Another reason NOT to shop at Walmart

I concur, good sir.

 

My stepdad was a manager at a Walmart for a bit, and he told me that they go nuts if you try to stay and do your work. Basically, there would be something that needed to get done, and he'd do it and get chewed out. They said you just have to drop it and leave. Kind of wierd.

 

No don't lock it, this is exactly the kinds of discussions we need in this country.

Well, this is my take on that: We have a choice not to shop or work there, but someone always does, correct? Same way we have a choice not to smoke but people always do. Everyone knows the shit's bad for you, yet they still sell millions of cigarettes every day. Somebody is smoking them all.

Or a more relevant example, you see some stupid movie you know is gonna suck just by the advert, so you don't go, but the movie makes $150 million in it's run. Somebody saw it. Same way somebody is out there buying all the stupid music every thinks sucks, or how no one eats at McDonalds anymore yet they still make a bazillion dollars every year. Somebody is enjoying those chicken McNuggets.

You don't shop there, you don't work there, but somebody is, for whatever reason. If you're providing a job, chances are there's someone out there who will take it. Walmart is one of the largest employers in the country, of course people are going to choose to work there. It's the kind of job that nearly anyone can get - how hard is it to work retail? Not very hard. I did it myself for six years, all one need do is show up and smile, the rest of the shit takes care of it'self. There's a reason why these people are paid what they are.

But, as this is one of the largest companies in the country, they have a responsibility to the communities they are located in. True they need to make money (that is the point after all) but they can do that without cutting people's hours or suing them when they're braindamaged from a car accident. These companies push it as far as they can get away with it, and there's a fine line between being fiscally responsible and exploting your workers.

Of course Walmart isn't the only ones that do this - they all do it to some degree. For example my entire tenure at Starbucks, I never got full time. They would schedule you for up to 39.5 hours a week, but as long as it was under 40 they didn't have to give you full time pay or benefits. But they didn't make me work off the clock or erase my hours, and thier health/dental plans are some of the best you can get a such a low end job.

My mother retired and took a job at a Ralphs for some extra income. In order to get full time status there, you have to work 40 hours a week, for sixteen weeks in a row. Miss one day and it starts all over. She tells me there are people who have been there for over 20 years and still haven't got full time status. But every one of her hours are dutfully logged and accounted for, she gets decent insurance that won't pull shit like this truck incident becasue there's a union behind it.

So the point is you can make money without having to expliot people, and just choosing to personally not work/shop at a certain place isn't good enough. Nowadays politicains are too scared or paid for to regulate these companies, the best bet for anyone who wants to see change is to shame them into action, which is why discussion like this is important.

 

I'm so jetlagged I really don't remember. My honest opinion: By default I don't think highly of those that shop at Walmart. I do, however, realize that some people have no choice due to location, and others have little choice due to cost. I am fortunate enough to not live anywhere near a Walmart (but my wife buys things from Seiyuu from time to time which is 37% owned by Walmart, and losing money hand over fist each year).

It's not always legal, and this is my point which seems to be going right above your head. They got in massive fucking truble w/ the ACL or someone not that long ago (sue me for not finding a link, I'm tired...my body has no clue what time it is) for figuratively screwing a bunch of hispanic workers. That's the "horribly abridged and summed up" version, but it was a PR disaster. I don't remember all the details of the case, but I do remember it was not gray at all. Hawanja probably remembers it.

 

I'm pretty sure I know what you're talking about. As I recall they had a number of Mexican employees as cartpushers, but they didn't get paid by Wal-Mart - they could only be paid in tips.

Does anyone know how much a cartpusher makes in tips? A big fat fucking zero.

 

My mom used to tip them $.25

 

Probably because he was a manager and managers are "supposed to just sit in the office and do manager stuff and not out on the floor doing associate work"...the overnight assistant managers I work with get that every now and then.