The day I was hired on to Walmart was a tremendous day. The moment I received the letter, I felt like my stomach was in knots. It 's not that I was excited to work at “Walmart”. It was the very essence of having my first job. Every teen envisions what their first job will be like; some think it will be horrible, wonderful, or just plain dull. Everyone talks about Walmart and how its crazy and how sometimes it 's just plain weird. Until you work there, you never truly know what type of crazy really goes on and truthfully I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. Two weeks into my job, I had my first encounter into the terrifying life of Walmart. Some people might call this “quick change”, and others might just say “you got scammed”. Either way, it all began on a hot summer evening in july. At around 6 o’clock, I began to realize the rather large number of customers I had waiting in my line. I decided that it was time for a 15 minute break, so I turned my overhead light off indicating my lane was closed. At around that time, I noticed a rather large, 6’3, African American man run to the end of my line. I didn’t see any harm in it, so I continued on until he became my next customer. When I finally came upon him, I automatically knew something was off by the way he was speaking, which was very slow and much to polite. I rang up his one item that consisted of a Mountain Dew. He then handed me a $50 bill, and as I began to extract change he calmly said, “Oh, did I give you a
After walking out the doors of my job at Wendy’s for the last time, I wondered what else besides the money and free food did I actually gain. I did gain weight and I did gain experience for my resume but what other positive attributes did my first job at Wendy’s give me? So, as I sat down and pondered, I realized that I enjoyed working at Wendy’s because I learned time management, gained more ambition and became more mature.
My mother, who I will refer to as “The Woman,” was a Walmart employee for 13 years. “Hello, how are you?” she always asked as customers entered the door. Many stared at her as if she was a female alien. Yet, she continued to smile. Many would pat her on the head and spoke to her slowly, because they believed her wheelchair made her intellectually inapt. Yet, she continued to smile. Many yelled at her, accusing her of racial appropriation, for she does not look or act African American. Yet, she continued to smile. Inside, she understood these customers did not know her superiority over them. She understood they did not know she is a single mother of two girls, works day and night to provide for her children and has the education
Sammy’s experience gave me a personal insight to an experience I once had while being employed at Kroger. The location of the Kroger I was working at was just about to have a grand opening. We had all gathered to the front of the store to have a store meeting to prepare for the opening. Our manager at the time was speaking to us and just telling us about how he was expecting everyone to be on his or her tasks. He wanted to make sure that no one had any questions or concerns of their jobs.
Ehrenreich chooses Minnesota at whim. After some internet-based research, she is convinced that there will be a comfortable correspondence between rent and wages. She decides she wants to work for retail, and applies to Wal-Mart. After the process of applying which includes a survey and a drug test, she is later hired for $7 per hour. Working at Wal-Mart makes Ehrenreich realizes there isn’t much human interaction in retail. “I could be a deaf-mute as far as most of this goes” (Ehrenreich157). There are also the people in the store who tend to make work a living hell and can turn regular chipper people into angry, cranky pushovers. “Once I stand and watch helplessly while some rug rat pulls everything he can reach off the racks, and the thought that abortion is wasted on the unborn must show on my face, because his mother finally tells him to stop” (165). In many cases the “smiley” greeters who welcome people into the store, are very unhappy and think unkind thoughts about everyone who comes to visit the store, “I even start hating the customers for extraneous reasons…” (165). This sudden change in character can be strenuous on a worker, regardless of their personality. Resenting the people who workers work for isn’t a healthy trait. “ ‘Aggressive hospitality’ gives way to aggressive hostility” (165).
Walmart employees, customers, and suppliers have seen their fair share of Walmart’s bad side. While Walmart’s founder, Sam Walton, claims to make their employees feel like they “are working for them” and that they care Walmart has done such a horrific job with the way they treat their employees that one day, the workers decided to walk out and go on strike. They walked out on the grounds that they “were emblazoned with the workers’ grievances: poverty wages, miserly benefits, dignity denied” (Eidelson 1). They felt like they weren’t only taking a stand against Walmart, but also taking a stand for the younger generations to come. Walmart’s employees are getting treated unfairly and are underpaid. The CEO’s, Michael Duke, annual salary gives him more money in an hour than an employee who works full-time would make in an entire year. In Bangladesh, over 100 workers “died in a factory without outdoor fire escapes, NGOs blame Walmart for pushing deadly shortcuts” (Eidelson 1). Not only are the employees being poorly paid by Walmart, but they are paying their life to Walmart just to make enough money to barely get by. Walmart even made a pregnant employee work around chemicals that eventually made her ill. After a trip to the doctor, Walmart allowed her to be put on a lighter duty, so they made her a door greeter; however, they
Walmart is known throughout the entire world as one of the most popular chain department stores. Actually, most have probably visited a Walmart store in the past week. Though Walmart stores seem to be a normal part of life the average person more than likely has little knowledge that pertains to Walmart’s success and business culture. This paper will guide one through the history of the organization, why Walmart is successful, what could threaten or open new opportunities, and how might they hold a competitive advantage.
