A glimpse at the future.

[BlueStreak]

For those of us who still think folks such as the Waltons are caring capitalists. Who only create wonderous opportunity and that the need for worker empowerment, real worker empowerment, not the "you are empowered by keeping your mouth shut and doing only as you are told" type of so-called empowerment the right advances, is passe'........Have a nice read.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/16/walmarts-internal-compensation-plan_n_2145086.html?ref=topbar

No. Everyone will NOT be "...in the 1%." as that isolated and out-of-touch-with-reality Romney suggested, nor will we all become robotics engineers and brain surgeons, or inventors of the latest, greatest breathtaking discovery that some here seem to think we will. The vast majority of us will always work for someone else. And NO, we don't see anything moral, manly or patriotic in being the bosses low wage bitch.:rolleyes:

Once again, as it was before, people will find themselves having to band together and negotiate a better deal. Why some of us are so intent on repeating history is a mystery to me. It was a bloody mess. But, if that's how you want it, so it shall be.

Regards,
Dave

[bobabode]

I hope the proposed strike on 'Black Friday' has the desired effect on this craptastic company. Hurting them in their bottom line seems to be the only way to appeal to their non-existent better nature. Maybe I'll go down and pull a Merrylander on 'em, loudly asking if they have ANYTHING made in America in their goddamn store? Then go outside and join the picket line.

[Oerets]

I enjoy saying it so much I'll do it again. F**K Walmart!

I refuse to go there except to pick up my Mother prescriptions. Can't get her to change pharmacies and not worth the fight. They mess her prescriptions up all the time trying to over charge her and lose info. Why she keeps going I can't figure out. I let my sisters handle it mostly. They like shopping there, it all about the "cheap" prices. Plus they hate unions and support Walmart in this!:confused:




Barney

[Boreas]

Yeah, I read that piece yesterday. Pretty damn disgusting.

John

[mpholland]

Does starting Black Friday on thursday afternoon make an overall difference in holiday shopping sales, or does being the first one to open doors just get more people to spend their money at your store? I just can't see why any company would want to even project an image of being so indifferent to people that they would force them to work when they should be lounging in their living rooms recovering from a great meal.

Maybe they just figure that since their employees can't afford a nice Thanksgiving dinner that they would rather be working anyway...

[BlueStreak]

All I know, is that Black Friday is the one day of the year I NEVER shop anyways......anywhere, let alone Walmart.

Regards,
Dave

[wgrr]

The Walton family has not controlled day to day operations for years. Sam himself was pushed out in the 80's.

Wal-Mart faces bigger problems. In many small communities they are the biggest employer. Their depressed wages are starting to cut into there sales numbers. Their own employees can not afford their everyday low prices. They literally have to go on food stamps to put food on the table. Do you think they can afford Christmas gifts.

http://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-customers-struggling-2012-11#ixzz2CJTIkLlo

Everyday low prices that is a joke. We have competing grocery stores here. All of them have lower prices. We have a full sized Sears department store, a full sized K-Mart, TJMax, Marshall fields and others. Wally-world can kiss my ass.

[wgrr]

Does starting Black Friday on thursday afternoon make an overall difference in holiday shopping sales, or does being the first one to open doors just get more people to spend their money at your store? I just can't see why any company would want to even project an image of being so indifferent to people that they would force them to work when they should be lounging in their living rooms recovering from a great meal.

Maybe they just figure that since their employees can't afford a nice Thanksgiving dinner that they would rather be working anyway...

These big box stores have destroyed Thanksgiving and Christmas.To me Christmas was a time to go carolling, drink hot toddies, put lights on your house, visit with family and friends. Today nobody is home because they are rushing around last minute shopping at Target and Wal-Mart for bargains. Last year the 24 hour Wal-Mart here was open Christmas day.

I plan to skip Christmas this year and will not be putting up a tree or putting any lights on the house. It has become so commercialized I just can't stand it anymore.

I always take the week of Christmas and New Years off. This year I plan on getting some of the amps I have on the shelf fired up. That is the only Christmas present I want.

[BlueStreak]

Oh, there you go again, blaming the free enterprise system, when we all know it's the ACLU and that Muslim tool for the Atheists in the Whtehouse that's trying to demean and destroy Christmas.

