Walmart vs Your Children

Do you have children? A lot of people don't and there are times when I envy them. But my sons, all three of them, are truly the light of my life. I can think of things that any of the three have done over the years, and it always makes me smile. One year, my oldest son was given a puppy. It was a Great Dane puppy and they spent almost every waking moment together. I can still remember him walking in the yard surrounded by 3 or 4 Great Danes that just wanted to lick him and lick him. Every once in a while a stick would come swinging out of the top of this herd of giant dogs and he would yell stop. The dogs would part for a few seconds, but then gather right around him again. That was a fantastic day, and it makes me smile whenever I think of it. My second son is also a great memory maker. On his fourth Christmas he received a Pooh tent that he just adored. He was so glad to have it that he ran to the window and yelled, "Thanks Mr. Santa Claus!!" It made his father and me laugh then, and it still makes us smile now. And my youngest son is in a class by himself. He is on the small side, but still scrappy. He delights in aggravating his next oldest brother, and he does a very good job of it. When ever I am having to separate two tussling children, I am not surprised to find that it is usually my youngest boy having taken on his brother that is nine years older. No matter, though,my baby is one tough monkey. Now if you have children and you work for that happy retail giant that we all know and love, when you get to see your children is another matter. If you are stuck working a bunch of 2-11 shifts, then you see them in the morning before they go to school and you kiss their sleeping heads when you come in. But just remind yourself, this is a family company that you work for. I think that means you are working to make the Walton family richer, I'm not sure. Regardless, they- that is the company-is there for you. Unless of course, they decide that they aren't. One of the people who reads my blog pretty regularly told me about when she called off for the first time ever after having been with the company for almost four years. She got an Assistant Manager named Pam who yelled at her for having the nerve to call in ;even though she had been hurt at work. Compassion at it's corporate finest, isn't it? I also got an interesting email from Beth, who told me about a Brenda that she used to work with. Brenda is one of those biologically invested associates, in that she has several relatives working in the same store as she is. Can you say nepotism? It turns out that an assistant manager used to frequent her son's games, even though I'm positive Walmart has that little no fraternizing rule.I guess they found a loop hole. I love my boys more than life itself. I like Walmart, but not more than I love my boys. The problem is, I need the one to feed the other. Oh well, what are you going to do? Think about it before you sign up to work with them. You'll thank me later.