Attention, Shoppers: Bored College Kids Competing in Aisle 6
On a snowy Monday night recently, Northern Arizona University freshman Natalie Eickmeyer finished her studying and decided to go out and have some fun. So at 10 o'clock, after scouring a dormitory for participants, she and five friends headed to the Wal-Mart discount center.
The students had no intention of shopping. They were going to Wal-Mart to play games.
That night, she and her pal Amy Zimmerman, a college junior, decided the group would play "10 in 10." The captains of the two teams each spend 10 minutes putting 10 items in a shopping cart. The carts are turned over to the opposing teams which have to figure out where the items came from and return them to the shelves where they belong. That's no easy feat in a store stocked with more than 100,000 different items. The first team back to the checkout counters with an empty cart is declared the winner.
"It's big, it's the only thing open after 9 p.m., and you can get away with more," said Ms. Eickmeyer, explaining why she and her friends regularly use Wal-Mart for various challenges.
From scavenger hunts and aisle football to a relay race limbo under the shopping-cart stand, college students around the country -- particularly in rural areas -- have found Wal-Mart's endless aisles and 24-hour operations to be perfect for middle-of-the-night romps.
Students at Taylor University in Upland, Ind., a liberal-arts school surrounded by cornfields, sign a contract promising not to drink, take drugs or have premarital sex. A dormitory there organizes wholesome activities, including group dates that begin at a restaurant and end at a Wal-Mart for a scavenger hunt, says Elizabeth Diffin, a senior at the university. They typically play a version called "A-Z," where the team that first finds an item for every letter of the alphabet wins.
Eugene Orr, manager of the Flagstaff Wal-Mart, says he's aware that college and high-school kids conduct scavenger hunts and play other games in his store. "I don't think it's a big deal," he says. "But when they leave everything in the baskets and carts, it's really discouraging to the associates, because it creates extra work for them and takes away from customer service."
Mona Williams, a corporate spokesman at Wal-Mart, said the college Wal-Mart competitions were news to her. She suggested that Wal-Mart might use scavenger hunts to train stock clerks.
Students at Northern Arizona University play A-Z at Wal-Mart, too. "I've had trouble finding something that begins with Z, but I usually get lucky in the medicine aisle," says Ms. Zimmerman, noting that Zantac, a medicine for digestive disorders, does the trick. "U and X are hard, too," she says. But after some careful searching, she located Xtra laundry detergent and Ultra Palmolive dishwashing liquid.
The games vary from college to college. When Kerry Ahern and her boyfriend, Lance Greer, are bored, they play aisle football at Wal-Mart, a game they made up to pass the time in Easton, Pa., where Ms. Ahern is a senior at Lafayette College.
In this game, Ms. Ahern and Mr. Greer scout out two goal posts several aisles apart -- fishing-tackle boxes and bedding, for instance. Then they pass the football and try to tag the receiver.
"We play during the day and people give us all sorts of dirty looks," says Ms. Ahern. "The ball once hit someone shopping. She was not pleased."
Other Wal-Mart games emphasize strategy more than physical prowess. During the recent 10 in 10 game in Flagstaff, Ms. Zimmerman, who captained one of the teams, looked for small, rarely purchased items -- a thimble, in one instance -- and potentially embarrassing personal products such as condoms. She also employed some sneaky tactics. After grabbing the thimble off the rack, she turned all the other thimble packages around so the competing team would have trouble recognizing where the thimble belonged. One of the products she grabbed, CLA, a food supplement meant to help reduce body fat, was the last one on the shelf.
Meanwhile, opposing captain Ms. Eickmeyer was racing from one end of the store to the other, filling her cart with "random things from all the dark corners where no one ever goes." Among them: a bendable bubble curtain for fish tanks, a Danskin rubber band for working out, a dodgeball, car air-conditioner refill, something called a gripper for seat cushions, frilly girl's anklet socks, Dramamine and a decorated potholder.
"Gentleman, start your shopping carts," Ms. Zimmerman shouted at 10:12 p.m. And the two teams, each accompanied by the opposing team leaders to keep them honest, were off.
