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I took some time out of my day today to drive down the 290 to the
219 to ... you guessed it SPRINGVILLE ... to see the SuperWalMart
down there firsthand.
First
impressions were pretty good ... It wasn't "dirty," the
employees didn't appear to be beat down and the businesses around
it were thriving. In fact, I've been through Springville on
numerous occasions and I can honestly say, there's MORE businesses
there now that SWM is in town ... not less.
Personally,
I'm not going to fall into a heap on the floor and cry in the
fetal position if WalMart chooses against (or has the decision
made FOR them) moving into the Lockport Mall spot, but I am
waiting with open arms. I think Tops needs the competition ... and
I can't see that it's going to hurt anyone else.
On
discrimination against women:
I
worked for the McDonald's Corporation for four years ... I
understand corporate structure, the way things work and the way
things happen. My last year with the company (my coupe de grace,
in fact) was spent working at a franchise in Macedonia and
Northfield, Ohio. Corporate types don't typically spend much time
at franchise stores ... they're basically two different companies.
But you see, there was an idiot manager in Macedonia, who
blantantly mistreated a senior citizen who was employed there ...
and a couple of the employees decided they wanted to form a union
to prevent this type of thing from happening again. The idiot
manager was fired post haste, but the union continued to try to
form ... in came myself and a team of about six other McManagers
... to try to keep things in line. See, McDonald's didn't want the
entire company to have to pay for the mistakes of one moron ...
I'm
sure that WalMart has some @ssholes working for them. I'm sure
that some people in upper management are prejudiced ... against
women, minorities, gays, red-headed talkshow hosts, whatever.
That's no reason for the company to be branded with the phrase
"discriminatory." I'm quite certain Sam Walton's last
breaths didn't utter, "never let the women succeed."
I
can't speak to WalMarts decision to ban emergency contraceptives.
Wasn't there when the decision was made. But I'm sure it was a
calculated business decision (based on trying to not piss off the
right-wing Christian types) and it's not my business to run. There
are a lot of things I wish WalMart sold. I'm not going to boycott
them cause they don't.
As
for your four points to WalMart hell ...
1.
employing hundreds of illegal aliens
Is
it just me, or did WalMart turn in hundreds of employees just
recently ... that it found to be illegal aliens. I remember the
story read like this:
WalMart turns in hundreds
of illegal aliens it mistakenly
employed.
2.
coercing employees to work overtime and then not paying them for
it
Do
you really think this is the company philosophy or can we again go
back to a couple of instances in which idiots ended up managing
stores or shifts and cared more about their asses than the law?
3.
Very conservative approach to mainstream media like magazines and
CD's
This
is going to sound funny ... but I don't care what a company's
politics is. If you feel the need to build a "LeftMart"
so that Al Franken and friends will have a place to sell books and
CDs, then so be it. Free enterprise. I don't want the government
to force WalMart to sell books, CDs or contraceptives that they
don't want to sell.
4.
employing almost exclusively overseas labor, possibly child
It
seems to me like you're grasping at straws here. If you're talking
about companies like Nike that make their products overseas for
pennies on the dollar and then sell them here for dollars on the
penny, then, I agree with you, they're bad. But explain to me how
WalMart fits into this scenario.
I
gotta tell you, overall, I'm very irritated about this whole
WalMart issue. Sometimes the small mindedness in Western New York
is overwhelming.
Here's
an idea
I
have a great photospread idea for the local paper. Get mug shots
of all the loud and oft-spoken anti-WalMart folks ... who are
afraid it will kill our fragile economy (not the ones who hate it
at the corporate level, but those who are against having one
HERE). Anyway, get their mugs and give them to a bunch of
photographers ... then send those photographers out to stores and
malls in Erie County and have them wait ... take photos of all
those people who want you to believe they do all their shopping on
Main Street ... and publish them one after another. “Where's
you community mindedness now?”
You
know, I'm that “liberal guy,” so it may seem silly
that I'm picking on my own kind here, but I am a little confused
why liberals in general seem to find it neccesary to get down on
businesses that do well for themselves. And then they manufacture
reasons for it ...
Thanks for
giving me something to do this afternoon.
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