nature, this is really disappointing in its crass and prejudicial attitude towards the homeless. please remove it.

would your witticism be acceptable if the circles were "huge lips", "single mom", "poor grammar", and one combination of the three was "black people?" unfortunately, the homeless don't have an al sharpton to shame us into not laughing at them.

good point amy! all homeless people really ARE insane! that's hilarious!

please don't pander.
keep it up

By grouping the homeless with the "big-box" shoppers, the author is obviously making a point that we are ALL of questionable sanity - she does not equate it with a particular class or section of society.
Christolles, on the other hand... you speak of "crass and prejudicial", but are quick to come up with a racist and far more offensive entry. Telling, I'd say.

Jessica, fine work as usual! Keep 'em coming~

Define insane. Do you mean colloquially insane or insane a la the DSM-IV-TR?

Because, you could say we're all insane, to some degree, at some time or another.

Also, you really do need to separate the mentally ill, perenially homeless from the mom-and-kids-got-kicked-out-of-the-house-by-addicted-boyfriend homeless. You're dealing with completely different sets of choices and completely different reasons for making them.

There's the bad judgment of deciding to live with your addicted boyfriend (esp. when you have kids), and there's the bad judgment of going off your meds when you're mentally ill, because you're feeling good and you decide you don't need them, but then you go off the deep end and lose your job and your apt. and end up homeless. Or, you just like the freedom of living on the streets and answering to no one.

So, you can't lump all the homeless together. Sadly, there IS a lot of mental illness on the streets (just like there is a lot among your neighbors, you just don't know it. And it's not like you're showing your neighbors your Paxil rx, either!)

@christolles!: I believe Amy was referring to big-box store customers, not homeless people.

@Anonymous:

I don't think it's "obvious" at all that the author is calling us all insane, and i think it's clear she is in fact is explictly equating "it with a particular class or section of society" - namely, the homeless and big box shoppers. not everyone falls into those two categories.

clearly the irony of my "black people" suggestion was lost on you. the whole point is that it is offensive. how, exactly, is that more offensive than calling all homeless people insane?

An insult is an insult even if it is supposed to be "ironic". I would have thought that the point that Jessica was making was that homeless peoples' insanity is no more questionable than the rest of ours.

would your witticism be acceptable if the circles were "huge lips", "single mom", "poor grammar", and one combination of the three was "black people?" unfortunately, the homeless don't have an al sharpton to shame us into not laughing at them.

---------

This is the most narrow-minded, cynical, and degrading statement I've read in a long time.

"Shame us" into not laughing? So we are to feel guilt, sorrow, or shame, and not humor? We are not to laugh at the things in this world which highlight our own shortcomings?

Al Sharpton is a bigot and a hatemonger, and so are you. Of course, with this post, so am I. Perhaps we can start a club of people who hate people that hate people.

Or me in HomeGoods.

i had a witty comment, but the fire in me died when i read the comments here.

would your witticism be acceptable if the circles were "huge lips", "single mom", "poor grammar", and one combination of the three was "black people?"

Well, aren't you the racist one Chirstolles?

By the way for a reality check, most homeless street wanderers are actually retarted or crazy. The people who aren't get themselves out of that rut with some effort and help. And also a lot of those crazy shopping cart ladys walking through the middle of a busy intersection are just old and crazy, but they have a home, filled with cats.

Great index!!! Pay no attention to those who flame this one...it's spot on!

I actually kinda worry about the person that needs someone to shame them to walk the straight and narrow.

I think homeless = crazy is actually a reversal. Maybe most of them are in that condition, but in Pennsylvania at least they were generally crazy first. They shut down institutions, then there were more people without a place to live, who -happened- to formerly call a crazy house their home. So it's not that they have a disease from being homeless, or even that crazy got them there...they were crazy in private, but then they lost the privacy, so now they're crazy in public.

She wasn't saying this was the case for ALL homeless people. When I see a woman pushing a cart full of junk outside, mumbling to herself - guess what? I'm guessing she's homeless. The fact that Jessica saw the connection between that and the folks in the Super-Mega-Lo-Mart is priceless, and very, very funny.