I get to meet a spectrum full of people, from one end to another. I get to witness the most bizarre people, rude people, kind and down-to-earth people, people with disabilities, and many more in the spectrum. I get to hear personal stories and develop relationships with customers. Majority of high school students revolve their lives around quarter grades and romantic conquests. That is the beauty of working in customer service at 17 - that I am demanded to face the world outside. I work with people who live on a paycheck-to-paycheck basis, people who were abused by parents, people who got lost in drugs and pulled their lives back together, people who have their masters, and people of all different religions, ethnicities, and backgrounds. Teenager’s worries are focused around not being able to face the real world once they depart high school, but working at Starbucks has given me that introduction to the outside world.
Acquiring a job, whether it be in a doctor’s office or a fast-food restaurant, can transform a person. Jobs tend to educate employees, both about themselves and life in general, either indirectly or directly. In Climbing the Golden Arches, nineteen year-old Marissa Nuñez discusses the work ethics she gained while being employed at her McDonalds. Within her essay, Nuñez mentioned how she faced both pleasant and unpleasant circumstances at her work, all which prepared her for her future career. As an individual who worked at McDonald’s, Nuñez learned how to fulfill her role of being an employee by becoming an expert at all the placed stations, dealing with the various types of customers she encountered on a daily basis, and by acting as an efficient team member. When Marissa Nuñez, who was a high schooler at the time, first applied for this job at McDonald’s, she probably did not apply with the intent of becoming a more responsible and efficient individual. However, as time went on and she utilized the skills she obtained from working long and hard at McDonald’s, Marissa Nuñez found herself transitioning from a high school student to a
The United States of America represented the land of promise for millions of people around the world, and for many years. For some, the American dream is still existent and continues to lure in millions of immigrants each year. For others however, the American dream is setting, and this might be revealed at several levels, such as the decreasing access to health care, the decreasing quality of the educational act, the decreasing access to jobs or the lower ability for the average citizen to live a life without worry or economic care.
Oh Walmart, how I love thee. Every fourth of the month, all six teachers of mine decide to assign a major project worth twenty percent of our grades. Being in high school, all I want to do is save my money. Thus, I go to the cheapest, yet the most reliable, department store there is. Walmart. I love walking through the grand doors of Walmart, and being greeted by the fresh scent of expired candy. As soon as I am inside, I make my way towards the easy to find office aisle. While attempting to search for the extremely short list of forty plus supplies that I need, I figure that it’s time to ask an associate for help. Just as I turn to ask, I notice a full moon. Of course not because it is night, but because the mother ahead of me decided to change her daughter’s diaper in between the
The unlawful taking of Yugioh card from Walmart has created an uncomfortable situation for which I am very sorry.
It wasn’t until the end of the day that Susan pulled me aside and gave me some good advice. In her words, “People in the store are going to drive you mad. They are the pickiest, finickiest folks I’ve ever seen. But if you keep a smile on your face, keep calm and do a good job, you’ll survive the day, and we’ll get along just fine.” Even though it wasn’t exactly the greatest advice ever, it was what helped me keep my sanity the whole season I was there. I made some good friends, good money and I realized that working isn’t as easy as it seems. But all in all, it was a good job, and a good
While researching this topic, so many things were found to be eye opening. One in which is the way that Wal-Mart conducted themselves when they had to manage their employees. How they dealt with promoting them and demoting them. Last year Wal-Mart started a new management style and wanted to promote more family time and create a less workload on each of the managers and employees. Therefore, they changed the schedule to becoming 3 days on and 3 days off which created more room for managers to fall into the field. Managers would be thrown into the position of an area of the store they knew nothing about and expected to understand each thing and help customers find exactly what they
I worked at Walmart from 1998 till 2006. I started out as an overnight stocker. I then went to days as a sales floor associate in the Hardware Department. In 2000 I became the Toy Department Manager. I was a Toy Department Manager for 3 years. In 2003 I transferred to a different store in order to focus on my education. At the new store I worked in the Grocery Department as an Overnight Stocker/Backroom Receiving Associate. In 2005 I moved to my third and final store. My husband joined
As time went on, things slowly started to get better. With my improved work habits, I slowly began to catch up on school. Also, I began to know my coworkers better, and I get to spend more time with my friend there. Moreover, after knowing how the store functions and learning all the menu items, the work became easier as well. I started to really enjoy this job despite getting some wrist injuries from scooping ice cream.