Wal-Mart Survivor

Cubicle Neighbors

The Survivor — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 20:32:36 +0000

My cube was just as depressing as any other. To try to brighten it, I tacked various things to the walls. Among my favorites, were postcards of Picasso, a small drawing done by a friend of mine, and a couple of cards my wife had given me. I also liked to display news articles that would irritate my boss, or those around me.

For instance, I once taped, to the side of our pod, an article about how the average worker needs regular and substantial raises to remain happy. My boss did not find it amusing. In my experience, Wal-Mart gave regular, but not substantial raises. After our annual evaluation one year, I asked a co-worker how it went. He summed up how we both felt about Wal-Mart’s compensation package by saying, “You know, the usual. Wal-Mart pretends to pay me and I pretend to work.” Anyway, the articles made the day more interesting when people would, as I expected, get upset about the content. While I did expect some strong responses, it taught me that people take things personally far to easily.

For a while, a particularly politically conservative man sat in the cube across from me. For the purposes of this blog, we’ll call him Sam. One day, we had a conversation about Timothy McVeigh. Sam thought that McVeigh deserved to die for his transgressions. In that particular situation, it’s an easy position to take. I happen to believe that the death penalty is based primarily on vengeance and doesn’t provide an ounce of deterrence. I told him how I feel and, knowing Sam to be a professed Christian, added that I didn’t think Jesus would approve of the death penalty, even the execution of Timothy McVeigh. He retorted with some lame argument about how Jesus would, if necessary, resort to violence. As an example, he pointed to Jesus’ anger at the temple money changers. I found Sam typical of a Christian fundamentalist.

The next day, I tacked, to the wall facing Sam, an article arguing how the death penalty is cruel and unusual, especially in its application in the United States. I left it there until Sam no longer worked at Wal-Mart. How he left is for another post.

Feng Shui it was not

The Survivor — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 21:34:00 +0000

Have you ever been in a warehouse? Warehouses are, by necessity, huge, impersonal, stifling, poorly lit buildings. When I was working at the Wal-Mart home office, I worked in a former warehouse. Wal-Mart converted it to offices and, instead of goods, used it to store people.When I last saw it, the outside of the building was covered in a gray/blue aluminum siding. In describing it, the color doesn’t sound terrible. Wal-Mart managed to pick a siding color, though, that combines the two colors unnaturally and depressingly.

The building’s interior, where the unnatural theme continued, was even more depressing. The floor was covered in industrial carpet tiles that were a mix of red, blue, orange and black up close. When viewed as a whole, across a room, the colors mixed to produce a color that we all called baby-crap brown. The interior walls, covered in sheet rock, were painted a color I always described as battleship gray.

For the most part, though, the walls weren’t visible because they were obstructed by the most prevalent feature of the interior, the maze of cubicles. The floor area, covering roughly the same area as a football field, was divided in the middle by structural walls that supported the building. On both sides of the division, three main arteries, where no cubicles were built, radiated directly to the exterior walls. The arteries were given names like David Glass Way. In between the arteries, rows and rows of cubicles were built in aggregations of 9 cubicles that we called pods. The sides of the arteries were formed by the 5 foot high, outside walls of the pods. The arteries opened at regular intervals to allow access to the pods. I gave many Wal-Mart associates, visiting our building from another part of the company, directions to a particular person’s cubicle by using the names of the arteries. For example, I might have pointed down an artery and said, “Go that way on David Glass Way to the first intersection. Take a left on Smiley Face Lane and walk to the second intersection, and then take a right on Moon Pie Road. Turn right into the second pod on Moon Pie Road and John Doe’s cubicle is the middle one on the right side of the pod.” Depressing and exhausting, isn’t it?

Each cubicle, or cube as we often referred to them, was approximately 9 feet long by 8 feet wide. On one side, a desk lined a wall and the opposite wall was lined with a work surface. The work surface was basically a desk top attached directly to the wall so that no legs or other support was necessary. It was intended for a computer monitor. In between the desk and work surface, was a fairly narrow portion of floor with no furnishings. This is where each person’s chair was kept. Above the desk and the work surface, a shelf ran the length of the cube. Attached to the shelf on both sides were fluorescent lights intended to provide reading light for work. The arrangement was utterly depressing and devoid of style, but was very utilitarian.

Even with the utilitarian arrangement, the building was difficult to work in because the pods filtered little sound. I could always hear the conversations of people adjacent to my cube. Even when other people were relatively quiet, the low hum of computers and the sharper report of fax machines and printers was constant. The total lack of nature was the worst part for me. Sometimes, in the middle of the afternoon, I would get up and walk outside just to verify that the sun was still shining.

I’ve heard members of Wal-Mart management say that the associates are the company’s most important asset. I don’t think that is born out in the work conditions of the home office associates. It is an exercise of cost saving run amuck.

