Those Poor mistreated Mal-Mart employees

[Ironclad Alibi]

This was from awhile back but I saw the guy who gave me a rant when I referred someone to go to Mal-Mart right up the road because our gas station didn't carry what they wanted, and I knew they would have it there.

SC: "Mal-Mart is evil! how could you actually want to give those crooks business"

To get back to the SC, I wonder where he would have sent the other customer to buy the product he wanted? Was then even another place that sold the requested product?

[chainedbarista]

yes, malmart, in reality, is no worse than any other big retail corp; some people think that working at the big green apron is great, but then again, they've not experienced the dark side of that store.

[Frantic Freddie]

"Wal-mart'll destroy the local businesses!"

"You mean the feed store? I'm pretty sure Wal-mart don't sell 1-ton hay bales or Purina Baby Pig Chow"

actual conversation

[ralerin]

Sure, WalMart isn't perfect, and i try to minimize the money i spend with them, but there are worse places, like Target.

Not being snarky, I promise. There's a couple of those in my area but I don't shop with them since they're a little out of my way-How exactly are they worse? I'm really curious.

[Kogarashi]

Not being snarky, I promise. There's a couple of those in my area but I don't shop with them since they're a little out of my way-How exactly are they worse? I'm really curious.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I generally avoid Target when I can because I frequently have problems with finding things we need there (one near us in Utah had zero office chairs in the entire store, while the nearby Walmart and the Target more than half an hour away both had them), and also all the red all over the place actually makes me kind of twitchy. It's an uncomfortable store for me to be in, which is why you will only ever find me applying for a job there if I'm beyond desperate or have suddenly gone color-blind.

[Javarod]

Not being snarky, I promise. There's a couple of those in my area but I don't shop with them since they're a little out of my way-How exactly are they worse? I'm really curious.

Its somewhat subjective, but seeing as how i'm gay,

1) Donated a large sum of money to an anti-gay group
2) Took boycotters to court, the short version is that they felt that their customers were being bothered by the protesters.

This is also the company that banned the Salvation Army from their stories, i think they also added the Girl Scouts to that list.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Because the stores themselves are public property, and thus people can gather there and protest for any reason.

The protestors fail at protesting anyway. Direct your anger toward the corporate people who okayed the donation, not the hourly peons at the stores who have enough to deal with and had no say in the donation.

[fireheart]

Replace Malmart down this way with Big Green Apple or Big Red Tick and you'd have the same argument.

Not so much in the eastern states, but in my state, there are constant arguments about how the Big Two (as they are colloquially known) are evil and driving every other business out of state. Sadly, that does seem to be true to an extent, as a LOT of companies are owned by one of those two in this state: (If you shop at Home Hardware, that is owned partially by the Big Green Apple). In addition they cover just about anything: both companies offer one or two supermarkets, one or two department stores, 1-3 different brands of liquor sellers, a petrol station brand, a hardware chain and so on.

[BlaqueKatt]

Not being snarky, I promise. There's a couple of those in my area but I don't shop with them since they're a little out of my way-How exactly are they worse? I'm really curious.

for one target pays LESS than walmart....

wal mart wages=retail store associate $7.65-$12.15


target wages=retail store associate $7.47-$10.98

article from alternet

[blas]

I don't care for Target because their prices are not that great unless they are having a huge sale.

I also don't care for the grocery stores around here because it's simply amazing how much more expensive they are than Wal-Mart, unless they are having a sale or you have a card.

[Kogarashi]

I also don't care for the grocery stores around here because it's simply amazing how much more expensive they are than Wal-Mart, unless they are having a sale or you have a card.

Indeed. That's one of the handful of reasons I do our big shopping runs at Walmart. I only go for the more expensive stores when I need something I know Walmart doesn't carry at all (seeing as it's not a dedicated grocery). There's one store in town that's cheaper, but it shows. Half the time the produce is halfway to rotten already (I've had better luck at Walmart), and nothing is organized. Canned beans might be in Location A one day and Location X another. And it's no guarantee that they'll have certain staples my family uses each week. Rather than deal with all that hassle and the unkempt look to everything, I just go to Walmart.

