I work for a morally bankrupt company

[annie]

Bro Adam,

No doubt. The Ecuadorian men who roofed our house worked in 95 degree heat, three stories in the air, and went from 7am until 7pm. They did a great job, cleaned up and were more polite and courteous than most people in Wal-Mart. There are millions of people who work like that. I guess my environment (western suburbs of Chicagoland) gives me a jaded view of the situation-- many wealthy families here, producing children who never even had to clean their own rooms thanks to the maid service, and our children think we are neo-nazis, because we actually make them clean, cook, do laundry, pay for things like movies, cell phones and birthday gifts for friends. It is a rough environment to raise children!

[Paladin D]

Unfortunately where we live, the nearest non-Wal-Mart supercenter is an hour drive away. There are three Wal-Mart supercenters that are a shorter distance from our home.

- One is 10 minutes away.
- The second is 30 minutes away.
- And the third one is about 40-50 minutes away.

To top it off, we live in a rural area, so we have no choice. However, when we go to Raleigh or to another town which has a Target for example, we shop there.

[Paladin D]

[quote name='annie' date='Jul 12 2005, 09:56 AM']JasJis--Well said, and certainly applies to many.  As an 'older' person with teenage kids, I see another issue.  When many of the youth or young      s go to find employment, they don't want to do anything crummy.  There is a sense of entitlement, a sense that they were born to make $100,000 a year off the bat, and any crummy job is below them.  It is amazing the comments I hear from various kids in our area---"I am not going to carry some golf bag for tips" or "gross! Why would I want to WORK there, I won't even SHOP there!"  There is no sense of paying dues at crummy jobs, while planning for the future.  Many are dependent on parents, either to financially support them, house them, feed them or find them an 'acceptable' job.  Now, maybe I sound like an old coot, and of course this doesn't apply to everyone, but it is a trend.  I agree with you, if you don't like the heat, stay out of the kitchen.  I guess what I am saying is, people lack initiative and assertiveness, and between molly-coddling parents/families and a government which specializes in handouts, why would people assert themselves to reach higher goals?
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Which is a shame. I myself am a teenager (18), and I don't really care where I work (well, only a little), as long as I get a decent low-income paying job. I'm living at home with my parents, since I'm not financially stable enough nor am ready to head off to college yet (I want to pay for my own tuition). I'm glad I have parents who don't want me to run off so fast.

[toledo_jesus]

funny. My small town of smithfield is one of those local governments. They are trying to get Wal-Mart to go two stories and save space. Wal-Mart doesn't want to play ball. quite frankly, I don't want them in my town. I like having the hardware store across the street. The only thing that will be left if WallyWorld comes in will be Antique stores. :angry:

[Brother Adam]

I hear ya'. Inside word is now that Wal-Mart is after Meijer for those of you who know what that chain of stores is. Scary stuff.

[Guest T-Bone]

[quote name='Brother Adam' date='Jul 12 2005, 08:02 AM']I think more people than you may think are willing to work any job.
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True. But is it too much to ask that if you have a full-time job you can afford to eat fresh produce and meat, being able to go to the doctor, and having a car that is less the 20 years old?]

In my area there is no longer any industry. Most of the jobs are service oriented, the few others that remain are for the highly educated.

After our Wal-Mart became a "Supercenter", several hardworking individuals lost their businesses. They now work at Wal-Mart.

[homeschoolmom]

[quote name='Brother Adam' date='Jul 12 2005, 09:01 AM']Make that 23 and that is me.
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You don't have internet access?

But that's beside the point as I don't think jasJis or annie are refering to you specifically. However, I agree with them in that there is a certain "entitlement" attitude out there. An attitude by some that they will get a great job right out of college, buy a house etc. The Russian college student who lives with us is even convinced that she won't have a mortgage on her house. I asked her where she expected to live. Unless she has several hundred thousand dollars lying around that I don't know about, she's going to have a mortgage on her first house.

[quote]our children think we are neo-nazis, because we actually make them clean, cook, do laundry, pay for things like movies, cell phones and birthday gifts for friends. It is a rough environment to raise children![/quote] You tyrant. I agree about the tough environment. It's hard to be "counter culture" in the 'burbs...

[quote]However, when we go to Raleigh or to another town which has a Target for example, we shop there.[/quote] Aha! But then you have the quandry of whether or not you should shop at Target. They were a supporter of PP last I knew. (All that "giving back to the community" and all) When dealing with any big business, you will run into unethical situations.

[Honour]

I don't get why everyone hates Wal-Mart so. When I lived in Texas the best news a town could get was that a Wal-Mart supercenter was coming....They created lots of jobs, conveince, and low cost shopping....everyone was happy. :wub:
In California you hear a Wal-Mart is coming... ...quick start writing letters to the editor, lets go to city council, how dare that evil Wal-Mart try to move in here.
Funny thing is...everyones got a Sam's Club membership! :scratch:

Edited July 12, 2005 by Honour

[Jaime]

HSmom

Target stopped supporting PP a few years back. So its ok to shop again.


Oh and I use my Sam's club card to buy gas. LOVE it!

