Wal-Mart Gestapo

I never would have thought "Gemeinnutz geht vor Eigennutz" would have been replaced by "Watch for Falling Prices" or that jackbooted, goose-stepping thugs would be supplanted by the mentally disadvantaged and/or elderly with just the faintest smell of cottage cheese. What am I talking about? Wal-Mart greeters.

No, this isn't to make fun of them but rather what they do - besides plastering returns with a rainbow of randomly-colored stickers and showing pictures of themselves clad only in a plastic bag. Does anyone not have a problem with someone calling you over and balancing what you have in your cart with what it says on your receipt? I do, because it's fucking insulting. As far as I'm concerned, if the alarm goes off or they think I've stolen something, they can goddamn well call the police. Also as far as I'm concerned, since I have paid for the stuff in those bags it is now my property and they have no right to rifle through it.

It should piss you off too - what the hell kind of business treats their customers like a bunch of criminals with no probable cause whatsoever? I used to work at Wal-Mart as a kid - back in the glorious days when you could smoke in the store and the company prided itself on selling American-made goods instead of Chinese crap. We didn't have "greeters"; we had cameras - at least half of which were fake anyway, and we had a security guy that prowled around looking for people stealing stuff. Back when you walked in a store, grabbed a cart, and as long as you hadn't shoplifted anything you were left the hell alone. Ironically enough, Wal-Mart tanked in Germany for this very reason - Germans don't want to be dicked around with when they are trying to buy what they need and get home. Perhaps they have had enough with 'showing papers' too.

But, two things have happened:

a) Wal-Mart became a juggernaut and many people have no choice but to shop there.

and

b) People became sheep and seem to take no offense anymore to being treated like shit.

It's not even like they do a good job - a couple cursory glances here and there and some very officious-looking highlighting of the receipt and off you go. I could rob the place blind and they'd say 'have a nice day' as I walked straight out the door - highlighted papiere in hand and a cart chock full o' housed merchandise.

Of course, it's their property so they can do what they like; and they are fully aware that you have no choice but to buy their shit because they've pretty much crushed any competition. Who is going to raise hell with an 80 year old woman or a dude in a wheelchair anyway. But it's BS just the same. If cop starts searching your property with no cause whatsoever people will raise holy hell, but if a drooling geriatric does it that's fine. Wally World FTW!

As of the time of this post, I have contacted Wal-Mart's corporate office and asked why customers are being searched. It is now the 22nd and no response. I encourage anyone reading this to refuse this search and demand the store call the police instead. Ask the greeter if you can search them. Do not allow yourself, as a law-abiding citizen, to be treated this way.

Cash for Clunkers

Everyone in the media seems all giddy about the Cash Allowance Rebate System..better known as Cash for Clunkers. Dealers are happy, customers are happy, and it's 'good for the environment', a phrase I hear so often now that I want to puke.

It doesn't seem to dawn on anybody that it also depletes the used vehicle market because these cars must be destroyed. While customers that can afford a new, fuel-efficient vehicle are understandably happy, what of a person who simply doesn't have the means to afford a new car and can only get something for 3 or 4K? Screw them, right?

What of the car enthusiast searching for parts for his classic car, or the aforementioned lower income person who needs to get a part to keep their daily driver running? Hard to find parts are being destroyed which in turn raises the cost of parts in the junkyard.

And not all of the cars being turned in for destruction are 'clunkers' either. Seems like every week I hear of one being brought in that has been meticulously maintained depite it's age and high mileage. One that would make a dandy car for a low income family, a single mom, or a struggling student. One that at the very least might make a good car to auction off for charity, give to a youth group, or a high school driver's ed car. But they must be destroyed.

CARS is nothing more than a gesture to say 'look, we're doing something about the environment' while screwing somebody else using your tax dollars.