The Walmartization of America

 

A hot topic in the news lately has been the so-called Walmartization of America; where established local businesses across the country are run out of business by large corporations like Wal-Mart who can afford to charge substantially less than Mom and Pop stores .

What makes Wal-Mart able to afford these cheap prices is the low pay for their millions of employees as well as their lack of benefits of any kind.  What results is a class of working, impoverished people, who are threatened with being fired even when even mentioning the idea of unionizing.  It's an American travesty that should be regulated by the federal government.

And that's not even the worst of it...

The worst thing is that Wal-Mart sells too much stuff and it's all so cheap.  Wonderfully, wonderfully cheap.  If there one real complaint that I have against Wal-Mart it's that their selection is too enormous.  This leads to the absolute worst tragedy: awkward situations for me at the checkout counter.

Here's an example of my Wal-Mart shopping list:

Lava soap, ham steaks, some twizzlers, a pair of fake diamond earrings, a box of Count Chocula, a lamp shade, a bright pink winter coat, some patio furniture, a gallon of milk, new kitchenware, a hamster wheel, a box of condoms and Mad Max on DVD.

Now when I slide these items onto the conveyor belt, there's a moment there between me and the overweight woman behind the counter where we make eye contact.  It's almost magic really.  Then just as I'm about to kiss pay her she says." What the fuck kind of freaky party are you having tonight?"