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Orientation Completed

Orientation was pretty boring and I have no clue why they take a whole day to do it. I've worked making a lot more money and been given 10 minutes, here is the bathroom, here is the conference room, here is your office and have a nice day. Funny how retail do all these videos and lectures.

They have you play a game, it was called something like "Your Pathway to Success". It was silly and pointless. Then we read a bunch of cards, watched a bunch of movies, took a quick walk on the floor, and got to see the back stockroom, which I was amazed they have as I been told "Sir we do not have stock in the back of the store, when I have asked for them to check" plenty of times in my life. The Union video is pretty funny. They are so anti-union it is sad they made a video to pretty much brain wash people. Then the instructor told us why she hated Unions, which she admitted she has never been in one or knows much about them, but to her she would not be able to do her job from the stories she has heard. Which is totally false, I'm not 100% for Unions but they are not that bad. Then she talked how that we are never to sign anything when they come in, then she back tracked to say, well if you really want to then you have that right. Then she again mentioned how she sees no need for them in Wal-Mart. Also in one of the videos pretty much said you do not need a 3rd voice because at Wal-Mart you have an Open Door policy (from what I have read it is totally a BS policy).

I did not like that they took the WHOLE day to get me the schedule. That every other weekend I need, yep they got me scheduled for every weekend. The schedule goes for 3 weeks out. So pretty much it is a crap shoot what hours you get. I did not feel that I could bring that up there as there were 6 other people...I did not want to look like the bad guy giving trouble. I also don't like the fact they assumed I had a 100% totally opened schedule since they called me in such a short notice. One girl said she applied online before she went back to school, they told her to fill out an Availability sheet...and she was told pretty much this is what it is right now. Also we were told that you HAVE to give 3-4 weeks notice if you need time off or to be scheduled around something....so pretty much I would of been told no anyways and maybe when they get to the next scheduling period.

The instructor and the Personnel lady said they hated their last job. The instructor claimed to have worked at Kohl's and they would make her come in no matter what. She said at Wal-Mart no one makes you and no one will pressure you into coming in. But then what about the whole lecture on getting coached and how pretty much everything is considered a Non-excused tardy. The personnel lady said she came from the banking sector and that unlike there, at Wal-Mart she can advance within the company.

They really stress about working off the clock and how that is a big no, no. Also you are made to take your lunch within the 4.99 hours of work, most take it after 4 to 4.5 hours of work. You also HAVE to take your two paid 15 minute breaks. My feelings is, I rather go home 30 minutes early then take two 15 minute breaks. heck same with lunch, but I guess the state wants to make sure you have the ability to eat. I guess all this can be a coaching, and you can get fired.

Good thing is I been in contact with a very nice lady at a staffing agency, and I flat out told her NO WEEKENDS, and I have an interview tomorrow for that. Do I feel bad that I will be blowing Wal-Mart off, no, not really I'm in training and other Associates are not counting on me. I'm scheduled for the CBL's for 10 hours, two days. I probably feel worse if I already did the job and I was pulling the no show, well I do plan to call tomorrow when I get up and just let them know it will not work. I will explain how I wanted Part-time and with more thinking that is all I want...maybe they will say okay, however I will also let them know my schedule is a little more complicated then I originally thought and I need a steady constant scheduling/work days and hours.

Believe me I would of saved them money if they would of handed me the schedule first thing. *shrug* There loss.

The Call for Orientation

I received the call today that orientation will be held Monday from 7am to 4pm. I was surprised they called on a Sunday, and I did not pick up because I did not regonize the phone number. Pretty short notice.

I am to bring 1 to 2 pieces of ID all depending on what ID I bring. I will assume the standard drivers license and SSC. She mentioned to refer to the paper I was given, all I was given was about the Fair Credit Act *shrug* I guess they failed to give me everything.

I'm not really excited to go, for one 7am is early for me, however with it being down the street waking up at 6am and leaving last minute will give me more then enough time to get there. I think Orientation is suppose to be two days...now that I think of it Wal-Mart Associates wear black docker style pants and blue shirts...hmmm I'm not even sure I own Black pants anymore, and I know I have no blue shirts. Ever since getting two cats and a dog, the color black really is not an option for me to wear. Oh, well she did not say what to wear...so I'll just toss on the Eddie Baur cargo pants again and a Polo shirt and call it good. I assume dress code will be gone over the first orientation.

