It's Essay Time!

When my mom was hospitalized from a ruptured aneurysm, I had evolved into an entirely different human being. It’s a touchy subject for me, but I like to bring it up because so much of my life has been a domino effect from this one incident that could have been avoided by a change in eating habits. I don’t want to characterize my mother as someone who was intentionally negligent to her eating habits, but I do want to point out that when someone works the way my mom did, they really don’t have time to cook healthy or even live healthy. I want to bring attention to how obsessed our society is with succeeding and having financial stability, how people like my mother worked themselves to the bone and the long term health effects that stemmed from their countless hours of labor. Today, I heard a story on the news about how the middle class is shrinking and less and less Americans actually identify with the middle class. Could this be the reason why people are driven to work so hard and neglect their health? With basic necessities like gasoline not being a happy $1.26 (God, I miss the 90's), people are struggling just getting gas. I know I am, but then again... I drive this...

My homemade spinach and artichoke dip

I also wanted to relate this point to what I watched in Food Inc, specifically to a family who was featured about halfway through the film. Though their healthy eating habits weren’t influenced by their work schedule, but rather their budget.
It was revealed that the father of the family had type II diabetes and the family had to make sacrifices because the medical costs to treat his diabetes takes away half of their income, so the family is torn between eating healthy or providing medical treatment for the father’s type II diabetes.
My family had to make sacrifices to healthy eating due to time constraints and unfortunately as a result, I’m repeating these habits as an undergraduate college student.
I plan to make this essay reflect the experiences I had when my mom was hospitalized as well as relate the relevant information I learned in Food Inc, and relate some information I learned while reading The American Way of Eating.
I’m interested to hear what you all have to say after reading this! 

I Think I'm Gonna Be Sick...

I guess this is the part where I say: “After watching that, I’m going to be a vegetarian.” The thought sounds good, It would be good for my health, I’d be balancing out my diet. But in all reality, I’d probably try being a vegetarian for two days, get sick of it and want my cheeseburgers back.

Food, Inc. addresses a variety of different issues, including one that I mentioned in my first blog post about fast food and convenience. People can’t eat healthy foods because they’re too expensive and inconvenient for people to buy and make. Why buy lettuce for $1.29 per pound when you can get a cheeseburger at Wendy’s for only 99 cents? Obviously, from my first blog post, I’m guilty of being a victim to convenience when I get hungry while I’m busy. It’s so much easier and it tastes better than all of my cooking. 

I found it interesting how we discussed in class that farmers abroad are being threatened by big agriculture companies, but this film explains how it’s happening right here in the United States! Farmers are going bankrupt for being accused of “stealing” company’s patented genetically modified seeds. One farmer that was profiled in the documentary, Moe Parr, had to come to a settlement because he could no longer pay his legal bills. The film also discusses how it’s almost impossible for small town farmers to go up against big companies in lawsuits, so essentially the corporations are in control of everything and they’re getting away with it.

I found it surprising that we don’t think much about the price of our food, just as long as it’s cheap and it appears edible, we don’t care about anything else. The film brought up the point that, yes stores sell their food at a low prices, but there is a price to pay for these low prices considering the cheap labor that is hired to process this food.

I would love to become a vegetarian after watching this movie, but the problem is that I’d be spending way more out of pocket for carrots, celery and apples when I can get fast food for less than produce.

Fresh Produce... Always...

When I started the next part of this book. I was excited. 

Part II of Tracie McMillan's book, The American Way of Eating focused on her time at two Wal-Mart locations, including one near Kalamazoo. This chapter was loaded with incredibly interesting information about not only Wal-Mart but food deserts and the history of the American supermarket.

Now, I was excited because, as you can tell from my previous post, I'm still a little bit sore over my seasonal stint with the retail giant. 

Okay, I'm still VERY sore

But nonetheless, I was expecting an epic confrontation between her and a manager where she dramatically revealed her identity and revealed that she was going to expose the corruption that has been going on at Wal-Mart for ages…

Nope.

The passage had a lot of research jargon, figures and fancy words that I probably knew half of in some places… and then she’d come back and continue talking about her experience.
However, despite all the technical mumbo-jumbo, I really appreciated how casually she pointed out the serious problems that are within the store’s regulations.
Finding BIRDS residing in the produce department is one thing, but having a manager turn the other cheek is unacceptable and sickening.

She also mentioned the store’s decision to hire two part-time employees versus hiring one full-time employee. According to one of her managers, the company doesn’t like hiring full time employees, leading me to believe that it’s probably cheaper for them to pay part-time employees. 

Also, there was a part in the book where her manager pulled her aside to tell her she was working too much, and went over the allotted hours and tells her to take the following day off so she doesn’t use anymore hours.

When I worked at Wal-Mart, this was a constant occurrence and almost served as a fear among upper-level management that too many hours were being used up and people needed to take longer breaks or take a day off.

