The Haves and The Have Nots

Last night I found out why Elder Holland was inspired to give his talk from this past General Conference.

After a 9 hour shift and a 1 hour drive in rush hour traffic, I went to a retail establishment up the street from the Gilbert Temple.  It is an establishment that is not only run by people who are members of The Church or Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is an establishment that has contracts with the Church regarding the sale of items being sold through the Church's Distribution Center.

I went to this store because it's hours worked better for me than trying to go to a location by the Mesa Temple, but also because I hadn't seen the store yet and wanted to see how it looked.

The store is very big, and very beautiful.  There are "zones" created for specific products or genre of items.  The area for the Church's Distribution area was also very lovely, however it didn't have the items I was looking for - the Check Registers for the Family Finance Class I'm taking in my Ward.  I wanted some extras that would get me through a full year.

Aftter some roaming the store, I found them - in the back of the store behind a wall where most people would not think to look for these items.  

As I walked into and around the store, there were people who were obviously either on their way or had just left the Gilbert Temple.  One couple was dressed casually.  All, however, looked me over with an expression of "who is this person and why are they here?"  It was definitely not an expression of welcome.

When I picked up the check registers, I was approached by one of the employees asking if I needed some help.  I indicated that no, I had just found what I was looking for.  As I continued browsing, however, I noticed he was watching me.

When I was ready to leave, I took my place in a line.  When I was at the head of the line, though, it was taking the cashier a very long time to take care of the customer they were handling.  Other employees (remember this was on a Friday night) saw me standing there, but no one wanted to come and help.  I did catch one employee's attention, who simply told me they were not on the clock and could not ring me up.  To their credit, after I had been standing there for more than 5 minutes, they finally found someone willing to handle my transaction and I left.

Needless to say, I don't think I'll be going back there again.  It's obvious that someone who doesn't "look the part" isn't welcome there.