marriage and the Walmart way

I wonder how many marriages walmart has cast asunder? I can think of the affairs that I have witnessed with my own eyes, and I try to offset that by the people who met(while both were single) and are still married. That number would be one.Single digits in the extreme. And the funny thing is, neither of them still work for the company. Coincedence? Now affairs, that would be a new column. In talking to people who did or still do work for the company I hear all kinds of things. One huge no-no for the company is salaried/ hourly fraternization. It's not going to happen, absolutely against the company policy. Right. To hear the company tell it, if a salaried member of management is eating in public and an hourly associate comes into the establishment for a meal, the member of management is to "quickly and with haste, finish their meal, pay the check, and leave before any chance for fraternization conflicts arise." That sounds very forthright and professional, doesn't it? Too bad the company doesn't have a more clear policy on sexual relations. Example one- an associate in the cash office at a midwestern store is smitten with the co-manager that had just transfered to the store. She had worked at that particular store for over eight years, he had been with the company for three years and a co-manager for one. Flirty conversations and innuendo became accidental contact. That evolves into phone calls when the co-manager isn't working.That evolves into three seperate meetings at a motel in a nearby city. The wife of the co-manager finds out. She is very unhappy as you can well imagine. An ultimatum is issued and the co-manager transfers to another store and is then given the option of quitting before he is fired. He works for Best Buy now. He said the opportunities were more abundant. Right. The hourly associate is given a promotion after promising(in writing) that she will not pursue any sexual harrassment charges. The company paid to move her to her new location and she now audits other stores' books for them. An on the back promotion, if you will. The other associate who had been told he was guaranteed that job was told it was an emergency tranfer for health reasons. Fiscal health? Perhaps. Another fun episode happened in a South Carolina store when the manager of the facility got divorced after fifteen years. An associate in the upc office didn't hesitate to make herself available for extra hours, so to speak. After the fifth complaint was filed that they had been walked in on, the company decided that he had cooked the books with some malfeasance and she was transferred to a distribution center with a higher salary. Who says that Walmart discriminates against women? They do seem to have one sure fire method of promotion, a fast track, if you will. The lesson seems to be: Gentlemen, don't do it. If you do it anyway, don't get caught, without a backup plan. Ladies- if all else fails and you can't get that raise any other way, give it a shot. You'll thank me later.