OK, I admit it. I'm a little biased toward Wal-Mart since I worked there for about 3 1/2 months last Spring and Summer.
The truth is that the job (cashier) was enjoyable; I liked my fellow employees; the training was excellent and on-going; and in the short time I was there, three other cashiers were promoted, one of whom was hired the same day I was (smart as a whip, that young lady. She's going to do well one day.)
There were upsetting things about it as well. At the top of the list would be the fact that I checked out so many employees of the store who were on "food stamps." It's a debit card now, but it's governmental assistance because they can't afford to buy enough food to feed their families properly.
That could make you very angry at the store, make you want to rant and rave and picket outside, right?
Except that Wal-Mart isn't doing anything that lots of other stores aren't doing as well. Wal-Mart doesn't set the minimum wage, and if they changed tomorrow, there would still be lots of smart. diligent people working at thousands of other stores, at minimum wage or near it, struggling to put food on the table.
Now I'm seeing all sorts of anti-Wal-Mart comments on Facebook. No, it's not a perfect company, but I've seen posts urging people to "boycott Wal-Mart" on Black Friday because they're going to be open on Thanksgiving.
Wal-Mart didn't invent that disgusting practice. To the best of my knowledge, K-Mart did -- twenty years ago. K-Mart is now owned by Sears. Why not boycott the inventor of this nonsense? Why go to *any* store that was open on Thursday? We aren't going to change a thing by a few people boycotting Wal-Mart on Black Friday. Very few loyal Wal-Mart customers will do it just from the sheer convenience. They can get the groceries they need to supplement their Turkey Day leftovers, pick up that new TV for Grandpa on sale, get balls for their golf date on Saturday and bait for their plans to fish on Sunday, all in one store, one cart, one time of standing in line and trying to find a parking space on the busiest retail day of the year (those last two are huge).
It isn't an issue for me. I'm not a "high consumer" person. I won't be shopping on Thursday and I won't be shopping on Black Friday either. I think we'd all be a lot better off if we bought less "stuff."
But Wal-Mart isn't a "bad guy" here for being open on Thursday. They're the target everyone likes to aim at, and if they are closed, their previously loyal customers will go elsewhere.
Don't look now, but we live in a country based on a capitalistic economy. We're a free market society. Retailers try to draw us in and separate us from our money, and we can vote every single day with our wallets.
I'm all in favor of a boycott on Black Friday. I think it would be good for all of us. But don't just boycott Wal-Mart, who has finally caved to 20 years of pressure. Boycott ALL stores that were open on Thursday.
There will be less places to shop, and if you *really* want to vote with your wallet, shop locally. Go to the little independent stores in your neighborhood who struggle against the retail giants. But don't fool yourself. You can be pretty certain they are paying their staff minimum wage, and those staff will have far less chance of advancing themselves than they would at a bigger store.
It's all a trade-off; pick your target. But make sure you didn't just pick your target from buzz on the Internet. The Internet is full of misinformation.
Shouldn't the rules of an age-restricted community sometimes bend a
little, out of compassion? That's what a couple in central Florida is
arguing as they're threatened with eviction after becoming reliant on
their son for assistance because of medical problems. Barbara and Andrew
Gorski, both in their 60s, live in the "manufactured-housing" community
of Gulfstream Harbor in Orlando -- limited to those 55 and older -- and
both have difficulty walking, reports Orlando TV station WESH. Barbara Gorski has breast cancer and arthritis; Andrew Gorski has prostate cancer and a damaged spinal cord.
WESH-TV/AOL On
"They can't take care of themselves on their own," their 39-year-old
son, Daren Chase, told the station in explaining why he lives with them.
"I do everything for them." Because Chase is underage, Gulfstream
Harbor has ordered Chase and his parents (pictured at right) to leave by
next month. "They are throwing us out," said Barbara Gorski. "It's not
right. We have nowhere to go."
