I just read a story in today's news that reminded me why I hate Wal-Mart so much. Wal-Mart truly exemplifies corporate greed. How can a company that sells $90 billion in one quarter alone sue an ex-employee for what it paid out to her in health benefits after she suffered irreparable brain damage in a traffic accident?
That's right, you read that correctly. Wal-Mart, the retail giant, successfully sued Debbie Shank, of Jackson, Missouri, who suffered severe brain damage in a traffic accident. Shank was an employee at Wal-Mart stocking shelves. She decided to buy the health and benefits plan. Eight years ago she was in a traffic accident that robbed her of much of her short-term memory, left her in a wheelchair and in a nursing home.
Two years after the accident. Shank and her husband were awarded $1 million from a lawsuit against the trucking company that was involved in the accident. After legal fees, $417,000 was placed in a trust for Shank's long-term care.
However, Wal-Mart turned around and sued Shank and her husband to recoup the $417,000.
Click here to read the details.
Although what Wal-Mart did was not illegal, it is a public relations disaster. This woman has lost her son in Iraq. Her husband divorced her just so she could maximize the amount of Medicaid she could receive. This woman will never have a job again. She has nothing. Wal-Mart has billions. They have a lot of audacity--to them people are nothing but dollar signs. Every decision they make is about the bottom line. They encourage their employees to go on welfare in order to have health benefits. They make people work off the clock. They discriminate against women. They discriminate against people of color. They engage in human rights and labor violations in Third World countries. They put profits before people. It makes me sick.
I know that there are people who love Wal-Mart, presumably because of the low prices. I don't care how low their prices are--I will never shop there because they treat their people like crap. I don't see myself strictly as a consumer, but also as a citizen, and as a responsible citizen, I cannot support a company that essentially abuses its employees.
I completely agree with what Steve Olson wrote on his blog about Wal-Mart. The couple times I have been inside a Wal-Mart I immediately wanted to turn around and walk out. "Wal-Mart's atmosphere is cheap and crass. Target's atmosphere exudes progress and style." Yes, give me Target any day. Stylish products at a great price.
Another Wal-Mart story:
A friend of mine (who is an activist) was having a birthday party at her home and decided to show the movie "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price"--I guess it was just a spur of the moment thing. (By the way, I just found out you can watch the whole movie online here. Anyway, it was a potluck, and there was a couple that had brought a cake from the Wal-Mart Supercenter. Whoops. I guess it was a little uncomfortable.
Hey, I respect people's right to shop wherever they want to shop. And the sad thing is, they do have low prices, and they pay their people so little that I think maybe the only place they CAN shop is Wal-Mart. I just can't stand the place. Everytime I think about it I want to retch.