Speaking of 9/11…

The Survivor — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 15:53:50 +0000

September 11 is not the primary topic of this blog, but my previous post reminded me of this story:

I had several different desks at the Wal-Mart home office. My favorite location was at the back of a pod – the term we used to refer to an aggregation of six cubes – where I could arrange the screen of my computer away from people approaching from the front of the pod. The arrangement allowed me to keep my screen hidden from view, unless I specifically wanted someone to see it. As such, I was able to, from time to time when I grew tired of working, distract myself by viewing one of the relatively few websites that Wal-Mart permitted everyone to view.

I’ve often spoken to my father about where he was and what he was doing when he heard that President Kennedy had been shot. From speaking with him and others in his generation, it simply was a life changing moment and they naturally remember where they were and what they were doing. For my generation, I think that the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 are the same kind of event. At any rate, I seriously doubt I will ever forget what I was doing when I heard that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.

When Tanya came around the corner that morning, I was pretending to work but I was actually reading a website about travel in Ireland for a trip my wife and I were planning for later that year. She said, “A plane just hit the World Trade Center.” Not considering that it was terrorism, I asked her, “Was it an accident?” She said, “I’m not sure if anyone knows.” I said, “Let’s go to the break room and see what CNN is saying.” “Okay, but the one downstairs is packed with people. Let’s go upstairs.” When we arrived in the upstairs break room, we found it packed with people as well. Fortunately, there was a big screen television in one end of the long room so, despite the crowd, we were able to see the television. I don’t even recall what CNN had to say. I do remember, though, that news of the second plan hitting the other tower broke while we were in the break room. I also remember that everyone was, like the rest of the nation, utterly shocked and dismayed.I’m not sure how long we watched the news. It became repetitive after a while and we returned to our desks. I started pouring over news websites to try to garner more information.

A few minutes later, the president of the division of Wal-Mart I was working for spoke to everyone over the public address system. His speech was astounding. He discussed the attacks, of which we knew little at the time. Much of the information he passed along later proved to be false. Rumors are pervasive in large corporations, apparently even at the highest levels of management. The information he passed along, however, did not compare with his attitude. His message, other than informational, was this: He thought the attacks were a terrible thing and that we should pray for all the victims’ families but he didn’t want the incident to interfere with our work.

He literally called it an incident. War had been waged upon our country. With the exception of Pearl Harbor, United States citizens live in a country that had no armed conflicts on its soil through two world wars, and he called this attack an incident. I wanted to stick my middle finger up at him.

Let’s Roll

The Survivor — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 06:12:19 +0000

I like Paul Greengrass. I should have known, after watching Bloody Sunday a few years ago, that he would approach the story of United Airlines Flight 93 appropriately. He understands that certain events are inherently dramatic and, to be exciting when filmed, don’t need emphatic dialogue or intense music. Still, I was reluctant, for many reasons, to see United 93. The many positive reviews I read eventually convinced me and, after watching it a few days ago, I’ve reflected on the movie often. I think it is an appropriate tribute to the passengers on board the plane.

I wonder what the folks at Wal-Mart think? It’s a question that, in the thinking about the movie, I’ve continually asked myself. While it may seem like a random connection, be assured that it is not.

Every spring, Wal-Mart holds it’s annual shareholders’ meeting at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I liked going because it was a day that I didn’t have to spend in the veal fattening pens (the work conditions at the home office are for another post). I did not specifically enjoy the meeting, however. It is Wal-Mart culture in its most pervasive, stifling, and sickening apex. The company’s management turns a business meeting into a multi-media spectacle. The focal point of the arena is a huge center stage where the executives speak about the company’s past year and prospects for the coming year. Their images are projected onto large screens on both sides of the stage so everyone can get a good look at the anointed. The experience is more closely related to a rock concert than a corporate meeting; the company likes its worker bees to be enthusiastic about Wal-Mart culture.

In 2002, Wal-Mart was a bit over zealous in its pursuit of that enthusiasm. Every year I attended the meeting, there were huge banners throughout the arena. Sometimes, they bore a slogan or information about the company. The year after 9/11, the banners bore the slogan, “Let’s Roll.”

If someone told me about it, I would hope that the company’s management didn’t intentionally debase the purported last words of Todd Beamer by using them to sell stuff. But they did. It made me sad. I didn’t have higher expectations from the company’s management, but none of the associates seemed to find it offensive. Granted, it wasn’t exactly an atmosphere that invited criticism. I still hope that some, if not the majority, were offended. I suppose I’ll never know.

Beginnings

The Survivor — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 20:27:45 +0000

I am a Wal-Mart Survivor. I worked at the world’s largest retailer for about 10 years. The first few years were while I was in high school, in a small town Wal-Mart store in the middle of the North American continent. During summer and Christmas breaks from college, I continued working at the same store. When I began graduate school at the University of Arkansas, I worked part time at the Wal-Mart home office. Finally, when I graduated with my advanced degree, I worked full time for four more years at the home office. Many of the things I experienced were similar to what you have probably read, seen or heard in the media. Many things, though, I think will surprise you. If you happened across my blog and the story of a former Wal-Mart insider sounds interesting, please stop by again. I cannot promise, but I will try to update with new stories on a regular basis.