|
I was at Wal*mart last night, around midnight, to get boxes from the stockers for my impending move.
This is sort of a long rant, and the real (to me, anyway) shocking information is at the bottom. If you're not interested in my story, skip down to the puking smilies.
I had a long talk with a nice lady stocker. Won't say much about her in case the Wal*mart drones read this. I will say, and I say this with no sense of superiority whatsoever, that it was obvious from talking to her that she's not very educated and has little sense of personal empowerment. That's not to say she wasn't intelligent -- in fact, her vocabulary was so good for someone who dropped out of school in the tenth grade that I asked her if she read a lot, and she said she does -- but I offer that information in case some may find it relevant.
What's definitely relevant is this -- she said she makes $8.90 per hour, and was very proud of that, because most people who've only been there a year make just $6.70 an hour, but she got a better deal for herself because she agreed to be on a team that takes responsibility for preventing accidents in the store.
We talked at length about what it's like for her, working at Wal*mart. She told me several horror stories of women being passed over for promotions in favor of much less-qualified men. Also, she was once suspended without pay for a week because she worked 49 hours. They paid her time-and-a-half for the 9 hours, but they were furious with her. (It was during the flu epidemic, and she worked over to make sure that all her responsibilities were met. It took longer because she was essentially doing the work of two people for almost every shift that week.) She received a disciplinary write-up and was suspended for a week.
I asked her if she liked the job. She said she liked what she actually does -- it makes her feel good to make the shelves look good. The aisles she's responsible for have a lot of kid-friendly items, and she said that it's a nice feeling to know that some little kid will be happy and able to find exactly the (item) he or she wants because she did a good job.
I asked her about other job prospects after hearing her story about the LWOP suspension. She said that she had some training in electronics, and was offered a job for $10.15 an hour at a local establishment (can't say more; too revealing). She turned it down, however, because all the signs point to that industry dying in our area, and she and her husband agreed that, within six months to a year, it would probably be shipped overseas. Wal*mart, she pointed out with a sigh, will still be here. And maybe in six months to a year she could be up to $9 an hour!
My heart was breaking at this point for her. I mean, I have it pretty bad myself, but I'm blessed with a good education and some writing ability. I recently sold an essay that I worked on for eight hours for more money than she'll make in two weeks of breaking her back all night. She has a *regular* income, and I don't, but I don't put up with much indignity, and that's a major part of her life, too.
Anyway, I digress.
:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:
Wal*mart makes me want to puke in a new way. It turns out that when someone slips and falls in Wal*mart, the money for the lawsuit comes out of the employees' pockets in a MUCH more direct way than you or I could ever have imagined. Instead of it cutting profits or causing them to take more safety measures, this is how it works:
Each store has a "risk management" team. It's their job to constantly be all over the store making sure that there's no way someone can slip and get hurt. ANYTIME someone does, you can bet they sue. Wal*mart settles over 90% of these out-of-court. Where does the money come from?
The "Risk Management" team gets a yearly "Christmas" bonus (and it ain't much even in a perfect year of no lawsuits at their store). If there is a lawsuit, the money comes out of the RM team's "Christmas" bonuses!! She said, "That's how come they get so mad at you if you work overtime. They think since you'll get a bonus in December if there ain't no accidents, you should just clock out and go do your Risk Management anyway, 'cause you'll get paid for it later."
Wal*mart just put KB Toys out of business. Who'll be next? How long until we ALL work for Wal*mart???
:scared: :scared: :scared:
Thanks for listening, y'all.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