Regards,
Dave

[mpholland]

I try to spend all of my Holidays with family. I have a 5 day weekend over Thanksgiving which helps, but this year Sunday night will be taken up with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra show, so probably won't be traveling.
I don't like to shop any day of the year. There is no way I would shop on holidays. The deciding factor on a tree in my house is whether or not the granddaughter comes over. Christmas is for children after all. :)

[Bigerik]

Thanks for posting this Dave. It's reminders like this that keep things clear in my mind. The tea baggers and the romneyites are wrong. Their BS only makes the rich richer, and screws over the working man who makes their wealth possible.

Solidarity forever, for the union makes us strong! :)

[d-ray657]

I try to spend all of my Holidays with family. I have a 5 day weekend over Thanksgiving which helps, but this year Sunday night will be taken up with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra show, so probably won't be traveling.
I don't like to shop any day of the year. There is no way I would shop on holidays. The deciding factor on a tree in my house is whether or not the granddaughter comes over. Christmas is for children after all. :)

We have similar holiday views. As the youngest in the family, I was fortunate to have all of the family come to our house when I was a kid. We have reached the point in the past several years where we have been hosting the holidays for my wife's parents (and mine when they were alive). The boys have caught on the the importance of being together for the holidays and make it a priority as well. (They had better - it is only a 35 mile drive. :cool:)

I differ a little on the tree. Decorating a tree has always been such a big event that I can't let it go. But, hey, we're all kids at heart. I have broken with tradition to the extent that we have an artificial tree - but it looks pretty real. At least having the artificial tree means that the hassle of getting out to get a tree doesn't stand in the way of putting one up.

Regards,

D-Ray

[BlueStreak]

I try to spend all of my Holidays with family. I have a 5 day weekend over Thanksgiving which helps, but this year Sunday night will be taken up with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra show, so probably won't be traveling.
I don't like to shop any day of the year. There is no way I would shop on holidays. The deciding factor on a tree in my house is whether or not the granddaughter comes over. Christmas is for children after all. :)

I always drag my pathetic little plastic tree out of the closet and plug it in.
It is truly symbolic of what the holiday has become on more than one level.

Regards,
Dave

[merrylander]

We stopped decorating the house,candles (electric) in the windows, the tree, etc years ago, Brian had grown up and we stopped exchanging gifts, pretty near had everything we needed. Now we pick up a bottle of Veuve Cliquot Brut for Christmas and New Years. Of course we now have the granddaughters to buy things for.

[icenine]

Does starting Black Friday on thursday afternoon make an overall difference in holiday shopping sales, or does being the first one to open doors just get more people to spend their money at your store? I just can't see why any company would want to even project an image of being so indifferent to people that they would force them to work when they should be lounging in their living rooms recovering from a great meal.

Maybe they just figure that since their employees can't afford a nice Thanksgiving dinner that they would rather be working anyway...

Yeah it is a bad way to treat your workers....I have noticed that on Easter they will have either the Sam's Club or the Walmart closed.

Black Friday is bullshit anyway...I often think what the hell is there left to buy?
We have ipads, laptops, flat screen Hi Definition TV, ebay....

[mpholland]

No fake trees here. Having a fake tree in the pacific northwest is pretty pathetic IMNSHO.

[d-ray657]

No fake trees here. Having a fake tree in the pacific northwest is pretty pathetic IMNSHO.

Understood. Not quite as many tree farms in the prairie.

Regards,

D-Ray

[bobabode]

No fake trees here. Having a fake tree in the pacific northwest is pretty pathetic IMNSHO.


:)Patty and me, too. Even in the land of endless concrete hardscape we get ourselves a dinky one. Love the smell of pine throughout the house, even with a couple dozen mature fir trees here in our lil' condo complex (only sixteen units) I go out and buy a noble fir. The cats love it, there's always one or two snoozing under the tree.:)

[mpholland]

:)Patty and me, too. Even in the land of endless concrete hardscape we get ourselves a dinky one. Love the smell of pine throughout the house, even with a couple dozen mature fir trees here in our lil' condo complex (only sixteen units) I go out and buy a noble fir. The cats love it, there's always one or two snoozing under the tree.:)

Where do you find the noble fir that smells like pine? :)

[bobabode]

Where do you find the noble fir that smells like pine? :)

A little pine sol in the water..;)

[BlueStreak]

I find a fake tree to be more appropos in an age when the occasion is just as fake.

Regards,
Dave

[mpholland]

Touche