Gulfstream Harbor management refused to discuss the matter with WESH and
calls by AOL Real Estate for comment from Gulfstream's legal counsel
and its parent company went unanswered at the time of publication.
However, the Gorskis situation might already be familiar to those who
live in age-restricted communities like Gulfstream. AOL Real Estate has
reported on the issue of such rule violations before, but in those cases
the residents who were seeking an exemption from age limits were themselves caregivers: They had custody of young grandchildren.
Among the issues of concern in those cases: That an age-restricted
community could lose its exemption from anti-discrimination law if found
to be making exceptions to its rules, and that its property values
could be affected. A Tampa-based attorney who's written covenants for
age-restricted communities in Florida told AOL Real Estate then of fears
that "property values are going to plummet ... because now you have
more people coming in ... and because senior citizens are not going to
want to live in a community that has kids around."
Of course Daren Chase is no kid, but as WESH discloses in the video above, there might be another rule that he's breaking by living there.
It's pretty clever -- and a little creepy -- the way Google "reads" your emails and then puts ads next to your posts that you would possibly be interested in.
I clicked on one of them tonight.
I was immediately taken to that site. After about five seconds, the screen grayed out, and a pop-up window came up demanding my email address.
Nope. I have NO idea whether or not I'm interested in your website or no at that point. If I am, I will gladly give you my email address, but I want that to be my choice, not your demand.
Look around, aggressive websites: there are literally thousands of places to get just about anything one could want to buy on the internet. I don't have to shop at the ones that are instantly annoying.
But graying the screen out until I give you my email address is an ironic strategy, because the effect was to gray out my interest in your store.
This store was Joss & Main, but there are plenty of you out there. I hope you know who you are.
A few years ago I found myself sandwiched in line waiting to check out,
this is not an odd occurrence. The woman in front of me had 5
children she was wrangling (which did not seem odd to me), as well as
the fact that the children were a mix of Caucasian and Hispanic short
people (again, hmph...didn't notice until it was pointed out to
me).
Yes, I said pointed out! The people behind me, as I controlled
my own kids, began very loudly whispering things like: "How many baby
daddies do you think she has?" "Can't even dress those kids for
weather!" "Just wait until she whips out the food stamps." I contained
my kids and my anger, and looked incredulously back at the well
dressed, normal couple spouting such, well, total CRAP!
I looked
forward to see a woman fumbling with separating clothes items; coats,
shoes, socks, and underwear, from food items with the black plastic
separators. There were five kids, two that shared her same blonde hair
with jackets and warm shoes and three, beautifully dark haired, with
deep brown eyes, sad eyes; wearing shorts and flip flops. Note that it's cold
outside in Colorado at night in November!
It was true she was struggling
with a food stamp card and she didn't know what buttons to use to
complete the transaction. As the class act behind me deeply sighed and
said, "There's our tax dollars neatly at work!" I shot them what I can
only imagine was the death glare only a mother can execute to
perfection.
I stepped forward and kindly said, "Can I help? These
things are confusing." She looked at me. I quietly asked, "Foster or
Adopted? I have fostered several kiddos...two bio, two adopted, I get
it, please let me help!" She smiled, embarrassed. "New Foster Mom, this
is my first time using one of these, they came last night, gonna be with
us for a while. They gave us food, but the kids needed clothes, but we
haven't received the stipend and it will be another month before we see
the 80 dollars for the year for each child."
I looked at the kids and
smiled, and turned to her and said, "Beautiful children, I am glad you
all have each other!"
I showed her how to use the card as the Jackholes
behind us snorted. I explained to her how she doesn't have to separate
items and that the items get separated by the computer at check out and
how she pays the balance after she runs her card. She handed each child
their new coat, loaded up her cart as she left I side hugged her and
told her, "You got this!" I then gave her my number in case she needed
any further advice or help.
