The best writeup on Wal-Mart I have ever read

jimpeel

jimpeel

Well-Known Member
This is the ace-high, number one, best story I have ever read on Wal-Mart; and it was written by a guy in Flagstaff who hired on undercover so he could write the story.

A long read but well worth the time.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02072009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/fly_on_the_wal_154007.htm?page=0

FLY ON THE WAL
UNDERCOVER AT WAL-MART, THE HEARTLAND SUPERSTORE THAT MAY SAVE THE ECONOMY

By CHARLES PLATT
Writer Charles Platt during his stint as a Wal-Mart employee in Flagstaff, Ariz.
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Last updated: 8:03 pm
February 7, 2009
Posted: 7:36 pm
February 7, 2009

Some people, usually community activists, loath Wal-Mart. Others, like the family of four struggling to make ends meet, are in love with the chain. I, meanwhile, am in awe of it.

With more than 7,000 facilities worldwide, coordinating more than 2 million employees in its fanatical mission to maintain an inventory from more than 60,000 American suppliers, it has become a system containing more components than the Space Shuttle - yet it runs as reliably as a Timex watch.

Sheltered by rabble rousers who forced Wal-Mart's CEO to admit it "wasn't worth the effort" to try to open in Queens or anywhere else in the city, New Yorkers may not fully realize the unique, irreplaceable status of the World's Largest Retailer in rural and suburban America. Merchandise from Wal-Mart has become as ubiquitous as the water supply. Yet still the company is rebuked and reviled by anyone claiming a social conscience, and is lambasted by legislators as if its bad behavior places it somewhere between investment bankers and the Taliban.

Considering this is a company that is helping families ride out the economic downturn, which is providing jobs and stimulus while Congress bickers, which had sales growth of 2% this last quarter while other companies struggled, you have to wonder why. At least, I wondered why. And in that spirit of curiosity, I applied for an entry-level position at my local Wal-Mart.

*

Getting hired turned out to be a challenge. The personnel manager told me she had received more than 100 applications during that month alone, chasing just a handful of jobs. Thus the mystery deepened. If Wal-Mart was such an exploiter of the working poor, why were the working poor so eager to be exploited? And after they were hired, why did they seem so happy to be there? Anytime I shopped at the store, blue-clad Walmartians encouraged me to "Have a nice day" with the sincerity of the pope issuing a benediction.

I found my first clue in the application screening process. A diabolically ingenious quiz probed for my slightest hesitation or uncertainty regarding four big no-nos of retailing: theft, insubordination, poor timekeeping and substance abuse. (The quiz also tried to make sure that I wasn't accident-prone.) After I cleared that hurdle, I was called in for an interview. At the Flagstaff, Ariz., store where I applied, this took place in a vinyl-floored, gray-walled, windowless room, tucked away at the back of the store and crowded with people sitting on cheap folding chairs at cheap folding tables. Some of these people were talking on phones, some were doing job interviews, some were typing on computer terminals, and some seemed to be eating lunch.

I sat at a table that was covered in untrimmed fabric under a protective layer of sticky transparent vinyl, like a couch cover. I'd seen better-looking decor at firehouse bingo evenings. Was Wal-Mart going out of its way to emphasize its commitment to cost-cutting? I guessed that the utilitarian ethic was so deeply embedded, it was just taken for granted.

A friendly lady in her 50s, wearing the Wal-Mart Smile, sat opposite me and started asking questions from a printed form. Meanwhile another job applicant was going through his interview right behind me. Privacy, apparently, was as unaffordable here as tasteful decor.

"Are you easy to work with?" the lady asked. Since I couldn't imagine anyone being dumb enough to say "No," I concluded that the content of my answer must be irrelevant, and the way I answered must be the real issue. To judge from my interviewer's sunny demeanor, enthusiasm and sincerity were key. Fortunately, I had no problem reflecting her positivism, because I was becoming so fascinated with the Wal-Mart phenomenon, I really did want to work there.

I managed to satisfy her expectations, and then went through two additional interviews, followed by a drug test, before I received formal approval. It may have been one of the most intense hiring processes I've been through; hardly the schedule of a company that didn't care who it hired, or employees who didn't care about getting a job.

