Behind the yellow smiley face (Wal-mart)

by Sadie5 19 Replies latest jw friends

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  Sadie5

  It's been a year since I started my job at Wal-mart. It has been an eye opening experience how they treat their workers.

  Here is one the ways they cut costs. I was hired as a sales clerks which is the lowest paid position. It was fine, work was easy. Now they are taking the sales clerks and having them work a shift unloading the truck. Unloaders are paid more, they should be, the work is very hard. But since our "main job" is sales clerks, they get to have unloaders at a sales clerk price.

  One of the ladies that I work with, went through living in a homeless shelter with her two kids, then got the job at Wal-mart, and is trying to get back on her feet. She is terrified of losing her job, so even though she didn't want to, she worked on the truck when they told her to go out there. After 4 hours, she came back to the sales floor filthy, sore and exhausted.

  I have protested to the management that I cannot work on the truck. I am 48 years old, and not up to the physical work of unloading a truck, and I was hired to be a sales clerk, not an unloader. This was never mentioned at my interview. They said unless I bring in a note from my doctor, I am expected to unload the truck.

  I am looking for a different job and hoping I can get out of Walmart. I'm hoping I get hired someplace else before they tell me it's my shift to work on the truck. I will refuse and most likely get fired. They really are evil. Next time you shop there, think about how they got their prices so low.

  Sadie
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  ballistic

  If it's not a personal question, how much are they paying for checkout staff or unloaders? Is our peception here in the UK true that most jobs pay mega-bucks over there and Macdonalds workers get more than our professionals over here or is this just ignorance?
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  Billygoat

  Sadie,

  I'm so sorry about that. It irks me to no end to hear stories like that, where employers take advantage of their employees. To them, you're just a number. You get fired or quit and they'll just find someone who will unload the truck. Damn I hate that!!! (Yesterday was my last day at a company like that.) *whew*

  Andi

  PS: That's why I do more shopping at Target.
• 

  DanTheMan

  Next time you shop there, think about how they got their prices so low

  I feel sick after reading your experience, I shop at Wal-mart maybe twice a year but will probably make it less frequent than that in the future. Making a 48 year old woman who they hired as a sales clerk unload trucks, ridiculous and disgusting. I would think that you'd have a good lawsuit if they fired you, but I could be wrong, after all we're living in GWB's corporate plutocracy.

  I notice in their commercials how Wal-mart always portrays its employees as if they're the happiest people on earth. And yet there is a dark side to this company, as brought out by your experience. Hmmmm....reminds me of a certain religion. Watchtower-Mart.
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  Country Girl

  Believe me.. alot of people feel the same way.. heheh.

  For some eye-opening reading about lower prices, always:

  http://www.hel-mart.com/

  http://www.now.org/issues/wfw/wm-facts.html

  http://ihatewalmart.blogspot.com/

  http://www.walmartsucks.com/

  Behold: the Evil That is Wal-Mart.

  Country Girl
• 

  Mystery

  A run down of my check in working for Wal-Mart (Sam's club) last holiday season.

  From my experience sales jobs pay from $5.40 + an hour. I was making $8.40 as a cashier/sales/stocker.

  34hours

  Gross: $254.87

  Net: 233.52

  Social Security Taxes $19.51

  State Taxes: $1.84

  Due to me being part-time. I could not get health insurance or dental insurance.

  I don't know about in the UK; but my family can not survive on $500 a month.

  Why was i offered the position at "Wal-mart" instead of someone else ("go to Sam's or Wal-Mart first they pay the most") because i have a Bachelor in Business. Someone with common sense and "a smile" could have done the job.
• 

  Sadie5

  Ballistic: To give you an idea what the wages for these places are: most workers can put in a 40 hour week and qualify for food stamps, medicaid and other goverment aid. This would include unloaders as they start out a dollar more per hour than sales clerks. Cashiers get some kind of commision based on the # of items they scan. The faster they scan the more they make. Of course Wal-mart once again finds away around this by keeping just a few "official" cashiers on hand and cross training the lowly paid sales clerk to check during busy times. And the sales clerk/cashier doesn't get the commission.

  And a lot of the workers there are working another job in addition to Wal-mart. Maybe their primary job was cut back in hours or wages or both. Or they have lost their main job through downsizing, lay-offs or closing and then are forced to work two jobs to keep up with their bills.

  And a number of them have been through really difficult times. Been on welfare, filed bankruptcy, lost homes, vehicles and other pocessions. Wal-mart appears to be a white knight, giving them a job when they are so down and out. It almost seems to me like Wal-mart has a direct connection to the welfare office. But Wal-mart preys on their desperation, their fears of going homeless and hungry, and they feel forced to work wherever management sends them. After all there is a long line of people wanting to take their place.

  And the Wal-mart commercials! they are on all the time and we are so sick of them. They are a big joke.

  Sadie
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  little1

  Boy you have touched a nerve here! My mother, who is 77 years old, has worked for Walmart for 10 years. After 10 years she FINALLY got a raise to $7 an hour! My son got his first job at Wendy's STARTING at $7 an hour! Also they would schedule her to work from 7am-4pm! That's 9 hours! She's 77! They kept her just short of full time so that she could never get benefits. They make the cost of benefits so high that most who are on full time can't afford them anyway. A survey was done here in GA and it found that 25% of the children on the public assistance insurance are children of Walmart employees-a much greater percentage than any other employer. So Walmart doesn't pay for their insurance-the taxpayers do!

  In my opinion Walmart is a morrally bankrupt corporation-building it's empire on the backs of the little guy. I refuse to shop there.

  L1
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  Sadie5

  Yes, I'm making it a priority to shop other stores. Most of the American public is so brainwashed about Walmart. We're shopping ourselves to the poorhouse.

  Sadie
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  CountryGuy

  I HATE WALMART!

  I read in the Arkansas Times last week that WalMart is trying to improve their image. One of the ways they are trying to do this is by sponsoring scholarships in ten of the better journalism schools around the country. So, in essence, they are trying to buy journalists that will only report the good and ignore the bad. Will it work? Who knows, but just the idea that they are trying it makes me boil.

  At that point I decided to start shopping at at Kroger for groceries, even though they are more expensive. And to drive the extra distance to Target.

  Country