I also found it interesting that she mentioned how the old items were pushed to the back and the new ones be put up in the front to give the shelves a look of abundance. This is called, Zoning, which I did on a regular basis as an associate in toys.
Though my situation was different. The items I zoned were not perishable, however McMillian mentions that they were treated similarly because of the preservatives used in meats.

Trying to imagine myself back in toys, I would zone the board games and notice a minor film of dust collecting on it.
Working in grocery, hypothetically, I would pick up a perfect pound of ground chuck and dust the slight film off dust off of it.

It’s disturbing that this is the way that our food is being preserved now… and God knows it isn’t good for our health.  

Save money, Live Better?

*Names have been changed to respect confidentiality

I got a call one day in October of 2012.
It was, Christine, a personnel manager from a local Wal-Mart store calling me to ask if I’d like to interview for a seasonal position with their store on the northeast side of town for the holiday season.
I agreed.
My roommate was generous to let me barrow his shirt for the interview, and, not to toot my own horn but I looked pretty good. 

As I waited for my interview to start, I was a bit nervous. I had heard rumors that the Wal-Mart corporation is one of the most homophobic organizations to work for and that they are unfair to their employees, as an openly gay male, I wasn’t at all thrilled to have to conceal who I was, but the optimist in me told my conscious to calm down, relax and everything will be okay.

One of the managers came out of the back room and asked me if I was still currently employed at my job. I told her yes and she explained that it would be a conflict of interest if I were to be employed at both places. So I agreed to put in my two weeks notice at my previous job in order to even get an interview with Wal-Mart.

So, I drove 20 minutes to my employer, put in my two-weeks and drove 20 minutes back to the Wal-Mart and began my interview.

The interview was a piece of cake and I really connected with the interviewers.
See? I told myself. These people are nice and they really want me apart of this team.
But I was concerned that the seasonal position wouldn’t lead to regular part-time opportunities.
I told one of the Assistant managers, Emily, my concerns:
“I’m just concerned about it being a seasonal position. I’ve had other seasonal positions that haven’t worked out for me in the past.”
Emily shrugged off my concern and said.
“9 times out of 10 we hire on our regular employees. You have nothing to worry about.”
Relieved, I reclined in my chair as I watched her sign a few more papers and describe to me the nature of the work that I’ll be doing.

In the matter of a few hours, I was hired  and started work on October 19^th 2012.

The first few weeks of my training was primarily made up of Computer Based Learning… or CBL’s. These things were incredibly boring and did no good to me as an associate on the floor, but I did them anyway because it was expected of me and they were assigned and given a deadline direct from the corporation.

The company is also notorious for it’s strong stance against labor unions.
One CBL module discussed how Wal-Mart doesn’t need a union because they’re perfectly fine without one since they utilize "the open door policy" meaning that if I had an issue I was able to take it directly up to the CEO if I wasn't satisfied with the people I've spoken to below him or her. The video went on to say unions are bad for store employees because the unions will require dues, which will be deducted from employee paychecks.
I also learned that soliciting any anti-Wal-Mart material on store property is grounds for termination.

My hours were pretty long which were great for my paycheck, but I would spend the majority of my 8-hour shift “zoning”, or straightening a specific area of the store, which was incredibly tedious and, in my opinion, unnecessary.
In shifts that exceeded 6 hours, I was given a 30-minute lunch break, which is strictly enforced by the corporation.
I’ve even heard of instances of employees being written-up for missing their scheduled mealtimes.

I wasn’t formally trained and I was assigned to both toys and sporting goods.
People would come in to buy ammunition and I wouldn’t have any clue what they were talking about. One frustrated customer actually asked me if someone who knew more about guns would come over to speak with him.

I probably should have directed them to the website. 

Given my seasonal work, I was required to work Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. I was prepared to work these holidays, much to my family’s dismay and I promised my father that as soon as I had a full day off I would come up and spend as much time as possible with him and my mother. Fortunately, I was told by one of my coworkers that I would be given holiday compensation, which would be time and a half.

So I did the math:
$7.40 minimum wage + $3.70 (.5 of minimum wage) = $11.10/hr on Thanksgiving.

So I was working 8 hours on Thanksgiving. 8 x 11.10/hr= $88.80 for just the day alone.

Now that’s what I’ve been waiting for! I would have money covered for rent, food, and utilities and even a bit of Christmas money to spend on my family.

Psych!

As soon as I got the money deposited into my account from direct deposit, I was disappointed to find that my regular $7.40 per hour rate was given on Thanksgiving rather than the time and a half I was told I would get. Though, this was information told to me from a co-worker of mine, I still wondered why was he given compensation and not me?