I guess what I am looking forward to is the video. I want to see how bad these really are. I am also looking forward what schedule they have for me, considering they never went over what I would like or could do...I have obligations next weekend (going on a off-road motorcycle adventure). The last time I went to get a part time position many years ago the place also kept that secret. Then after training handed me a schedule that 100% did not work for me, to which I told the owner and I think she was in shock. I just told her to give my time to the one girl in class who sounde dlike she needed the money bad to take care of her baby and who said she work any overtime she could get. I then proceded to say my thanks for consideration, and I only wish they would of told me about the crazy schedule sooner rather then later. I have a feeling this is going to play out at Wal-Mart.

A company should never assume last minute you have nothing going on in life. We all have lifes outside of whatever job we do. I'm lucky enough I can put my scheudle ahead of some companies and not have to grin and bare it.

My reason to write this blog is to let others know what it pays. What it takes to be hired and what they can expect. Expect more to come later tomorrow when I get home.

Introduction & Interview

I will admit I am not a fan of Wal-Mart. I try to do as little shopping there as possible in fact I harp on the wife for wanting to buy food products there, I rather pay more then support Wal-Mart. I have bought a few Wii games, a controller, some oil, and some Gardening things but I tend to shop elsewhere, even if it means spending a little more.

A little about me:

I'm 33 years old, white male. My first job was making $8.00 an hour working at an Embassy in Vienna, Austria while in High School for the summer there due to my father’s career. After graduating High School I went to Lome, Togo for 6 months. Then off to Community College in Michigan where grandparents and other family lived. I then went to Michigan State University where I met my wife. Times were good and I knew a lot about computers. So I got a Contracted position for a company running updates for Y2K, then when that was over I was hired into a place as an IT Administrator. The pay was okay, a lot more then WallyWorld would ever pay. That lasted until a few years after 9/11 as our company was deeply entrenched in making parts for the airline industry. The company went under due to lack of flying and overall bad business decisions. So I got married and moved to Grand Blanc, MI. My wife finished Pharmacy school and got her first real career. I then went to work for her father managing and running the family specialty fuel business (Propane) along with a storage facility.

After a few years my wife got an offer to move to Colorado. So we took it, as we came out here to ski anyways every year, so why not live where we come, saves thousands a year on travel expenses. I miss running the family business, it was like my own so I treated it like such.

So now it is 2007, times in the U.S. just plan suck. Back in MI there was nothing other then the family business. When we moved to CO we thought I be able to find something in the IT field. I have done some Contract work but that lately has dried up. It seems there is nothing much out there but retail.

Plus with 2009 being a rainy year I have not been able to get out of the house much. 2008 I rode 18,000 miles on my motorcycle exploring the local area. I was able to do a trip to Death Valley a month ago but probably only put on a few thousand miles. This year I have just been bored out of my mind. So I thought hey there is a Wal-Mart down the street why not apply and see how it goes, not like I have anything to loose. If I get out of the house some great, the money is not a concern.

Like I said, I have never been a big fan of Wal-Mart's I'm not hiding that fact.

I applied online taking their 'Psychological Profiling Test', man do I hate those. Do people actually pick Strongly Agree for stealing, are people that dumb or uneducated...they must be, I just find it hard to believe that though. So I make it through that BS.

I then get a call to come in and interview a week later for a Electronics Associate position. I arrive early to the general area I am to meet someone in is at the back of the store near electronics. I walk up and ask the Electronic Associate where I was to go, she told me, and she also mentioned that there are three interviews to which I was shocked, 3 interviews to work at Wal-Mart! Okay, I find that hard to believe when the people they have working there seem to be really lacking. One reason why I hate shopping there.

I wait, and after a bit someone comes and gets me. I follow the kid back, and yeah he is a kid compared to me. Maybe 19, no more then 23. He is not too good at giving the interview, has trouble reading the questions himself but says he has to read them in full to me. So I grin and bare it. I would not hire the kid for anything more then cashier, how did he get this position? I then ask if this is full time or part time, he says he has no clue. He escorts me out and tells me to wait as he finds out what type of position it is. I do mention to him how I want just part time. I wait for maybe 10 minutes in the meantime informing a few others waiting for their interview on what they ask and what to be prepared for.

Another guy comes and calls me to follow him. We find a closed empty office and he goes over more questions. This guy is upper 20’s lower 30’s. He seemed to have been around a bit longer and was able to read the questions. I answer them all and then ask him how much it pays and what are the hours. I let him know I want part time. He calls someone and they say it is full time. I say okay. As for pay he says he can not tell me as it will be offered in the 3rd interview. I leave, on my way out I let the other waiting people know what they will ask and they thank me for the information.