Ms. Eickmeyer's team worked feverishly, immediately heading off to the condom display without a moment's hesitation. The team members almost got stumped by the thimble, but after going through racks of needles and pins and other sewing accouterments, they realized that the packages had been turned backward. They angrily confronted Ms. Zimmerman, who professed shame.
That left the team with one item, the bottle of CLA. There were bottles of the product, but no exact matches. Finally, when Ms. Zimmerman looked the other way, the team asked a blue-smocked saleswoman for help, a violation of the game rules. "I don't know where it goes, just stick it up there," said the worker.
With that, the team, which called themselves "The Noodles," raced back to the cash registers and waited.
The other team, "Natalie's Angels," was having its troubles.
It tried to ditch the dodgeball next to a shelf of balls in the camping section, but Ms. Eickmeyer cried foul and insisted the dodgeball had come from another aisle. Finally, the team found a bigger selection of balls in sporting goods. The seat gripper was easy to find; a string of them were hanging at the end of an aisle next to the Finding Nemo comforters. But Tom Ainsworth couldn't find where the decorative potholder came from. He walked up and down the houseware aisles several times. He found potholders, just not the heavy quilted ones decorated with flowers.
He finally gave up and asked a kneeling stock clerk for help. The worker walked him over to the "domestics" area, in the back right corner of the store, where the sheets, comforters and decorative towels were stocked. Mr. Ainsworth and his partner, Brenton Ward, put the potholder back in its place and headed back to the front of the store to accept defeat.
The two teams conferred and each learned the other had asked a stocker for help. Also, Ms. Zimmerman admitted it was perhaps unfair to have picked a one-of-a-kind bottle of CLA. They decided to call the contest a draw.
美国大学生的新游乐场－沃尔玛
在一个白雪飘飘的周一的晚上，北亚利桑那大学(Northern Arizona University)一年级学生娜特莉?艾克迈耶(Natalie Eickmeyer)学好功课后决定出去玩一会儿。她跑到一个宿舍寻找伙伴，10点的时候，她和五个朋友直奔沃尔玛折扣店。
这些学生没有购物的愿望，只是到沃尔玛去玩游戏。