After they were out of ear shot...I turned
with tears to the smug well dressed man and woman behind me. "Those
children? They lost the right to live with their parents just last
night. Those clothes? Probably the only clothes they came with, own,
or got to leave their home with. THAT woman? Opened her home to
strange kids, kids that needed a safe place to go, when few would, when
the home they lived in no longer proved safe enough or secure enough for
them. The food stamps, something health and welfare helps an already
mother of two feed three additional new mouths. There are not nearly
enough woman or people like her in this world!"
I whipped back around
and started slamming my groceries on the belt, and then turned back
around...Voice shaking; "AND even IF those kids were all hers, and she
had a dozen baby daddies, and was on food stamps...NO CHILD in this
great country or any other deserves to be cold or hungry, I am sorry,
but your behavior? Poorly done, VERY Poorly done!"
My new 'friends'
left the checkout aisle and joined another...silently. I grabbed a bag
of peanut M&M's for emotional support. As I finished checking out,
the girl checking me out smiled and winked, "Single mom on WIC and food
stamps, what you said...ROCKED!"
I grimaced and said, "Thanks, I wasn't
sure I should have gone off like that...hug those babies of yours
tonight, in their warm beds and with full bellies." I cried as I loaded
my car and ate my favorite peanut M&M's. You foster or adoptive
moms out there...hold your heads high, you are the hands and hearts
that are the strong and the steady for small ones when they need it the
most. Hats off and so much love to you!
The description included vague things such as that a psychopath may use past tense more than present tense.
Don't look now, but your great-grandmother may, too.
Fake tears I get. I, too, saw Susan Smith try to pretend to cry after her babies were found drowned in a pond, still strapped in their car seats. The whole world saw her dry eyes. But really? The guy or gal who sits opposite you at work? People don't cry much at work.
As the article went on, the descriptors of the behaviors of psychopaths got more and more vague. None of us are psychologists and we should not be running around the social events we attend playing "Spot the Psychopaths!" Someone will look paranoid, and it will be us (wow -- good thing I didn't use past tense!)
I think I know a psychopath, and he doesn't exhibit any of those traits. He does lie, and attempt to manipulate, and he seems not to care about the finer distinctions between right and wrong. I don't need a label to avoid him. Clearly he's trouble.
But I bet some people will take that list, and study it, and start considering the people around them. What a shame.
AOL, sometimes you're just the National Enquirer of the Internet.
I've preferred Walgreen's for decades. I have no idea why; but I was the kind of customer stores dream about: Walgreen's on one side of the street, CVS on the other -- I would always go to Walgreen's.
No more.
First you set (I think -- this is the sccenario I imagine) a bunch of MBA interns (or maybe graduates but if they're graduates, they don't undestand the use of focus groups) -- to come up with a new marketing strategy.
Your new marketing strategy reminds me of a 13 year old girl who thinks that if she puts on a pair of Ugg boots (when it's 85 outside), she now is "stylish" and "looks great."
You came up with this "at the corner of Happy and Healthy." That's not too bad. I like being happy and healthy. One tends to lead to the other in fact, and it's easily remembered.
But that wasn't enough. You have to pound your customers. So I go in with three prescriptions for a chronic condition, and as I leave, having had Medicare pay for them, a 19 year old tells me ...
"Be well."
'Scuse me? If I were well, would I just have handed you three prescriptions?
Or I come in and buy a roll of cellophane tape and I'm told "Be well." I don't know why it grates on me, but to me it's worse than "have a nice day" without any of that latter phrase's saving graces. It's possible that after I leave your store I *will* have a nice day. It will stop raining, or the rain will clean the streets, or someone will look at me and give me a dazzling smile that lifts my soul, and I will pass it on to the next person, and lead to a chain of people having nicer days.
But you can't just tell people to "be well," and when they're leaving with a fistful of prescriptions (which the kid at the cash register doesn't even know about), it's stupid. If the pharmacist says "I hope you feel better soon," that's a nice thing to say. "Be well" is a buzz phrase your interns thought up. If they tested this on focus groups, I don't think they did a focus group of people with Lupus, or leukemia, or COPD.