[more]
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By the by ...

When asked what store they would prefer to shop at if they were only allowed to shop at one store for the rest of their lives the results were these.

wal4.jpg
 
I'm am surprised that you posted an opinion piece of all the things you could have done today.
 
spike said:
I'm am surprised that you posted an opinion piece of all the things you could have done today.
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I guess everything is an opinion piece to you even someone describing their life's experiences. The guy lived this. He did not research it through external testimonials, research papers, and newspaper articles. He actually did these things.

By your standard, a person writing their autobiography is an opinion piece.

I guess those books that Obama "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance " was just an opinion piece. Same with Bill Clinton's book "My Life". "Mine Kampf" was an opinion piece.
 
the general idea Jim is that you constantly post other's opinions as if they prove something.

an autobiography may contain opinions. i haven't read any of the ones you mentioned but then again nobody is posting opinion from them to prove anything here either.
 
Here's someone describing their life experience working at Wal-Mart...

Inside Scoop From a Store Manager: "Humans are nothing more than a wet napkin for Wal-Mart to use and toss."

I was a salaried manager for Wal-Mart for seven years. I sacrificed time, my life, my safety and my health for this sacrilege. Wal-Mart cares NOTHING about the human lives that stock their shelves and ring the sales. I worked as many as 80 hours a week plus driving 1 hour either way to and from work never working less than 50 hours a week.

I saw hourly's who cared about their work and their job get railroaded by store managers or co-managers because they spoke up about wrongs that were being committed. The "open door policy" they preach is a joke. They use that to make the average assoc. think there's no need for a union.

It's the "OUT THE DOOR" policy.

I wrote an open door letter to the Regional Vice President of my area with the words specifically in bold that said "Not to be read by anyone other than the person to whom this is addressed" . I get a phone call from the Regional Personnel director.. not the person it was addressed to. .

Then I had a meeting with the Market Personnel Manager, and she had a copy of the letter I sent, all pages including the back page with the statement on it. I knew at that point that even though everything that I spoke about in the letter was a true problem with in the store I worked at and that my concern was for the hourly assoc. in that store, none of it mattered and I had signed my own termination papers by writing the letter. I spoke of ethics issues (known theft by employees and store manager doing NOTHING about it, doctoring #'s to make profits look better ect. )

Unethical treatment of hourly assoc. by salaried managers (verbal abuse,railroading ect.) Poor store management as a whole. (some managers like myself that had 99 of 230 hourly assoc. with 10 other managers who had little or nothing) I had the following areas to run by myself, Cashiers, Customer Service Managers, People Greeters, Stock Man, Accounting, Personnel, Customer Service Desk, GM ICS, Grocery ICS, Unloaders, Women's Wear, Men's Wear, Girls Wear, Lingerie, Boys Wear, Accessories, Jewelry, Fitting Room, Shoes, Claims, UPC, Invoicing, DSD and Directs. That is more than half of the store on ONE manager.

I wrote my letter in Jan. and they continued to pile more and more on me. I was working 80+ hours a week doing everything I could to make things work well and to do the best that I could at my job for my hourly assoc.

They fired the store manager in June (or rather they gave her the option to quit) I knew that my time was limited from there on out.. They waited for me to get them through 4th of July weekend and on the 7th of July they fired me. No real reason given, No previous coaching, above standard evals, they didn't have to give a reason I'm in a right to work state, I didn't sign my green sheet and I left peacefully. I knew from the moment that I was called by the Reg. Personnel Mgr. my time was limited.

I was a loud mouth that was willing to speak about their "secrets" but I was strong and knowledgeable so they would use me until they got a new store manager in there.(myself and another asst. ran the store for two weeks while the Co was on vacation )

I know that it was a blessing (my blood pressure went down and I'm much healthier not working and driving so much) I wish the average person would understand that what happened to me and the others that post on here is not "the one in a million" it's the NORM.

Humans are nothing more than a wet napkin for Wal-Mart to use and toss. When you show them you are unwilling to take things lying down and use your voice and morals they push you hoping you'll break and go away. Wal-Mart is like all other corporations with one thing different.

