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RE: Young Americans Just Love Money and Activism
In a society that must have corporations, Wal-Mart is to Society what the dung beetle is to Nature.
Excellent portrayal of these two stores, and elaboration on what is wrong with both of them. I'm fortunate to have many choices of places to shop, and can always shop small.
Very funny, but in a pathos kind of way.
Have you read "Nickled and Dimed in America."? It's painful, but it gave me some understanding of both the walmart worker and shopper. Fortunately, I never have to go to one.
How nice to have something small to get dry goods at. I have this fantasy of a grocer that actually has an owner holding a broom and knows my name. I have not read the above, but I will have to check it out. One point I will give Walmart is that it makes for some very interesting studies of humanity :)
You don't have any place that knows you? You just described a hardware store in my town, Beckerle Lumber. I don't go to big box stores if there is a smaller store I can use, no matter the price. And yeah, the guy with the broom knows my name and my kids'.
My home town used to be the same way - even more so. Everyone knew everybody, the guy at the shoe store knew your size and taste. Waitresses knew what you would order before you opened your mouth, your swim instructor probably had a bridge game with your parents in the previous week. My father was town supervisor for many years and he fought walmart coming in because he knew what would happen if it did. And he turned out to have been right.
Nickled and Dimed was written by a woman about her experiences trying to live on minimum wage in the US. It's pretty old - 20 years? - but she did a stint at Walmart, and it was very illuminating. I haven't stepped into one since reading that book. I'm conflicted about that decision, because if someone is working there, they are desperate and I wonder where they would work if walmart didn't exist. That place doesn't even give employee discounts, or didn't when the book was written. Its employees can't afford to buy its goods even if the goods are on super sale.
That small town life must have been great as a kid. Maybe less great as an adult with all the gossip, but still, it sounds pretty nice. No, there are not really any basic needs stores that are small time here. There are a ton of artsy places and restaurants that are small, but you don't get essentials there.
I grew up with a family that worked at big chains. The only option to make good money was to go into management, which meant working lots of bad shifts. My mom wouldn't do that because she valued seeing her little kids. Damned if you do, or damned if you don't. It is the age-old plight of the poor.
It really is ridiculous that these places don't give discounts. And even worse, Publix (a Florida grocery store that has expanded into the SE) bullies its low-paid employees into giving up something from their paycheck every week to the United Way. I find the United Way to be a very sketchy charity, even more so since they are in bed with a big company like Publix. They actually have mandatory meetings to convince the employees.