Then there's your incredibly intrusive "membership" cards or whatever they are. Doesn't matter that they're free. I needed a memory card, and it was $17 without the card but $11 with it. Good savings.
But you know what your competition -- CVS -- does? If I have a sales item but no card, they have a generic one at the cash register and I still get the sales price. Not with you. With you, I have to tie that sale to a lot of personal information or pay $17. And I can't just decline, because your clerks then debate it with me.
We have an awful lot of data being collected about us already. Personally I have faith that it won't all be turned over to our government for nefarious purposes, but it's still intrusive and nosy. Go to Europe and shop for your day's dinner. You go to the baker and get French bread. You go to the cheese shop and get cheese and butter. Go to the butcher and choose your meat. Go to the greengrocer and end up with a great salad. And you didn't have to leave your name and address for any of it.
A loaf of bread is not an airplane ticket. It's not a terrorist weapon. I'm all in favor of knowing EXACTLY who is buying plane tickets, but Walgreen's -- get out of my life. Stop collecting data, and I think I'm going to have little cards printed to pass out to people who tell me to "be well" until I get heard at Walgreen's, because I can't email you without leaving very detailed personal information, either. Since that's what I was going to complain about, that's fairly ironic!
Gotta stop writing. I need a quick quart of milk, so I'm going to run up to CVS. Buh-byeye, Walgreen's!
Normally that wouldn't matter, but it's such a surprise. When you hide your GOOGLE in artwork commemorating some person or event, it is both beautifully and cleverly done.
but "ugly" is the small complaint.
I have more than one GMAIL account. As soon as you went to the new sign-in format, only one of my passwords worked.
I had to update two of them.
The interface box to 'remember' the password only comes up now if I make a typo entering my new password. It has steadfastly refused to learn the new passwords accurately. Your interface has not removed the old passwords that no longer work, so I have to change them every time I check my email. Your new interface is willing to remember any wrong password I put in -- anything except the right one.
Now, THAT is annoying.
So I thought, "I'll email them, and tell them what's going on." I got the dreadded "drop down" maze. Since there is a one in 1,000 chance that somewhere you have an answer to that saved somewhere, I have to explore your many dropdown menus. I know that may eventually direct email to the "right" person, but it takes a half-hour or more of my time of sifting through thing that have nothing to do with why I'm trying to contact you, and then I never find the answer I need anyway.
I've decided not to run those "dropdown" mazes any more.
GOOGLE, you're an ultimate leader in computer interface for the internet. Maybe you're leading the whole pack. You can do better than this. I just want to make my new passwords automatic. With your old sign-on interface, that happened nearly automatically. Now it doesn't.
I'm tired, and i'm not going to take it any more. :)
Post your corporate complaints here IF you've tried to email them and have found that they put obstacles in the way of that simple communication. Direct communication is best when it's available, but it appears to me that it is less and less available.
To quote the genie from Aladdin, there are some rules:
NO POLITICAL RANTS. Don't cheat and cleverly connect a consumer complaint to a political complaint. Your comment will go poof!
No vulgarity. No swearing. No attacking any individual (including people you may see as legitimate targets, such as CEO's. I sympathize, but my life is complete without a libel lawsuit.)
NO PHONE NUMBERS.
No harassing me if I have to remove a comment of yours because your complaint went too far. If your post is gone, that means you need to tone it down a little. Please feel free to do that and repost your comment.
NO POLITICAL RANTS. Don't cheat and cleverly connect a consumer complaint into a political complaint. Your comment will go poof!
You can't post directly to this blog, so send any complaint you want published to
whatweretheythinkingblog@gmail.com
Assuming you followed the guidelines, I'll put it up and email you when it's been published.
You can sign your complaint as "anonymous," but you're much more likely to be taken seriously by companies if you use a real name.
And, (did I mention this?) NO POLITICAL RANTS. Don't cheat and cleverly connect a consumer complaint into a political complaint. Your comment will go poof!
