Mr. S has been working a crap job for a couple of years now. He got downsized in 2001, floated around some temp and sub positions, and finally got this full-time gig. But the PTB treat him and his co-workers like crap, and their already tiny paychecks are about to take another hit because of another bonehead administrative decision. So he’s got short-timer’s disease BAD. One way or another he’s getting out of there SOON.
One option is going back to school, which is tough to face when you’re on the wrong side of 50. Another is to find another job that he can stand until retirement (whenever that might be, at this rate), but jobs around here are few and far between. So he’s on the waiting list for his chosen field at the tech school, and filling out apps for jobs when he can.
Today the Wal-Mart distribution center called to schedule him for an interview this Wednesday.
Boy, that’s a toughie. I mean, on one hand, he’d be WORKING FOR WAL-MART. Aaauuughhh! The horror!! Here we boycott the stores, but we’d be eating from the Evil Hand.
On the other hand, one of his former co-workers got a job there and says it’s great, even though he’s not keen on Wal-Mart either. (Supposedly the distribution centers are better employers than the retail stores, he’d be driving a forklift or something like that.) My uncle is a manager at one of the stores (Mr. S put both of these people down as references). And we’ve been looking for a decent job for hubby for a long time, so if this works out and the bennies and pay are decent, this could be the break we’'ve been waiting for. You can’t pay the mortgage with your principles.
Take the job. My brother works for Wal-Mart in a distribution center, and he loves it. He’s been there for at least 10 years. It’s nothing like working in the stores. The pay is decent, the hours are good, and they are treated pretty well - good benefits, stock options, retirement plans, etc.
I absolutely commiserate with your dilemma. Nobody wants to compromise a well held ideal. But, the reality is, one has to make a living. So, he works there until he can find something else. At least he’ll be taking money * from* them rather than conributing it.
Last year my tv set died. My dad sent me a couple hundred bucks to replace it. For the money I had, I could get a 27" tv, but I had absolutely no way to get it home. A co-worker had a memebership at Sam’s Club and offered to let me use his card and also take the tv home in his truck and set it up for me. Believe me, it made me cringe, but sometimes you don’t have another option.
Do what you must to survive. You’ve got plenty of time and intention to make up for any “indiscretions” you commit.
Yeah, as WOOKINPANUB said, you wouldn’t be giving them money you’re be taking it from them.
One of Wal Mart’s defenses for their commercialization of America is that they are creating jobs in places where there used to be none (or less). So let them put their money where their mouth is and take one of those jobs.
FWIW I have a friend who is some sort of electronics manager with Wal Mart (maybe regional manager?) and he absolutely loves his job.
I was posting in hurry to get out the door, and I left out a few data points.
(1) During this whole looking-for-work brouhaha, Mr. S has taken some REALLY horrid jobs more or less for my sake, because we can’t quite live on just what I earn, and that’s with me working my ass off. (I’m self-employed.) If we were comfortable on just my income, I would love to make him a kept man. Think of the freedom! But we need him to have a job, ideally one with decent health insurance. I can get independent plans, but they tighten the budget. I don’t want him to feel like he has to make that kind of sacrifice again. I’d rather tighten the belt and put him through school for a few years, if that’s what he really wants.
Which brings us to (2) He’s just really been crapped on careerwise and jobwise his whole life, rarely felt appreciated. He has a lot to offer but no one seems to take him up on it. Part of the idea of him going back to school would be to try to get another career that he can be proud of. But lately he’s also been thinking that maybe at his age that’s too much to ask of himself, and he thinks he might be happy driving a forklift or whatever as long as the pay and bennies are good enough that he can fulfill himself in his free time.
Either one of those options is fine with me, but I’m going to be absolutely clear with him that I don’t want him to pick something he’s going to hate because he thinks it’ll make me happy. Yes, I want to ease off this work treadmill a bit, and I’d like to go back to being a FULL two-income household, but I don’t want him working in a hellhole again.
He doesn’t have the job yet by any means; it’s just an interview and I’m sure they’ve got about a thousand guys in line. (He’s managed a warehouse before, so I like to think he’s a better candidate than your average bear.) But it’s good to hear that it might come to an offer worth accepting. Thanks, guys!
I have always been one of the people who would love to boycott Walmart, but there isn’t a lot of choices where I live. Basically, we have Walmart, Krogers, or K-Mart. Our town is getting a new Super Walmart and they are hiring for stock and such, even though I hate their stores, I am hoping for the interview. Basically, it’d be nice because they pay a lot more than any other place nearby. I have a great job, but I could leave it for Walmart as a regular cashier or whatever for 3-4 more dollars an hour. I have come to the conclusion that they might be evil, but bills need to be paid…
I’m sure this has been said a billion times, but its never too late to pursue your dreams and do what you think will make you happier. People are living longer these days… so God willing maybe he could spend the last 20+ years of his life doing something that he truly enjoys, instead of just settling for whatever he can get.
In my undergrad, there was a bunch of people who went back to school later in life and it was never weird or awkward and in fact I really appreciated listening and learning from their life experiences.
Yes, that’s true, and while he loves the idea of going back to school (and has taken a few college classes as an adult, which he really enjoyed), it just irks him that he has to pick himself up and dust himself off ONE MORE TIME in his life. Plus the field he’s thinking about can be rather physical, and he’s starting to have a bit of back trouble. Just another reminder that this is the time of his life when he’d like to be thinking about starting to take it easy, instead of gearing up for a new career that may or may not succeed.
Time will tell. Meanwhile, we just take one day at a time.
He went to the interview last week, and was told that if he didn’t hear anything in 2 weeks, he could assume that he had been passed over for this round (but he could apply again in 60 days).
Got a postcard today. Thanks but no thanks.
He was pretty philosophical about it when I called to tell him just now. He hadn’t been too pumped about the 12-hour night shift, expecially after thinking about his body’s capacity for that sort of thing anymore after a hard weekend’s work in the yard. And he can still go back to his original plan of temping/subbing while he goes back to school.
But damn, I was starting to look forward to that real paycheck again, and maybe getting to relax a bit in my own workload. Plus the damn REJECTION again. He is a good worker and a decent person, yet no decent employer wants to hire him. Give him a fucking chance to be a productive self-supporting member of society again. It sucks sucks sucks.
OK, rant off. We’ll survive as we always have. But thanks for letting me vent. AGAIN.