Have you ever worked for Wal-Mart?

[LaraMN]

I figure there's no way I could be the only one.

I worked there for a summer, after my first year of college. When I left school the next year, because I was moving to Minneapolis to live with my then-boyfriend, since I was pregnant, I got hired back on. They were the only place that was willing to take on a seven-months pregnant woman. I needed the job to help pay for groceries and buy baby supplies, since my boyfriend was working a low-wage job as well, while he finished his degree.

It was probably the most degrading three months of my life. Not only did I feel embarrassed by the fact that I was walking around pregnant at the age of twenty (my own doing, of course,) but I actually had a woman approach me while I was trying to work, and ask me if I wanted my baby, because she "noticed I didn't have a wedding ring on," (although I WAS wearing an engagement ring). When I told her that I did, she asked if I knew anyone else who was pregnant and might be willing to give their baby up for adoption. Of course. I'm pregnant, so all my friends must be, too. :eyes: I was so upset after she left, I could hardly stand to be at work the rest of the day. I felt like human garbage.

The week before I was due, I was requested to work nine-hour shifts. I had never agreed to do so, and I refused, because I knew they couldn't force me to. They weren't happy.

At one point, I was getting sick in the mornings alot, and I called in two mornings in a row. It was made clear to me that I would be in trouble if it happened, again. The next morning I felt horrible again, but I went to work, anyway. Within an hour, I knew I couldn't make it, so I flicked on my register light to signal a superior. I tried to keep working while I waited. I woke up on the floor, having sustained a concussion, because I passed out.

When I worked there, the only people offered health insurance were the higher-ups. One of our department managers got a call that his wife and baby had been in a car accident, and were in the hospital. They had no insurance.

There was a meeting every morning at which everyone was supposed to perform this disgusting "Wal-Mart cheer." I thanked my lucky stars that I was a mid-shifter and never had to do it.

I have never felt so lousy about myself as I did when I worked at Wal-Mart. It was definitely one of my personal low-points. I despise retail, and always try to be kind to people who work in the field.
I would never want to do it again.

Anyone else work there? What were your experiences?

[seemunkee]

1. You did what you needed to do

There should be no shame in it. You did it for yourself and your baby, not for Walmart. You needed to survive and that was a way to do it.
By feeling ashamed you gave them power over you that they didn't deserve. The woman who was shopping for a baby is beneath you.

[LaraMN]

4. You're right, of course.

It was just very hard to see the situation as such, at the time. It was nine years ago, so I don't necessarily know what things are like, now.

[greatauntoftriplets]

2. That confirms all the negative crap I have heard about Wal Mart...

They DO treat their employees like shit.

[LaraMN]

5. Well, we were very expendable.

I only worked there a short time, nine years ago. Many of my coworkers who were "lifers" were not possessing of alot of intellect and/or common sense, but they worked very hard, were good people, and I know they probably had nothing else to look forward to. It's for them that I'm still angry.

[RubyDuby in GA]

13. My mother worked for them for about 2 months once

She would tell you the same thing - that they treat their people like shit.

[Lars39]

3. I worked there for a year while my husband was in college.

I managed to snag a full-time position in domestics because I could sew.
I didn't know that full-time positions were *the* most sought after thing there.
It was very unsettling to find out I had gotten a rinky-dink minimum wage job that others had literally wanted(and applied for) for years.
I mostly worked during the day, but towards the end I was working until closing...and yes,we were locked in--off the clock--until the managers were 'happy' about the store's appearance.
Thank gawd it was in the days before the morning cheers.

We managed to keep shrinkage down to near nothing.
Only those working full-time over a year got any kind of bonus.
The manager's bonus that year was $30,000...1980's money.

I'm sorry that woman was so mean to you,LaraMN. My fundy SIL said something pretty similar to me while I was pregnant and poor with my second. She just couldn't understand why her cousin didn't give her baby to her, because they had money and could take better care of it,etc. :eyes: :grr:

[sinkingfeeling]

6. Never worked for them, but worked 'at' their Home Office for a couple

of years. I worked for IBM and was assigned to Wal-Mart in 1999 to late 2001. Oh, the things I could tell!

[Deja Q]

7. Tried to. Their computer profile test rejected me.

Seems I'm not stupid enough. :shrug: (it wasn't a cashier position, where being nice and capable of handling stress is a must. It was a stock position; where unlike 140% of the people doing that job, I'd bother with getting expiration dates correct! )

[begin_within]

8. Not me, but my friend worked there for a while, in Florida.

They actually didn't give him any trouble, mainly because he's a heterosexual white male, but also because he's the kind of person who doesn't take any shit from anyone. They didn't even force him to wear the stupid blue vest. He told me that he felt sorry for the other workers there, but he felt that a lot of them were "marginally employable" people who might otherwise never be able to get a job. He said the company treats management employees very well. There is a distinct class division there - if you're part of the management, it's a good job and a good living. But if you're at the bottom, it's a shit job. He finally got fired when he got angry and cussed out his supervisor over some stupid thing, I can't remember what it was though. I wasn't surprised that he didn't last long there, because he doesn't let people push him around.

[queenjane]

9. The bad memories are flooding back . . .

I worked there from 1989 - 1992 (I had returned to school at night, so I took a job there, near the college, thus eliminating a 1.5 hour per day commute to my former job). I was what was known at the time as a "UPC clerk".

It was the most humiliating experience of my life. The morning cheer with the "squiggly" (gyrating your ass down to the floor). Having my skirt measured to make sure it wasn't too short by dress code guidelines. No open-toed shoes. Mgnt. watching you lest you clock in BEFORE putting your purse in your locker. Being sent home early at the end of the week because sales were down and they had to cut payroll.

I worked in the office (and was doing the equivalent of 3 jobs), yet I couldn't have a cup of coffee at my desk, I couldn't even chew gum.

Most of the mgnrs at my store were snorting cocaine, to keep their energy up to work 60-70 hour weeks. One of the female asst. mgnrs had to take leave to help her daughter, who'd been beaten nearly to death by her boyfriend, and was told she wouldn't have a job if she left. Another asst. mgnr's wife had a miscarriage at 6 months; he was ordered to return to work immediately or would be fired.

Truly the most degrading and dispiriting experience of my life. I get the shakes whenever I have to go in a Walmart, to this day.

[Crazy Dave]

10. Recommended n/t

[Maine-ah]

11. five years.

[LSK]

12. maybe you should post this in GD?

That sounds like an awful place to work, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

The lady looking for a baby seems like she has some problems to be asking people that.

Thanks for re-affirming why I only go there about once a year. I shop at Meijers and Target instead.

[cwydro]

14. kick

I applied there once for a parttime job when I needed some extra money....hired, but was so horrified by the process I never took the job. They treat applicants as if they are seeking an audience with the pope. HOW LUCKY you are to get a crappy job with us was the message. Brrr....still scares me to think about it...

[LSK]

15. did you see this?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2389467&mesg_id=2389467

[idgiehkt]

16. I worked at Sams. I REFUSED to do that cheer.

No way in hell. I quit because I didn't have enough to do and I was bored to death. But I was a stocker.


That sounds like a horrible nightmarish experience. I find it really upsetting that you had to go through that, and then the workers are expected to cheer about it.