那天晚上，娜特莉和读大三的朋友埃米?齐默尔曼(Amy Zimmerman)决定大家玩“10 in 10”。他们分成两队，每队的队长花10分钟挑10个商品放进购物车，然后把车交换过来，每一队要弄清楚这些商品是从哪儿来的，并把它们放回原来的货架。在一个有10万多件商品的店里完成这样的任务不是件容易的活。第一个把空车推回收银台的队将获得胜利。
“这里很大，9点钟还开门的地方只有这儿了，可以玩很多游戏。”艾克迈耶在解释为什么和朋友经常来沃尔玛玩各种挑战性游戏的原因时说道。
从“拾荒式搜索”、过道足球到购物车架下面的接力比赛，全国上下的大学生--尤其是郊区的学生--发现沃尔玛里长长的过道和24小时服务实在是半夜嬉戏的理想场所。
印第安那州Upland的泰勒大学(Taylor University)--一所被麦田环抱的文科学院--的学生签署了一份协议，答应不喝酒、不吸毒、不进行婚前性行为。据该学校大四学生伊莉莎白?迪芬(Elizabeth Diffin)称，有个宿舍组织了一些有益的活动，包括集体约会--从餐馆聚餐开始，以在沃尔玛玩一次“拾荒式搜索”为结束。他们通常会用“A-Z”这个玩法，规则是哪个队最先找到一个包括字母表里所有字母的货品就算胜利。
沃尔玛Flagstaff店的经理尤金?奥尔(Eugene Orr )说知道有大学生和中学生在他的店里玩“拾荒式搜索”或其他游戏。“我觉得没什么关系，”他说。“不过要是他们把一堆东西丢在购物篮或购物车里，同事们会很不满意，因为这增加了他们的工作量，还会降低客户服务的品质。”
沃尔玛公司发言人莫娜?威廉斯(Mona Williams)称她还是刚刚听说有大学生在店里玩竞赛游戏。她提议公司不妨采用“拾荒式搜索”来培训库存部的员工。
北亚利桑那大学的学生也在沃尔玛玩“A-Z”游戏。“要找到Z开头的货品有些困难，不过我通常都能在药品类货架找到，”齐默尔曼说。她找到一种叫Zantac的治消化不良的药。“U和X也不容易，”她说。不过仔细搜索之后，她找到一种Xtra牌洗衣粉和一种Ultra Palmolive牌洗洁精。
每个学校的游戏有所不同。克里?埃亨(Kerry Ahern)男朋友兰斯?格里尔(Lance Greer)在无聊的时候就会去沃尔玛玩过道足球。埃亨在宾西法尼亚州Easton上学，是拉斐特学院(Lafayette College)大四的学生，她发明这个游戏来消磨时间。
在这个游戏中，埃亨和男朋友格里尔找到两个球门柱，相隔几个货道--比如在渔具专柜和被褥专柜之间，然后发球，接下来发球的人要设法追上接球的人。
“我们白天玩这个游戏，遭到很多人的白眼，” 埃亨说。“有一次，球打中一个客户，她很不高兴。”
另外一些在沃尔玛玩的游戏强调技巧而非仅以体力取胜。在Flagstaff的“10 in 10”游戏中，齐默尔曼是一个队的队长，她专找那些很少有人买的小商品--例如有一次她找了顶针--或者是一些可能让人尴尬的个人用品，如避孕套。她也会用一些偷偷摸摸的伎俩。从货架上拿了顶针后，她把其他顶针盒翻过来，这样对手就很难找得著。她找到的其中一个商品是一种叫CLA的帮助减少体内脂肪的食物增补剂，是货架上最后一个。
与此同时，另一个队的队长艾克迈耶从超市的一头冲到另一头，车里装的都是“从那些很少人去的昏暗角落里随意挑的东西”，里面有金鱼缸用的可弯曲的灯泡廉、Danskin健身橡皮圈、躲避球、汽车空调补充剂、一个叫做座垫钳子的东西、带褶边的少女短袜、晕海宁和花纹锅垫。
“先生们，你们的购物车要出发了！”在10点12分的时候，齐默尔曼喊道。两个队出发了，分别都有对手的队长跟著，以免作弊。
艾克迈耶的队热情高涨，好不犹豫地冲向避孕套专柜。他们几乎被顶针难住，因为搜遍了针线和其他缝纫物品货架都找不到顶针在哪儿，于是他们意识到包装盒被翻过来了。他们气呼呼地质问齐默尔曼，齐默尔曼只好尴尬地承认。
最后只剩下一件物品--一瓶CLA食物增补剂。货架上有很多同类商品，但没有一个完全对得上。最后，队员乘齐默尔曼不注意，偷偷问一个穿蓝工作服的售货员－－这样做违反了规矩。“我也不知道它该放哪儿的，就随便放在那儿，”工作人员说。
听工作人员这么说，队员们--自称“面条队”--冲回到收银台，在那儿等。
另一支队--“娜特莉的天使”--也遇到了麻烦。
他们想把躲避球放在露营专柜的球架上，但艾克迈耶极力阻止，坚持说球是在另一个货道上拿的。最后队员在运动用品专柜找到一个更大的球类架。座垫钳子很容易找到，在Finding Nemo羊毛围巾旁边的货道尽头挂著一排座垫钳子。但是汤姆?安斯沃思(Tom Ainsworth )怎么都找不著花纹锅垫是哪个货架上的。他在家庭用品区来来回回地踱了几次，有很多种锅垫，但没有填棉絮、带鲜花图案的。
他最后放弃了尝试，找一个正跪著干活的仓库工作人员帮忙。工作人员带他到商店最里边右角落的“家用棉织物”专柜，那里摆著各种花色的床单、盖被和毛巾。安斯沃思和同伴布伦顿?沃德(Brenton Ward)把锅垫放回原来的位置，回到超市的收款处，准备接受失败。
两支队交换了一下意见，发现大家都曾找仓库工作员帮忙。齐默尔曼也承认挑最后一瓶CLA食物增补剂可能不太公平。大家最后决定两队打平手。