I also see the Electronics Associate and say I did two interviews and they said that it was unusual to do both in the same day. I shrug it off, as I’m not applying for a Astrophysics position so really no reason why they could not do all three.

They actually call my father in-law who they think was just my supervisor and he tells me all about it. He said the lady sounded nice, and she let him explain why I was a good worker. because they ask YES or NO questions (legal reasons whyt hey do this). Run a busines slike I have and you will learn that.

I come home and do a lot of online research into WallyWorld. It was pretty funny to read some of the blogs. A lot of companies treat employees like crap, but then again not many make the type of profits Wal-Mart does by penny pinching. I believe a company the size of Wal-Mart should provide healthcare to all its employees. So if that means $1 billion is lost profit so be it. At a point how much profit does a company need?

A few days go by and I get another call. I return the call, and I am told to come the next day for my 3rd interview. I again arrive early. After a bit of time someone comes to help me. This guy did not even bother to introduce himself. I was told to sit at a computer, he then asked me to fill out the back ground check, as I was filling it out he kept saying, mark NO for felony, then he catch himself and say “well if you don’t have any”. I felt rushed by him. Then he got the right application up and running on the computer and said here is your offer. It is for $8.60 an hour, full time in Electronics. He tells me to read the whole screen and then keeps pestering me to select Accept. I turn and say “just to let you know I can only work every other weekend, and by the way what are the hours like”. First he just says well we are 24/7, I then make a comment how I never see a person back in Electronics at 11pm. He just says, yeah you can buy a TV at 3am if you want (I’m thinking to myself but I would never buy a TV from Wal-Mart). I then say, well is every other weekend okay. He is like what, what you are to work ALL. Then he starts to shuffle through the folder. Knowing what he is looking for (the online part where you select your hours well it does not let you pick every other as an option), I look at him and say; “Look I do not care what some printout says, it would not let me pick every other weekend as an option online”. He then finds it and says yeah it says ALL, I again look at him and repeat that I do not care what it says. He then says yeah, you can have every other weekend off we will work that out with the associates. he never makes a note of it, and I know what they will try later on. So I can not wait for that to happen. I thinkt hey failed to see they will have ZERO control over me. I just don't NEED the job that bad to put up with BS.

I again ask what the schedule will be like, he just says, well your open to ALL which is not 100% the truth and he says that will be told to you at orientation. I did not have the heart to tell him that Thursdays are a no go either, especially when winter comes, the wife and I ski every Thursdays and then every other weekend. I will admit I do not think I am cut out for retail, with such crazy hours.

He fills out the drug screen paperwork, and I go do that...as I do not use drugs I see no problem there. Only the second drug screen test I have ever taken. Amazing the ofjfice jobs I have done just don't care to test, but an $8.60 an hour position it is mandatory. I’m now waiting for my call for when orientation is. Funny part was he never asked about if I had any plans coming up. I plan to go to TN for 16 days coming up, Christmas maybe 9 days. Next year 16 days to Germany *shrug* For someone that is a manager, I would assume they are given training how to hire people. You always ask, just to make sure there will be no scheduling conflicts. Peopel rarely mark those online forms 100% corectly. i mean after all you want the interview then that is where you will discuss and disclose days needs and what not.

At this point, I’m on the fence. $8.60 an hour is not much. That is $17,888 a year with 40 hours a week. Which by the way when I asked he said this is 40 hours a week, then he back tracked and said, this is up to 40 hours a week. They also never mentioned about benefits which I do not need or want so I have little interest in them.

I plan to do orientation, and go from there. I'll make an update as soon as I do that.

I figure I would waste their time, and money if nothing else. I was never told if orientation was paid, it better be or hell I’ll tell them I’ll skip it. I also doubt I will make it through the Anti-Union videos. I am not 100% for, or against unions…I’m sure I will be laughing about them or asking why Wal-Mart is so against Unions…yeah I do not see me making it too far. If I do make it through that part, I just do not see me lasting long, especially once they find out I am leaving for TN possibly for 16 days to visit my mother which I have not done in years. It is not like Is et this up like this, how many times do you apply at places and never hear back, or it takes 6 months to get an interview. Am I suppose to put my life on hold, I think not.