I think I have stepped in Wal-Mart for the last time. (1 Viewer)

[Thik Nongyow]

I don't shop at Wal Mart because they had the policy of moving into a small town, dropping their prices to kill the mom and pop stores that had been there for decades...

I read an article about so-called "mom and pop" stores in Japan, where they are effective in keeping prices very high and keeping out retail chains would would like to sell their products for less. Without the retail chains, people are forced to pay sometimes outrageous prices in the mom and pops. These stores do not have a reputation for competition and providing lower prices.

 

[Cam S]

While Walmart gets a most of the blame, I think the employees need to take some of the blame for allowing this to happen. Sounds like they let themselves get taken advantage of, they should have read the employee manual.

I completely agree with Micheal. The employees are partyl to blame for letting this happen. I know for a fact that I wouldn't let this happen to myself, it's just stupid. I mean who wants to work for free when they have a shitty job??

 

[Henry Carmona]

Bill,
Did you read the article?

They are not suing because they "dont like" their job.

I guess you dont mind not getting paid for work you do, but i dont.

 

[Paul O]

Im not a fan of Wal-Mart but i agree that the "Mom & Pop" experience is overrated. My family owned several of these stores and they eventually closed due to competition from a chain. The cost to buy goods from a distributor was high and those prices were passed directly to the customer - returns? no way - pricematching -please. If you had no other place to shop you were stuck with high prices and not a lot of selection - not to blame the small storeowner - there is not a lot of value you can add to selling a book, or a roll of paper towels - shoplifting came directly out of the bottom line and in dangerous neighborhoods you literally laid your life on the line to earn a living. More often than not i'll go somewhere else to shop because I can afford to and because I want to get in and out quicker but I'm happy to have the choice.

 

[CharlesD]

What Wal-Mat has been doing simply disgusts me. Their employees don't have many options, they are making low wages and likely can't afford to be without work even for a few weeks. They "allowed" themselves to be taken advantage of, because I'd bet many of them had no choice. Go along with it or loose their housing, car etc. It's easy for someone making $80k to say they should have said 'no' and not so easy to do if you are living on $18k.

 

[Philip_G]

I'm sorry charles but I agree with the others, I would sooner walk out the front door never to return, then begin my shift without punching in. Sadly walmart is just taking advantage of its employees' lack of common sense.
(I REALLY wanted to type out sorry charlie, but I resisted )

 

[Cam S]

I think CHarles has a point. If a single mom with 2 kids is working at wal-mart, I don't think she has an option to quit with no time to find another job before hand. If you were in a situation like hers, then you'd feel the same way.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

I think CHarles has a point. If a single mom with 2 kids is working at wal-mart, I don't think she has an option to quit with no time to find another job before hand. If you were in a situation like hers, then you'd feel the same way.

Why's that mom having two kids in the first place anyways?

I have to agree with most people here. An employer can only take advantage of an employee only if they allow it. Besides, it's been my personal experience that the only hard workers in Wal-Mart are the midnight shift people. They're always kind, polite, courteous, and eager to help. The daytime cash registers on the other hand.....

 

[Cam S]

Why's that mom having two kids in the first place anyways?

Sorry, but nobody is perfect and everybody makes mistakes. But maybe it was by choice?

 

[Russell B]

I thought you had to be clocked in when you work or else if you worked off the clock the company can be sued if you get hurt or something.

 

[John Thomas]

This isn't a new phenomenon - it's been happening long before this citing of Wal-Mart. Basically, it comes down to these businesses taking advantage of a bad situation. Sure, it's easy for some to say "just quit - don't put up with it". Obviously, people in this category have never had to do things they don't want to.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Sorry, but nobody is perfect and everybody makes mistakes. But maybe it was by choice?

Oh yeah, you're absolutely right. People make mistakes all the time. Like some 12 year-old girl trying to discover the joys of sex and gets pregnant. That I can understand and show compassion for. It's when same said girl decides to have sex again, and not take precautions, and then gets pregnant again. Now that, I do have a problem with.

But that's getting off topic and into rant mode for me.

 

[Brian Harnish]

*shakes head*. Unbelievable.
I work in retail (unfortunately; but the chain I work at is better than Best Buy or Wally World). I realize how it is sometimes when you're short employees and working overtime is required in some cases. But what Wally World has done to its employees is unacceptable. Everytime I've had to work overtime I've always gotten paid for it. Never was I requested to work off the clock. If it were the other way around (required to work off the clock), I'd quit in no time flat.
Then I'd have time to build my *OWN* retail chain and get rid of Wally World.

 

[Scooter]

Regards the "mom with 2 kids"...it is not always promiscuity..here are a few new words:

Divorced
Widowed
Support ducking ex-husbands

 

[AllanN]

I'm still looking for the town that's large enough to support a WalMart, yet has no other stores. I don't think it exists.

Edinboro, PA only major store in the area. Although it is about half an hour away from Erie.

 

[Jeremiah]

Well, the women with 2 kids can always look for another job that pays the same as Wal-Mart in her off time so when she quits she will not be without work. So this poor ol women sysndrom doesn't fly with me.

I agree with others, you NEVER should let that happen and if it did quit on the spot if you could or start looking for another job right away. It's not like Wal-Mart paying jobs are not out there.

It still sucks anyway though.

 

[BrianW]

It's not like Wal-Mart paying jobs are not out there.

You might want to rethink that. This time, try not to generalize and project your own personal situation on the rest of the country. Speaking as one who has been unemployed for six months, I can tell you that many of us are having more than a difficult time finding even minimum wage jobs.

 

[Jeremiah]

Brian, I find that hard to believe. There are no jobs at McDonalds, a Pizza place, or busing tables at a resturant? I don't know what you are looking for but by me, if you walked into a Contractors office or a Landscapers office you could probably get work there. Not building but you would start out at the bottom.

At my place we hired a guy that walked in off the street wanting to know if we were hiring so we hired him and gave him a shot.

 

[BrianW]

Jeremiah, all the crap jobs have been taken by the mid- and senior-level software engineers that used to work for the telecom industry. Most of them have families to feed, and with over 150,000 of us displaced in a single metroplex, the job seekers vastly outnumber even the crap jobs available. Again, what you see in your area is not necessarily what's happening across the country. And with the WorldCom debacle and their intentions to lay off another 17,000 workers (most of them in my area), my situation is not going to get any easier.

 

[AjayM]

Well, finding work right now may be a problem for some people, but because you get no interest from min-wage jobs doesn't mean there isn't any, they probably don't want you because you are over-qualified, and they know the minute you find something with a higher salary you are gone.

As to this Walmart thing, c'mon....

40 people complain
1,000,000 people work for Walmart
That equals well under .1% of the employees for the company.

I have a hard time saying Walmart is at fault here, what, did they pick 40 names out of hat and tell their stores to make those people work off the clock?

Andrew