Fear of a Wal-Mart Planet

I went into Wal-Mart yesterday because I had a question for the shift manager (who was of course named Dale):

"How many hours do you have to work here to be considered full-time?"

[Dale scurries back into the stockroom to grab another manager]

Manager: "Are you considering working for us."

[laughter] "No, no. I just want to know how many hours your people work for full-time status."

Manager: "We've got a great benefits program. You shouldn't laugh."

[more laughter] "Do I need to ask you again?"

[uncomfortable silence]

[icy stare from me]

"Okay, I take your silence to mean that you're just not going to tell me."

"Well, currently we consider fulltime to be 28 hours. But there's always a need for overtime."

ME: "..."

Manager: "Why are you asking this question in the first place if you don't need a job?"

ME: "That's only twelve thousand dollars a year on average employee salary."

Manager: "Yeah, well, only if you don't work overtime. Everybody works overtime"

ME: "But that's criminal, man! You can't support a family on that."

Manager: "You could always pull two shifts. Lots of people do that."

ME: "..."

After five minutes of staring into space in the parking lot, I left.If this is the future of business, I hope they make it legal for those living under the poverty line to kill and eat anyone who makes a salary above 150,000 a year.

I now have a deep fear of a Wal-Mart planet.