Besides, they've done right by my family. My parents have both been employees at one of their distribution centers for over fifteen years now and make frequent use of the employee discount card. My sister and I have both worked for the stores, and I've had some awesome store managers who made sure we had lots of tasty food in the back room for big days like the 4th of July and Black Friday, not to mention turning the Sam's Choice drink dispenser into a glorified fridge for those events (unlocking it so you can just swing it open and grab a can instead of paying for it). Cakes for birthdays and going-away parties, incentive programs that netted me a nice winter coat...all in all the store has treated me well. My only beef over the years has been with particular individuals in the stores, not the company itself.

[Andara Bledin]

This is also the company that banned the Salvation Army from their stories, i think they also added the Girl Scouts to that list.

Target has a blanket policy against soliciting on Target property. They looked the other way for a long time, but I suspect that other religious groups that were less savory started trying to use that fact to start up their own things, so they had to actually start enforcing said policy.

Somehow, I don't think The Salvation Army is nearly as butthurt over it as the people who are looking for an excuse to go all Kermit-style HWFO.*

As for wages, the hourly figure is only part of the picture, with the last report I read on the matter noting that Walmart regularly gets cited for exceeding the maximum allowed percentage of non-fulltime (and ineligible for benefits) employees.

Also, I don't trust the data on that one site that was linked. Considering that Walmart has been caught astroturfing and the like on multiple occasions, it would not be unheard of for them to hire some ad firm to pollute the data. The same could be done by the other side. Or someone completely unrelated.

*HandWavingFreakingOutery

^-.-^

[emt_cookies]

Speaking of personal experience...

When minimum wage was 7.25, I made 8.10 starting out in Electronics. Cashiers started out 7.25 unless they were service desk trained in which case they either made 8.10 or 7.9 (I forget the level). Floor personnel made 7.9. Unloaders made more than 8.10. Night shift had a dollar differential.

I know other stores in our district paid better, but the crime rate at the store was higher and one particular store also had issues with a gang member running over an employee before for the fun of it. The AP manager may have been joking when he said the base hourly pay was related to how likely a shoplifter would punch an employee. We had a base pay of minimum wage whereas the district where I live but do not work starts out at 8.00. Oh, and Sundays we were paid an extra dollar for breaking the Sabbath and I usually worked a 8 hour paid shift that day (9 including lunch).

Some of the managers sucked, but they rotated managers so that was good. My non-Wal-mart store apparently gives management positions to people who have been there 15+ years. The only good manager is the service manager and he was hired in from Wal-mart. Wal-mart also took the concept of breaks and off the clock seriously whereas my job does questionable things. However, my current job is more flexible with schedule changes. Oh, and every Sunday Wally World had some kind of charity sitting outside. I felt guilty because I couldn't afford to give money.

I try not to laugh when people tell me they don't shop at Wal-mart because they feel bad for their employees. My morale at Wal-mart was never as low as it is at my current store. I had people who would come in early on Sundays because they knew I worked.

[Kogarashi]

Speaking of personal experience...

When minimum wage was 7.25, I made 8.10 starting out in Electronics. Cashiers started out 7.25 unless they were service desk trained in which case they either made 8.10 or 7.9 (I forget the level). Floor personnel made 7.9. Unloaders made more than 8.10. Night shift had a dollar differential.

Interesting. The first store I worked at, I started as a salesfloor associate, then moved up to cashiering the following summer (worked breaks between college semesters). Cashiers got paid more, ostensibly because they had to deal with just about every customer that came through the store, rather than just the ones that decided to grace a given department with their presence.

[emt_cookies]

Interesting. The first store I worked at, I started as a salesfloor associate, then moved up to cashiering the following summer (worked breaks between college semesters). Cashiers got paid more, ostensibly because they had to deal with just about every customer that came through the store, rather than just the ones that decided to grace a given department with their presence.

What was the starting base pay though? We were one of the stores with a starting base pay of minimum wage, but there were other stores that had a starting base pay of 8.00 when we started at minimum wage. The ones who were service desk were a level 4 and CSMs were paid at a higher level (I think 7 or 8).

I did know that they changed the pay scale shortly before I was hired because the unloaders were quitting too quickly. They were paid like a level 2 and they were bumped up to a level 5 if not higher. I want to say it was at least a level 6 if not higher.

Part of the reasoning behind it was that the departments are specialty departments.

I also think like 2 years before I was hired, people were paid even more starting out and with experience pay but I can't verify that. They also had a raise after their initial review.