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.