blackdog wrote:
Well, based on my experience I would say that's pretty accurate. It was a decent place to work when I worked for the company. People had all sorts of decorations for their blue vests including AIDS and breast cancer ribbons, lots and lots of buttons and pins for movies, rainbow diversity pins, and religious items both Christian and non-Christian. Nowadays all you see is the blue vests, with the occasional Christian religious symbol. The company used to be hella picky about hiring, and not only expected good customer service but trained people in how to provide it (on the floor, not in those stupid computer modules.) People were expected to treat both customers and other workers well, and while there were some financial shenanigans by the company it was an occasional thing, not all the time. The old man's policies were still very much in place when I worked there. Then I left due to excessive stress and because I figured it'd be better to quit than get fired (my failing marriage was really dragging me down, at the time.)

About two years later, I was talking to a former co-worker (in the store, she was the door greeter) and she said it seemed like they'd hire just about anybody. The service had gotten horrible, and the management didn't seem to care. (The store had become a super-center in the meantime) Of course she was old, well past retirement age, so she retired soon after. Another friend of mine (this cute little disabled girl) ended up with that job. I talked to her when I was up there last, and she said a big part of why she got a different job was harrassment by "religious freaks" as she put it, none of whom worked there so the management just told her to let it go in one ear, and out the other. They said they couldn't do anything about it without offending the customers, so she had to be the better person and just let it go. Yeah, that got old, real fast. She's not a Christian anymore, either.  
They told me, whenever I worked there, right after the store was converted to a supercenter (which was in 2001 by the way), that sam walton did not want the store open 24 hours, or to sell groceries.  He wanted a down home convience store on a grand scale, like a modern day CVS with a few more items. I do know that I didn't work long after it became a supercenter as it went downhill fast.  I think when his greedy children got ahold of the company, they wanted to be the biggest, and the only store of the type.  Thats why they wanted to do exactly what K-mart had done.  The walmart store closest to our house is the scariest place I've ever been to, and this is the affluent side of town.  Whats funny is I only see the type of people that would be on that POW link, and apstolics (you can tell a mile away) shopping there.  There is a fight about once a day, and 3 cashiers working means you have to stand in a line with people who look at you like they'd like to take a piece out of your #@!.  No thanks, I'll choose target anyday, but I guess I am one of those people who's attracted to target anyways.  Otherwise I'll go to a local grocery store.  I never did like walmart, even when I was fundie, but maybe I never really was.