“Wal-Mart hired me as a cashier knowing full well that I was physically unable to push carts, due to a severe knee injury from a previous car accident. Then I started work, and they asked me to push carts. As a result, my knee snapped out of place.
Pushing carts caused my injury, but Wal-Mart’s 'doctor' told me there was no grounds for a worker’s compensation case because I had a pre-existing condition. I was given no paid time off and could not afford to take vacation time. I had no choice but to return to work the next day with crutches and an immobilizer on my leg. I stood for nine hours a day with crutches under my arms and one leg in a huge cast, trying to scan items!
After four months as a cashier, I was offered the position of Customer Service Manager (CSM). I was given a list of my responsibilities and expectations and gladly took the position. At the time, I was honored -- little did I know taking this position would be a mistake.
When I became a manager, Wal-Mart brought me into a room and explained the way things were actually run in the store. I was told certain cashiers were expendable. Cashiers can be fired without any prior notice of termination, even if they haven't done anything wrong. As a manager, I had to sign a secrecy clause and was not allowed to give warnings. If workers had one little screw-up or missed one day, they would be out the door as fast as our products.
Management assured me that because I had two kids under three, I would be scheduled to work nights. However, within a week, I was scheduled to come in at seven o’clock in the morning and had to switch my family’s whole world around.
When I began working at Wal-Mart, I was promised that if I worked hard and did well in my position, I would be given chances for raises and promotions. Although I did receive a promotion and a slight raise of 80 cents -- which brought me up to a whopping $8.10 an hour -- I have been denied money, benefits, vacation time, sick time, personal time and workman's comp benefits. The insurance is unaffordable, the pay is absurdly low, and the morale is even lower.
My only hope is that someday Wal-Mart will wake up and realize their corruption hasn't hit the point of no return. There's still a chance for Wal-Mart to make things right with the people of America. There’s still a chance for Wal-Mart to pay a living wage so that mothers and fathers will not have to receive Welfare and count every penny even though they have working at Wal-Mart for years. There’s still a chance for Wal-Mart to make things right and provide affordable health care so that workers can pay their rent if their children get sick and have to see the doctor. Wal-Mart’s health care is so expensive that workers barely make enough for one or the other – and that's not much of a choice!
I think Wal-Mart has the ability to change because I believe people are truly good at heart. I think the main thing we need are employees who want to share their stories and speak the truth. So we can continue to expose the true face of Wal-Mart.”
More Wal-Mart Worker Stories:
A. G. White
Bettie Madsen
Cindy Starns
Cynthia Murray
Dana Razaie
Diane Muthig
Five Workers From New York
Greg Pierce
Josh Smith
Kristen Bonardi Rapp
Lance Hindman
Mona Curtis
Ollie & Patricia Wells
Rosetta Brown
