I hate Walmart!!

[MikeFlynn74]

My brother in law is a grocery manager at a Walmart super-center. Used to manage the garden department. Worked his way up from stock boy. According to him, Walmart's benefits are better than what he could get at any other employer in town.

My wife used to work with paroled youth, trying to help them get jobs. She also worked as a vocational rehabilitation counselor, helping people with major disabilities get jobs. She says that Walmart was really good about hiring disabled folks and generally paid a starting wage of a few bucks over minimum wage for basic jobs. There's a very real chance that the greeter that OP is complaining about had a traumatic brain injury or was retarded to some degree. Walmart hires people that Goodwill won't even touch (and Goodwill is supposedly in the business of hiring the less-employable).

I'm also a knife-guy and I've heard Sal Glesser, owner of Spyderco Knives, tell about when he negotiated his contract to sell Spydercos in Walmart, Walmart insisted that they be manufactured only in the US. So the idea that they only sell Chinese junk isn't exactly true.

So in reality Walmart pays a better starting wage than most small businesses, they have better benefits, they hire disabled people that can't get normal jobs, and they use their negotiating leverage to push manufacturers to keep jobs in the US.

Since everything I hear from real-life people that work for or with Walmart seems to go against the popular portrait of them as an evil employer/evil business, I just assume that 90% of that stuff is union-generated propoganda to try to get Walmart to allow unions.

There is plenty of written documentation to the contrary.

 

[DeathBrewer]

There is plenty of written documentation to the contrary.

There are a lot of those towns out there. It's difficult to get a good job in my hometown. Moving companies, walmart, shopko, target, beer delivery...all crap jobs when it comes to pay and benefits, but it's all they have in the area.

 

[BooneDocks]

Gotta love the Wal-Mart haters

 

[BierMuncher]

I'm a WalMart lover.

Ours is brand new.
Aisles a mile wide.
High energy checkers.
Hot MILF's walking around everywhere.
Their deli meat is 30% cheaper (Boar's Head brand) than the local grocery chain.
They have a Japanese guy behind the deli counter making fresh sushi every day.

...and...

They sell Sierra Nevada, Bass Ale, Guinness and a whole host of other quality beers.

 

[jgardner6]

I like H.E.B. better. Think its only in Texas though.

 

[brewthunda]

There is plenty of written documentation to the contrary.

It's a super center . . . which means it has a full grocery store within the store - meat, deli, produce, etc. So he's basically managing a supermarket. Next step up is either managing a full Walmart or entering the executive training program - either one starts with a 6 figure salary. I'd say he's doing pretty good for a 35 year old guy with no degree.

 

[BierMuncher]

Hold the the personal attacks please.

 

[bluehouse]

I like H.E.B. better. Think its only in Texas though.

HEB is great. I was in Phoenix once on a busiess trip and met a fellow Texas relocated to the phoenix area. He asked hey, you know what I miss most about Texas and I told him yea, HEB. He burst out laughing & said, how did you know? People were like what is HEB when we told them it was a grocery store they thought we were nuts.

 

[JesseRC]

I dont care for HEB because they alway remove brands that compete for their brand. Every item they sell is priced at the premium brand level. Don't get me wrong I shop there for certain things, but I want variety, why should I buy their brand for the price of a well know premium brand. What make their product superior. In the old days that was considered generic, now its premium.