Valli A. writes in the PaperBack Swap forums (free registration required):
"I worked upper management for two years at Wal-Mart. You would not believe the horrific things I've seen.
I was once reamed out for hiring a deaf guy. I was told that once I start hiring handicapped people, then they would force Wal-Mart to provide all kinds of expensive equipment for them to use. I once had to force a brand new mother into working 22 hours straight because her department was not quite ready for inventory when I could easily have pulled other department managers from their ready departments to help her. Her department wasn't ready because she'd JUST come back from maternity leave. She did not get paid extra for all those hours. I was once asked to put off my own son's birthday party because some district manager was unexpectedly coming. They called me at home the morning of the party and demanded that I be there in an hour. Needless to say, I became a stay at home Mom that very day!
The main store manager gets a huge yearly bonus if his yearly wages are under the mark. I was constantly lowering the amount of employees on the floor for him to get this bonus. Then, I'd have to make the salaried department managers work extra hours to do things they should have had employees to do for them. So, next time you can't find an employee to help you there, don't get aggravated. Just think how nice it will be for the store manager to get that fat bonus check!
There are lots of things that even the regular, hourly employees of Wal-Mart don't know. I'm not naive, I know that all companies operate for profit, but Wal-Mart goes overboard to present itself as a friend to the community. In reality, they are a community's worst enemy."
I was once reamed out for hiring a deaf guy. I was told that once I start hiring handicapped people, then they would force Wal-Mart to provide all kinds of expensive equipment for them to use. I once had to force a brand new mother into working 22 hours straight because her department was not quite ready for inventory when I could easily have pulled other department managers from their ready departments to help her. Her department wasn't ready because she'd JUST come back from maternity leave. She did not get paid extra for all those hours. I was once asked to put off my own son's birthday party because some district manager was unexpectedly coming. They called me at home the morning of the party and demanded that I be there in an hour. Needless to say, I became a stay at home Mom that very day!
The main store manager gets a huge yearly bonus if his yearly wages are under the mark. I was constantly lowering the amount of employees on the floor for him to get this bonus. Then, I'd have to make the salaried department managers work extra hours to do things they should have had employees to do for them. So, next time you can't find an employee to help you there, don't get aggravated. Just think how nice it will be for the store manager to get that fat bonus check!
There are lots of things that even the regular, hourly employees of Wal-Mart don't know. I'm not naive, I know that all companies operate for profit, but Wal-Mart goes overboard to present itself as a friend to the community. In reality, they are a community's worst enemy."
Guess they skipped over Valli's store on the Wal-Marting Across America tour.
