Gallon jars of pickles (the Wal-mart thread)

by DanTheMan 34 Replies latest jw friends

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  Nadsam

  Wishing we had something like Walmart !!!

  A friend of mine recently went to do some work in MALI (NORTHERN AFRICA - SAHARA)...after nearly starving to death he came across an open air - out doors meat market run by some nomadic tribesman. In desperassion he bought some meat (unknown origin) . He cooked it as best he could and served it for his team (they are about 20 engineers travelling to remote african areas repairing broken oil and gas refinery equipment). After 2 days they were almost dead with with food poisoning. Thet travelled some 300 miles inland and found a kind old french Doctor (this guy is about 80 yrs old). He gave them all a penecillin shot using his one needle and ancient brass injection that he neatly kept in leather pouch on his camels a$$. They all recovered. For then next six months they ate bats and on ocassion drank the water from their jeep's radiator.Why would they do that you may ask...because not all of us have such wonderful choices and opportunities in life. Kinda makes me sick when you see jokes on TV shows when kids have a food fight or tell their parents when told to eat..I won't eat,,send it to those starving africans then.

  So would some of us love to have a Walmart...hell yea!

  Nadsam (would give his left eye to be able to shop there!)

  [email protected]
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  Tatiana

  One day, at the cafeteria, Jack says to Mike,"My elbow hurts like hell. I guess I better see a doctor."
  Don't spend that kind of money," Mike replies.

  
  "There's a diagnostic computer down at WalMart. Just give it a urine sample and the computer will tell you what's wrong and what to do about it. It takes ten seconds and costs ten dollars...a lot cheaper than a doctor."

  So Jack deposits a urine sample in a small jar and takes it to WalMart. He deposits ten dollars, the computer lights up and asks for the urine sample. He pours the sample into the slot and waits. Ten seconds later,the computer ejects a printout:

  "You have tennis elbow. Soak your arm in warm water and avoid heavy activity. It will improve in two weeks."
  
  That evening while thinking how amazing this new technology was, Jack began wondering if the computer could be fooled. He mixed some tap water, a stool sample from his dog, urine samples from his wife and daughter, and masturbated into the mixture for good measure. Jack hurries back to WalMart, eager to check the results. He deposits ten dollars, pours in his concoction, and awaits the results.
  
  The computer prints the following:
  
  1. Your tap water is too hard. Get a water softener.
  2. Your dog has ringworm. Bathe him with anti-fungal shampoo.
  3. Your daughter has a cocaine habit. Get her into rehab.
  4. Your wife is pregnant. Twins. They aren't yours. Get a lawyer.
  5. If you don't stop playing with yourself, your elbow will never get better.
  
  Thank you for shopping at WalMart.
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  talesin

  Tatiana

  LMAO ! ! !
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  DanTheMan

  forty, yes, everything under one roof, it is very convenient.

  With the whole outsourcing thing, it's hard to know if it's good or bad, I guess time will tell. Like the article asks, are we shopping our way into the unemployment line? I don't believe in protectionism, but the rate at which jobs are being exported is pretty scary. And so capitalism worshipping, Bush-loving corporations like Wal-mart end up unwittingly contributing towards putting a populist like Kerry in office because their business practices are changing our economy so quickly that many people can't keep up, and so they look for different leadership to protect them.

  I mean, it's one thing to bargain with your vendors for better prices and to insist that they routinely examine their operation to see if there are some inefficiencies that can be corrected. But judging from the article, it sounds like if you want to do business with Wal-mart, you'd better be ready to have them breathing down your neck 24/7.

  Country Guy, yes, nobody holds a gun to anybody's head and makes them shop at Wal-mart. But I think if more people knew how predatory and aggressive they are in their business practices, they might give them less of their business.

  Nadsam, I think you're comments illustrate something that the article brings out that bothers me - the "abundance of abundance" that Wal-mart makes available to the American public, at low prices, always, while people in other countries are scraping for a grain of rice. Depressing. How many of those stupid pickles end up getting thrown away, anyway? Not that the abundance that we have is Wal-mart's fault. I just hate the seeming injustice of it all, especially when America puts itself up as the example for the rest of the world to follow but our way of life is so consumptive as to be entirely unsustainable were the rest of the world to live as we do.

