Wired Writer Gets Job at Wal-Mart

He finds that Wal-Mart it really isn't as bad as Barbara Ehrenreich of Nickel and Dimed fame will have you believe.

Several of my co-workers had relocated from other areas, where they had worked at other Wal-Marts. They wanted more of the same. Everyone agreed that Wal-Mart was preferable to the local Target, where the hourly pay was lower and workers were said to be treated with less respect (an opinion which I was unable to verify). Most of all, my coworkers wanted to avoid those “mom-and-pop” stores beloved by social commentators where, I was told, employees had to deal with quixotic management policies, while lacking the opportunities for promotion that exist in a large corporation.

I have read in several places that many Wal-Mart associates move from other stores and stay in the system for their entire career. They must be doing something right. I think most of the anti-Wal-Mart sentiment is out there because they aren't unionized. If there was a Wal-Mart workers union affiliated with the Service Employees International or something then most of the criticism would disappear overnight.