(Here's a poem from my uncle, Tom Scheff.)

Ross for Less is almost at the bottom
of the food chain for clothes and other goods.
It is not as low as thrift stores, but only one rung above.
It sells hand-me-downs from the stores higher up:
Mervin’s, Sears, Long’s, etc. Nothing at all
From Nordstrom’s, Macy’s, I. Magnim or other palaces.

So I am sitting in a chair by the entrance
Waiting for my wife to finish shopping,
Which is taking longer than I thought it would.

One thing I noticed as I was waiting
That most of the patrons, and almost all
Of the clerks, are Hispanics.
The dialogue with the cashiers is mostly Spanish.
This group is buying what they can afford,
Hand-me-downs.

Why did it take my wife so long? Because she chanced
To meet a professional colleague.
It doesn’t add to one’s allure
To be caught shopping, not at Nordstrom’s
But at Ross for Less.

Slightly embarrassed, my wife and her colleague
Had to chat about their business.
And the colleague explained that she shopped so near the bottom,
Because it was good therapy for her.