At this point, I was back from Thanksgiving break at Western, finishing up my fall semester. I was pretty unhappy with not getting holiday pay like the rest of my co-workers so I dialed the store and spoke to Assistant Manager Mike.
I told him I didn’t receive time and a half for Thanksgiving.
Mike was silent for a few seconds.
“Hmm…”

Irritated I cut in,
“I worked the same day and the same hours like everyone else, it doesn’t make sense.”
“Okay, calm down. I’ll talk to someone and figure it out for you okay?”
Feeling guilty about my outburst I apologized and thanked him for doing so.
Later that afternoon, I received a phone call from an unknown number registered in Lansing, Michigan.
I answered, trying to be much more polite this time.  
“Hi Joe, this is Phil from Wal-Mart calling about the question you had your pay on Thanksgiving.”
“Yes?”
“Unfortunately, associates who haven’t been with the company for 90 days aren’t eligible for time and a half.”
Not wanting to cause a verbal uprising over the telephone, I surrendered.
“Okay, thank you for getting back with me.”
Then he added,
“Sorry, we’re just trying to protect the company.”

Protect the company from what? Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is one of the wealthiest retailers in the country, and they say they’re “protecting” their company just because they didn’t want to pay their newest employees time and a half for one holiday?
I shortly found out that having 90 days under your belt as an associate at Wal-Mart grants you access to not just holiday pay, but your 10% associate discount card.

Yes, you couldn’t even get the measly 10% associate discount until after you’ve been employed with the company for 90 days.

Finally, the semester had ended and Kalamazoo had turned into a ghost town.
I devoted a good amount of my Christmas break to working at Wal-Mart, and of course, worked Christmas Eve. 
The positive side to all of this was that I was getting to know my fellow associates pretty well and even went out with a few of them.
Though, I was getting close with my co-workers and developing friendships, I still doubted my future with Wal-Mart and began thinking about discreetly finding different a different job.

I knew I had to make a run for it when a few of my co-workers on the same lunch break with me pulled me aside in the break room and told me that I needed to get out. They told me that after New Years all of the seasonal employees are let go.

“Well, Emily told me that 9 times out of 10 they hire on their seasonal employees.” I explained, dreading the thought of being unemployed again.

“They might keep one or two and get rid of the rest,” My co-worker responded.

“They don’t care,” she added.

After Christmas passed, I started getting more anxious about my fate as a seasonal employee. I felt like every move I made would be judged and could be used against me as grounds for my dismissal from my temporary assignment.
I turned in a few job applications to be safe, but haven’t heard from any of them.
In the meantime, the associates in the break room were letting me in on the disastrous stories they’ve went through during their tenure at the store, one guy in particular would get so worked up over store politics, I thought he was going to get a nosebleed.

At this point, I was really starting to worry.
I didn’t want to stay and I didn’t want to go.

December 31^st 2012

It was New Years Eve at my apartment, and my co-workers Kylie and Jessie were with me waiting to ring in the New Year.
It was a few hours to midnight when I turned to Kylie and said I was worried about my job ending at Wal-Mart.
“I just feel like it isn’t going to work out.” I explained to her.
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” She said. “There are regular associates who hardly work at all.”
“Yeah,” Jessie chimed in, “You’re one of the hardest working employees we’ve got.”
“They’d be stupid to let you go,” Kyle added.
Feeling a bit relieved, I turn my attention to the countdown and at midnight we clinked our glasses and toasted to each other.

January 3^rd 2013.
I came into work and clocked in as usual but was called in to see the store manager before I began working.

Oh boy, this is it.
Holding my breath, I make the journey to the back room manager’s office and find our store manager, Carl.
“Hey, Joe. Have a seat.”
I sit down next to him at the desk.
“Unfortunately, due to the low volume of traffic after the holiday season, we aren’t going to be able to have enough hours to have you be with us next month. I’m really sorry.”
I stared blankly at Carl, as he rattled off his next sentence:
“However, I’d like you to go home and complete another application to see if we can get you back in here in February for Lawn & Garden.”

I shook my head in disbelief and explained that Emily told me in the beginning that I have a good chance of being hired.
“I would like to hire you but unfortunately we just don’t have the hours. I’m sorry.”
And with that he shook my hand and I walked out of the office.

Looking back on it now, I should have walked out of the store and gone home, but I dutifully completed my shift.
I should have yelled at Carl and told him what I really thought and told him that I was out of a job now in the middle of the slowest month of the year.
I should have told him all the sacrifices I’ve made giving up my Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve to work at Wal-Mart, without holiday compensation.

I should have told him that I was probably one of their hardest working employees and that they’re stupid to let me go.

But I did nothing.
I clocked out at the end of my shift like always, got my coat and walked out the front door.

After my position ended, the thought of Wal-Mart made me sick and still makes me sick to this day. So many people shop there and truly have no idea what it’s like to be behind the scenes.
However, it’s hard to turn up cheap groceries in a tough economy.
I’m certain that people are fully aware of the crappiness that goes on there, they just can’t do anything to stop it because the deals are too good to pass up.