[extropy-chat] Seven cents an hour? (was: Riots in France)

[Gary Miller]

Walmart opens many of their new stores in rural areas that have no other
large department stores or malls within short driving distances.  This was
one of the keys to their success.  In doing so they are usually the first to
displace the small mom and pop type businesses.  This created I'd say 40% of
the negativity.

When I briefly worked at Walmart opening a new store I was at first
impressed with the training and logistics.

As a new store we were free to work as much overtime as we could handle.

At 7.00/hr and time and a half for overtime you could pay the bills.

Not going to get rich but enough to survive.  After they were open a few
months though management came through and told everyone they were cutting
out overtime and by the way all the work that we did in 60 hrs still needed
to be done in 40 hours.  Being the night shift, we had to receive all the
trucks and have all the shelves restocked by morning.

The intention was to let people know if you didn't want to be fired.  You
were to puch out and then stay and work until all your work was done.

The people who didn't get the work done were written up and put on probation
even though management knew that the only people doing in 40 what used to
take 60 hours were people willing to work a lot of unpaid hours.

Rather than play their game.  I simply told them that there was know way
possible for a person to work that fast safely and that I was not going to
hurt myself or someone else for $7.00 hr and resigned.

Thinking back I probably should have filed a complaint with OSHA and then
requested whistle blower status.  But at that time survival was more on my
mind than playing the activist.

When I shop at Walmart's at night now.  (I know I shoudn't shop there!)  I
see some of the same people I worked with.
They all look a little more tired and old than they did when I was there.
When they see me they all stop and ask me where I'm working and sound
ashamed that they haven't found better jobs yet.

Oh and by the way if you talk to people who work for Target a lot of them
graduated from Walmart and I don't think you would find one of them willing
to consider going back!  Not that the pay is that much better at Target.  I
just believe that the pressure and mind games that the managers are taught
to play at Walmart does not exist at Target.

>> Yeah, isn't it interesting that the commies don't go Target-bashing? It
may have something to do with the slightly more upscale image of Target, and
the feeling that Wal-Mart is more for rural rednecks. Urban upper- and
mid-middle class commies despise rednecks.