They have sold the general public on the LIE that they actually give a crap about the people that work for them. No one else has used that as a claim to fame, Wal-Mart has banked on this lie and made much money from it.

I know that there are good stores out there but far and above the Home Office direction to always DO MORE WITH LESS and working understaffed all the times is what is normal. The public in general can't see things for what they are every story like mine needs to be taken as a whole and seen for the big picture that it paints. I worthless greedy underhanded disrespecting sweatshop corporation.

Thank you for letting me say my piece. Be Blessed and Be safe...
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http://walmartsucksorg.blogspot.com/2007/06/i-was-salaried-manager-for-wal-mart-for.html
 
I didn't shop walmart this round.
They are Out of many things that I buy in bulk.
The prices have jumped, at Sam's club significantly also.
 
spike said:
Here's someone describing their life experience working at Wal-Mart...
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No one forced the guy to stay employed at Wallyworld. If he got to the point where he didn't like his job, why work there for 7 years? :shrug:

Too bad he couldn't have asked Chairman Øbama what the govt. will do for him like Julio did.
 
Gonz said:
Opinion piece or investigative journalism?
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Looks like he may have only worked there for a week and insterted a lot of opinion into his article. Doesn't really qualify as investigative journalism.

If he got to the point where he didn't like his job, why work there for 7 years?
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You'd have to ask him, but it's not really relevant to the points made in the article.
 
The point is that in the disgruntled employee's opinion piece that you cited no laws were broken by the employer. :shrug:
 
They didn't make any accusations of law breaking. You're apparently having some odd trouble here.
 
The point is the author had nothing to complain about except perceived slights. If his former employer had broken a law, he would have something else.
 
People have the right to complain about things that aren't against the law.

You do it all the time.
 
spike said:
Here's someone describing their life experience working at Wal-Mart...

http://walmartsucksorg.blogspot.com/2007/06/i-was-salaried-manager-for-wal-mart-for.html
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Why I know that what you posted is pure bullshit.

He wrote:

I had the following areas to run by myself, Cashiers, Customer Service Managers, People Greeters, Stock Man, Accounting, Personnel, Customer Service Desk, GM ICS, Grocery ICS, Unloaders, Women's Wear, Men's Wear, Girls Wear, Lingerie, Boys Wear, Accessories, Jewelry, Fitting Room, Shoes, Claims, UPC, Invoicing, DSD and Directs.
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First of all, the fact that he included grocery in his bitchfest means that this was a Super Center. Regular Wal-Marts don't have a grocery department.

To have that many departments he would have been not an Asst. Manager but a store Co-Manager. That is one of the guys who is second to the store manager. We have two at my store.

Each Co-Manager has under him the salaried Asst. Managers for various departments. Those Asst. Managers have several Merchandise Supervisors under them. The store is divided between the two Co-Managers.

His list includes areas which are under their own assistant managers. Let's take a few for example.

Cashiers, Customer Service Managers (now called Customer Service Supervisors [CSS]), People Greeters, and Customer Service Desk are all under one assistant manager. The Courtesy Clerks (Cart Pushers) are also under that manager.

Stock Man, GM ICS, Grocery ICS, Unloaders, (All of which are In-Stock Associates) are under another manager.

Accounting reports directly to the Co-Manager.

Personnel has its own Asst. Manager and reports directly to the Co-Manager

Women's Wear, Men's Wear, Girls Wear, Lingerie, Boys Wear, Accessories, Jewelry, Fitting Room, Shoes (All of which are referred to as Softlines) have one Asst. Manager.

Claims, UPC, Invoicing, DSD and Directs are under one Asst. Manager.

There is no manager that is over all of those departments. That is complete and utter bullshit cut-n-pasted from a bitch-n-moan site run by union hacks.

You really need to find a better source if you are going to go up against someone who lives this five days a week and has done so for over three years.
 
Obviously his store was trying to save some money Jim. He stated that he shoudn't have had to run all those departments and that they wereseverely short staffed.

Read a little closer next time.
 
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