  Tatiana, funny joke!
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  CoonDawg

  I was listening to the playing out of the drama in California this week where Wal-Mart was trying to shove their will down the throats of the citizens in a suburb of LA. They essentially wanted to dictate, by voter referrendum, how they were going to come into town. They wanted to give no assurances about wages and hiring as well as healthcare benefits. They wanted exemption from the building codes that everyone else has to abide by. They wanted to be exempt from the environmental regulations that all other businesses have to comply with. They didn't want to submit the routine traffic studies and traffic plans.

  Also, in my decision was finding out that Wal-Mart is one of the big corporations that uses the practice of purchasing "Peasant Life Insurance". This is a despicable practice. In it, a company takes out a life insurance policy on a worker...many times a low level worker. They get a policy for a couple hundred thousand dollars and pay for the policy, many times without the knowlege of the insured. Then, even if the insured leaves the company, they continue to pay the premiums. Then when something causes that persons death, they cash in. The families don't see a nickle of the money and many times don't even realize that there is a policy. Hey, it's all about the bottom line.

  I just went and bought a new Steam Vac. I probably paid a little more, but the Wal-Mart corporation didn't get any of it.

  Ern
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  talesin

  Not that the abundance that we have is Wal-mart's fault.

  Ermm, ahem, well yes it is!

  I just hate the seeming injustice of it all, especially when America puts itself up as the example for the rest of the world to follow but our way of life is so consumptive as to be entirely unsustainable were the rest of the world to live as we do.

  Canada too ! ! ! Well said.

  Here, the major grocery stores have put locks on their dumpsters to prevent the poor from 'dumpster diving' to reclaim some of the food that is thrown away daily. It's disgusting.

  Whilst people are quite literally starving to death in other parts of the world.

  {{{{{Nadsam}}}}}

  talesin
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  Mulan

  I love WalMart but the one near us is still not real close, about 5 miles, on the other side of the freeway, and the parking lot looks like a JW convention lot. It is very hard to find a parking space. I like to go with my girlfriend who has Rheumatoid Arthritis. She has a handicapped ticket so we can usually find a space not too far out. Even those are getting hard to find.

  I bought almost all my Christmas stuff there this year. So cheap, and tons to choose from

  The one where Joy and Steve live is really neat. It's a super walmart, so is enormous.
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  DanTheMan

  Coondawg, the L.A. situation speaks of just what has become so dangerous about Wal-mart - they are so huge and powerful and wealthy that there doesn't seem to be any force that has the power to keep them in check. And absolute power corrupts absolutely.

  talesin, yes I know of people who, although now they are doing better, at one time were homeless and "dumpster diving" at grocery stores and restaurants was how they fed themselves. It's kind of a catch-22 situation for the store though. On the one hand, if they leave the dumpsters open, then the neighboring areas complain about the increasing number of homeless people that are seen regularly in the area. On the other hand, for them to somehow make the food that they throw out "officially" available at an off-site location, with that would come increased costs and liability, which in our hyper-competitive world (thanks to companies like Wal-mart) places just can't afford to do this.

  Mulan, the Wal-mart that is closest to where I live is a Super-Walmart I think. It is colossal.
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  patio34

  I haven't shopped in Wal-Mart here for years. Even at work we won't buy an office product that's cheaper at WalMart, we go to a different store. Why?

  Because of series of articles the LA Times did on their front page about the ruthless way WalMart

  • treats their employees (working them 39 hours so as not to pay benefits),
  • locking them in all night in some areas even when then need medical treatment,
  • getting work done for pennies an hour in slave conditions in foreign countries so as to beat the competition at all costs,
  • discrimination (alleged) against women,
  • having a desk for new employees to come to to sign up for welfare benefits because their wages are so low,
  • and more i can't think of now.

  It's up to us with our $$ to help ensure fair treatment and not being the proverbial Ugly American. We have a big box store here called Costco and they treat their employees well and don't do the above as far as I know. Most people I know prefer to shop there. I go to Smart & Final that has a good staff, low turnover, and no membership fees.

  Pat
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  jgnat

  The department stores here in Canada were fat and lazy when Wal-Mart came along. I became a Wal-Mart fan when I saw a young greeter insist on accompanying an aged shopper until her cab arrived. I guarantee you would NEVER have seen that kind of attention from our other department store chains.

  Once, lost in Red Deer, I breezed in to a Wal-Mart and asked a greeter how to get to my address. She happily complied.

  On the flip side, I do keep in mind that Wal-Mart has spent a lot of time analyzing my shopping habits, so I try and be wary. Did you know we typically know the price of only about 200 items? Wal-Mart stocks THOUSANDS of items. They can price most of those items any way they please, except for those 200 items or so that consumers care about most.