Wal-Mart Is Gross
Connor Strange
Staff Writer
An infectious plague creeps over the land like a stranger in the night, slowly strangling local businesses with its steely grip. That Black Death-like chain of superstores goes by the name of Wal-Mart, and unfortunately they’re everywhere.
It’s the second largest corporation globally, founded by Sam Walton in 1962. Small businesses brace for an abyssal lack of customers whenever one of the massive structures undergoes construction in their area. On multiple occasions, groups have accused Wal-Mart of “predatory pricing”, or lowering their prices immensely to monopolize local areas.
And the prices are guaranteed to be low by pretty much every slogan devised by the Wal-Mart marketing division. “Save money. Live better,” reads their current slogan. Smaller companies can’t hope to compete when the colossal corporation sells its goods at such cheap rates.
Wal-Mart’s treatment of employees has seen its fair share of criticism, as well. Such a massive company doesn’t have time to care for the livelihood of its employees. 2300 were recently fired from Sam’s Club, which is owned by Wal-Mart Stores. The layoffs are due to Wal-Mart’s efforts to keep up with its competitors, and a large segment of the cuts are assistant managers.
For the workers not being laid off, the situation isn’t exactly rosy. Part of the company’s work force can qualify for welfare programs, which may have an adverse effect on the allocation of tax dollars. In 2006, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy found that a Wal-Mart employee’s wages were significantly lower than an average worker in the retail field.
Even beyond the barely passable pay, conditions are questionable at best. A lawsuit in 2005 stated that hundreds of thousands of workers were compelled to work unreasonable hours for no overtime. There are numerous recorded instances of Wal-Mart firing employees for no justifiable reason; one woman was laid off for being rude to a customer after calling the police when said consumer’s dog was locked in a truck with the windows rolled up.
That type of customer isn’t foreign to Wal-Mart, unfortunately. Something about these establishments attracts the dregs of society, the embodiments of putrescence, the malodorous masses. Countless YouTube videos and entire websites are dedicated to showing the unfiltered idiocy that can be found in betwixt the aisles of Wal-Mart. Whether it be pregnant selfies in the public restrooms, would-be soldiers carrying firearms on their hips or leashed children, the supermarket’s frequenters never fail to disgust.
Anything positive about the monolith of a company is far outweighed by the negatives: paying workers tiny sums; killing off small businesses; providing a cesspool for the less favorable members of Earth to wallow in. I sincerely hope that the corporation either changes drastically, or sees its end of days soon.
For Samm Sack’s point-counterpoint, click here.
