The NY Times has a story on an internal website that Lee Scott, CEO of evil evil big box Walmart, keeps called Lee's Garage. How homey. He used to pump gas at his pop's Kansas gas station. Now, he makes a bajillion dollars a year, but he's so in touch with his roots and what it's like to have nothing and just want the basic things like healtcare. Riiiight.
Let's forget, for just a moment, how evil Walmart is on providing healthcare to its workers when they're working there. Let's take it a step further for this multi-multi-multi billion dollar multi-national corporation and how it doesn't care for you when you're there and then shits on you when you leave. One store manager popped in a question on the site as to why:
the largest company on the planet cannot offer some type of medical retirement benefits?And Scott's response:
Quite honestly, this environment isn't for everyone. There are people who would say, 'I'm sorry, but you should take the risk and take billions of dollars out of earnings and put this in retiree health benefits and let's see what happens to the company.' If you feel that way, then you as a manager should look for a company where you can do those kinds of things.He could've just pulled a Dick Cheney and said "Go fuck yourself" or just shot him in the face.
Defending the internal corporate spin was a spokesperson:
Mona Williams, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said Mr. Scott responded so sharply because of the manager's sarcastic tone. The question, she said, indicated the manager failed to understand how competitive retailing is and would not be able to convey that to his subordinates.Yes, the manager's peon mind couldn't possibly fathom how competitive retailing is. It's not like he's a manager of a multi-million dollar big box and isn't briefed on just how competitive the industry is. That manager probably pumps gas at his dad's gas station and won't amount to much in the end anyways.
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