"I was working an overnight shift in another store that needed help doing inventory, along with a dozen of my fellow employees from my home store. When we got there, we were told that we would have to work a 12-14 hour overnight shift with only 60 minutes break. When the group of us protested, some of us even asked to leave, we were told that all of the doors were locked and would remain locked until morning so we might as well stay and work.

We were told that if we chose not to work, well, who knew what sort of repercussions there might be for us. Almost everyone went back to work. Two other associates and I decided that we would not work all night without a break. I went into a back office and waited for maybe an hour or two, trying to figure out what to do next.

I called my boss back at my home store and told him this was unacceptable and someone better let us out of this building now. After he told me it wouldn't be "the Wal-Mart way" to call the police, I decided to do just that. As my two co-workers and I started to leave the back office, a manager (whom I hadn't seen before) stopped us and asked for our names and what we thought we were doing back there.

Remebering this now, I can still feel how scared I was at that moment. I knew if I got fired, I would be in big trouble. I had no money, no savings, nothing. I lived from one paycheck to the next, and even then sometimes I couldn't pay all the rent. Despite being scared, I said who I was, spelled my name, and said I was going home, now. After my co-workers did the same, I took the longest walk of my 22 year old life to the front of the store, picked up the phone and called the local police.

In one big rush, I told them where I was and that the bosses wouldn't let me out of the building. Whoever it was on the phone at the police station said, "No, that wasn't okay and someone would be right over to help me out." I hung up, incredibly relieved, and waited a couple minutes until the police came. Two officers came, popped the lock right open on the Wal-Mart doors and before I could even say, "here I am, I'm the one who called," the manager suddenly appeared as though this happened everyday: "Well, hello, guys, what can I do for you this morning?"

The officers said they had been dispatched and they wanted to speak to the person who had called. My co-workers and I, as well as the manager, were each taken aside to give our statements. Work in the building had pretty much come to a standstill at that point, so everyone was told to go home. When I got back to my home store, I was "given" a couple days off (without pay) to decide if I still wanted to be a part of the Wal-Mart team. When my own boss looked me in the eye, as I sat there with my name -- Kristen -- pinned to my shirt in capital letters and said, "You're just not the same Christine you used to be," I knew I had my answer. I never went back to work there. It meant that I had to quit (and would therefore not get any unemployment benefits) and it led to several months of being very poor, to the point of being on state aid, but I never regretted it."

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