[homeschoolmom]

[quote name='hot stuff' date='Jul 12 2005, 02:05 PM']HSmom

Target stopped supporting PP a few years back.  So its ok to shop again.
Oh and I use my Sam's club card to buy gas.  LOVE it!
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Yeah, I couldn't remember how that finally went down... I just remember lots of people cutting up their Daytons cards because Dayton's was going to stop funding PP, but then they caved and continued to support PP because of the threat of losing costomers...

[corban711]

i work at Costco...and so far have been very impressed with the Company...they take the moral ground as to business dealings.

[Iacobus]

What I love even more then Wal-marts overstep is that someone thinks that zoning restrictions and book bans are the same thing.

Book bans are normally to stop politically unpopular stances from growing. Zoning restrictions are made to prevent urban sprawl... they are equal, eh?

[NewReformation]

I work for a mom and pop meat market. When the super Wally World(Wal-Mart) came to our town, I heard alot of people saying(including managers at the Wally-World) that we would be crushed. However, because we have superior service, and a superior product, and a well-established reputation, we ain't going nowhere. We hold our own against Wal-Mart's meat department, and probably kick their tail. We actually know our meat. The managers and workers at Wally-World don't even know that a Ribeye and Delmonico are the same exact steak.

Someday people will figure out that Wally-World doesn't quite train their employees in how to be knowledgeable about their products and services. I prefer the smaller stores whenever it's financially feasible for me.

[Crispy]

hey, yeah......so i work at walmart as a summer job (being 17). should i not be doing this? i dunno, i jus can think wal-mart could be that COMPLETELY bad......i jus dunno. to me, all this talk sounds like the only places we can shop and not feel like we have to go to confession for are those mom and pop shops, no established names. i know big businesses can become corrupt, but i cant believe that ALL big business IS corrupt.

[philothea]

Walmart isn't inherently evil. They're just very successful in an [b]a[/b]moral venue: barely-regulated, stockholder-driven capitalism.

It's the nature publicly-traded companies that they try to be as profitable as possible. Walmart does it successfully. No surpise there.

They only occasionally break the law, which is better than many other corporations.

I'm not saying Walmart is good, but that the problem is blind greed, not any particular company.

[Brother Adam]

They only occasionally break the law, which is better than many other corporations. tongue.gif

They are the most sued company in the world. They break the law all of the time and the Feds are almost on a daily basis busting illegal workers from Wal-mart warehouses.

[ofpheritup]

Introducing a bit of a new topic. I have met and worked with some of the "young ones" who do expect the $100,000 a year.Who are honestly shocked when "manual labor" is introduced into their vocabulary.

However having met some of their parents I am not surprised. I am not so quick to put all the blame on our young people.

Some of their attitude may have to do with how they were raised. My daughter at 23 WORKS HER TAIL OFF for everything she has. That is how she was raised.

I worked with a woman whose son was 36, he had his own apartment. She left her home every morning to go to his place and cook him breakfast and lay out his clothes for the day. She drove 15 miles to do this. She did the same thing for dinner. DUMB...DUMB

Can you imagine "working" with him at the office? Did he even work, or did his coworkers do everything?
It isn't just the young ones.

[Paladin D]

[quote name='Honour' date='Jul 12 2005, 02:24 PM']I don't get why everyone hates Wal-Mart so.  When I lived in Texas the best news a town could get was that a Wal-Mart supercenter was coming....They created lots of jobs, conveince, and low cost shopping....everyone was happy. :wub:
In California you hear a Wal-Mart is coming... ...quick start writing letters to the editor, lets go to city council, how dare that evil Wal-Mart try to move in here.
Funny thing is...everyones got a Sam's Club membership!  :scratch:
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Was your town out in the rural area? Because in rural communities, it's [b]"usually"[/b] good news for a Wal-Mart to arrive, since it makes it much more convient for shoppers that live miles upon miles away. But in cities and suburbs, it's like the black plague, since there are already many local businesses in the area that serve the people's needs (and which are much closer to each other).

[desertwoman]

Ah this reminds me of the episodes off of King of the Hill when he was forced to go to Mega Lo mart when it destroyed his propane business.

[Lounge Daddy]

[quote name='Honour' date='Jul 12 2005, 02:24 PM']In California you hear a Wal-Mart is coming... ...quick start writing letters to the editor, lets go to city council, how dare that evil Wal-Mart try to move in here.
Funny thing is...everyones got a Sam's Club membership!  :scratch:
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in California the retail unions seem to still have a lot more footing than in other areas also, and a lot of the anti-Wal-Mart letter writing and protest is motivated and organized by the unions

It was amusing a few months ago when a new and large Meijer went up in Standale - a very nice suburb outside Grand Rapids, and it was praised ...and there were even "welcome the new Meijer" ads on the radio (paid for by the local UFCW union people) and there ARE many small "ma and pa" grocers and shops and bartenders (you can get your hair cut at a Meijer) and gas stations (Meijer has a gas station with faaaaaar cheaper gas always) and flower shop etc etc in the area


You know that if it were a Wal-Mart that were built instead of a Meijer there would be no public welcome - except for the people shopping there - and there would be letters written, picketing, etc- because a lot of the negative publicity really is pedaled by the Unions and any politician on their payroll
I know that Meijer is headquartered here – it’s also a union outfit
I also know that either Meijer or Wal-Mart, they are going to both seriously hurt the “ma and pa” stores.