Consumers who consider shopping at Wal-Mart to be a morally reprehensible act are in dire need of a reality check. I have listened to customers at my store tell me that my company is plummeting downhill, but that they refuse to shop at Wal-Mart. The notion that Wal-Mart is hienously unfair to it's workforce is a media driven hoax. One man boycotts are worthless and my store is chock full of blatant rip-offs.

Fact is that Wal-Mart jobs are highly coveted and and relatively well paying. My entry level coworkers and I make $6.40 an hour and receive no benefits whatsoever. Out baggers are the exception to the $6.40 rule; they make $5.25. We are elligible for miniscule raises annually. These numbers are common in the business. The average pay for a Wal-Mart employee in the United States is $9.64.

Miguel Santos, a stocker I work with, is also a stocker at Wal-Mart. Far from a Western sweatshop, Wal-Mart pays Santos significantly more than the employer we share. I earned higher hourly wages at three different fast food places than at my present employer. Santos encouraged me to apply and said that my starting pay might be $8.50. Every lower class worker I have discussed Wal-Mart with agrees that it is the place to be. Snagging a job with this company is difficult and I have repeatedly heard that getting hired is a matter of knowing someone.

In 2001, I was interviewed by Wal-Mart for a job as an unloader. At $9 an hour, this was a phenomenal opportunity. The position was 40 hours a week; full time is extremely hard to come by. Aside from the benefits I would have been elligible for, the store's employee accomodations were heavenly. There was a large indoor smoking room, which I had never before seen or heard of in this century. Adjacently was a break room the size of a cafeteria where my interview was conducted.

Another contention with Wal-Mart that has no place in reality is that many of their employees receive no benefits. This may be the case, just as it is with every company in the service industry. Of my 11 service industry employers, including my present one, I have been offered benefits only once. The company was Steak 'n Shake, and the package was the bare minimum, including such things as A.D. & D. and meager coverage on doctor visits. There was no coverage for anything such as medications or dental. The bottom line is that benefits for entry level employees is seldom heard of.

These facts beg to question why some people hate Wal-Mart. Why does the mass media all but slander this corporation and who are they in bed with? It is true that newspeople take an orgasmic glee in manufacturing controversy. It is equally true that many people distrust large entities and view globally successful companies from and odious mark of the beast perspective. These truths are coupled with the fact that the general public enjoys being spoon fed by the media. Sincerely, John Doe American will wolf down whatever pissed-in corn flakes he is told to and discuss the finer points of his breakfast at the proverbial water cooler. Recall the Bush reelection? I rest my case.

Unquestionably, Wal-Mart has abandoned Sam Walton's vision and has perhaps grown too large for common comfort. They also hire illegal immigrants just like virtually all other major corporations. Corporations are operated by the top brass' greed and the misguided ambitions of their underlings. Therefore, these organizations are inherently corrupt and overbearing. This is a result of human nature more than it is a byproduct of capitalism. In addition, a deliberate lack of governmental oversight or intervention has given corporate America the carte blanche it has paid for. Thus, we have a slew of known scandals and a $5.15 minimum wage.

To single out one supermarket company as wantonly evil is to declare it's competitors moral and upstanding by comparison. Personally, I have no interest in glorifying their cheapskate competition, getting shafted at checkout or being the mainstream media's intellectual bitch. The media's Wal-Mart fetish is far from remission. In the meantime, shop there and stay the Hell out of my goddamn checkout lane.