LISSA’S: Hello new subscriber.. yeah YOU!

I see you have subscribed to our blog, but you have not requested to add us to your list. Is this your way of "spying"? Typical Sherman Wal Mart Manager act...

Are you REALLY sure you want to keep up with the things I write about in MY own blog? Can you handle it? Don't you even think you can do anything to anyone still being a slave to that company because it is I... Melissa that posts these blogs and you can no longer touch me! You lost that right back early September when you mindless managers terminated me over the STUPIDEST reason anyone could ever come up with.

Bitter? Yes I am... I will always be bitter towards you Sherman Wal Mart managers. All of you gave me really good reasons to; up to, not limited to and including making me, my husband and 2 children lose their home to foreclosure. Now my credit shows the scars of you mindless Sherman Wal Mart managers.

SO, if you think you can handle my words, then hang on tight, because I can guarantee you.... this is going to be a bumpy ride!!!

For those of you who do not understand what I am talking about, I have just discovered that a Sherman Wal Mart manager has subscribed themselves to our blog with no warnings and no notification and they are not in our Friends List. The only reason I can figure that they would do this is to spy on me and my family.

LISSA’S: Wal-Mart: Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t

Push has come to shove at the Sherman, TX Wal-Mart. If you have been keeping up with my blog, you know that Department Managers are being pulled from their departments to work in Toys and Grocery. Well, after all this time of not being in their department, now Management is getting upset because nothing is complete in the departments with no managers. Softline departments are weeks behind in getting items to the floor. And in the truest sense of the unofficial Wal-Mart logo "Doing More With Less", Department Managers are now being forced to work six to seven day weeks to get their departments back in shape..... But they still have to go over and work in Toys a few hours a day. Of course, Management is not helping in any department, they are just making the demands.

One Department Manager today went over the edge. Last night, something in the department did not get completed. Everything was left and not worked. So, instead of blaming the last person working the department, instead of blaming the second to last person working in the department, together with Assistant Manager Heather Fox, they decided to blame the third person to the last to leave the department. Why? It seems that he was the last one to actually work on the stuff that needed to be done, and when he asked for the last two to finish, it was the wrong thing to do. It was wrong for him to expect someone in the department to do their job..... No, that is not a misprint. He actually asked that question during the warning he was given. He is not supposed to expect anyone else in the department to do their job. And he is now responsible for this daily duty. Even though he is off two of the days he is responsible for, he is being held accountable for the way people who work on his days off do the job. This is NOT a member of management. This is a regular associate. Being held responsible for activities when he is not at work. Being held responsible for other people's actions when he is not there. Being held responsible for the daily deliveries. Where is the logic in that?

And now the "Do More With Less" motto now has the Christmas Spirit. Every year, Wal-Mart has given their employees a Christmas Party. Complete with renting out an outside place, getting food, giving presents. This year they decided on something different. The associates had to do a fund raiser this year to give themselves a Christmas Party. Seems Wal-Mart was too cheap to pay for their employees dinner. Or maybe the billions this company pulls in is just not enough to say thank you to the ones who bring the money in.

If you think it is over yet, well then hold on. Wal-Mart closes Christmas Eve at 6pm, is closed through Christmas Day, and opens at 6am the day after Christmas. During that time they hire guards to sit in the store and watch it. But it does get expensive to hire guards to work on the holidays. So this year, there is a new plan. They have broken the 36 hours the store is closed into 5 shifts and are asking their employees to come to work. Not to just watch the store, but to actually come in and work. The store will not be open, but there will be a staff inside actually working on Christmas. So much for the holidays.

What do you believe? How are your holidays spent? This is the company you are supporting. It is sad. Either way, because I know you will be back into this store.

LISSA’S: Attention Wal Mart Associates: Do YOU get YOUR breaks?

I know when I was an associate for Wal Mart, there were many many times that I did not get my breaks. According to Wal Mart policy, if you work 8 hours a day, you should get two 15 minute breaks and one 60 minute lunch. That's for all of the full time employees. If you work less than 8 hours, you still get at least one 15 minute break. If you work 5 hours or less, you don't get breaks.

This article was emailed to me from Wal Mart watch and I find it very familiar with the Wal Mart I worked for in Sherman Texas (store 947):

Minnesota workers filed suit against Wal-Mart stores claiming that store managers forced hourly employees to work without pay to keep down labor costs. The workers are seeking back pay to 1998 and as much as $1,000 each for millions of missed breaks. Wal-Mart attorney Neal Manne claims the workers voluntarily skipped breaks and were paid for overtime when earned. [St. Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota), 10/30/07]

The last sentence in that atricle really pisses me off. That is a flat out LIE. Yeah, there are many (too many) associates that worked through their breaks, but NOT BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO. I can almost guarantee you the reasons they worked through their breaks. Wal Mart has cut back on hiring associates and stepped up firing associates. There are a countless number of customers that pass through Wal Mart everyday, and since management usually sits their lazy asses back in the back stuffing their faces they won't come help customers. So someone has to do it. So that someone are the associates that usually have to skip their breaks. I've even had managers ask me to work through my breaks, and I know I'm not the only one. When I confronted how I have misssed breaks in the past to my department manager (Sherman Texas 947), and told her about my break that was comming up, all she said to me was, "Well you get paid for your breaks anyways and your still on the clock, so it's really Wal Mart's time." That's the kind of "voluntary working through breaks" that associates contribute.

Another perfect example is the decision that a departent manager (in Sherman, Texas Wal Mart 947) made about having only 1 associate out of the department at a time. Well if associate 1 needs to go to break and he's in the middle of helping a customer, he'll need to skip his break that way everyone else don't have to miss their breaks too. However, they are screwed if they are also helping customers. Like I've said in the past, Wal Mart managers schedules do not include customers.

Also I don't buy how the associates are paid for any overtime they earned. That is one of the biggest SCAMS I've ever seen. If you do get just 1 minute of overtime, all of the managers are all over your ass that you have 1 minute you have to kill before the week is up. If you get 3 warnings of overtime (even if it is just 1 minute), then you get written up and even fired over that 1 minute that Wal Mart had to pay their slaves. I've even had many stories about how Wal Mart managers (yes, including Sherman Texas 947 Wal Mart) ask you to work one of your days off, promise you that you'll get to keep that overtime, and then when the end of the week comes, the managers stab you in the back and tell you that you'll have to kill all of that overtime. So you Communist pricks up in home office have NO idea what's REALLY going on at store level. Your so-called Grass Roots meetings and your Open Door Policy is a crock.

So Wal Mart, don't even start that bull crap about it was voluntary on the associates part to work through their breaks. I know the truth! So do the millions of slaves you call your associates! If they didn't, they would be on the chopping block fast.

LISSA'S: Wal-Mart vs. Sherman City Ordinance

I think it is amazing that some places think that they are above the law. Has anyone ever really paid attention? Go into the Wal-Mart in Sherman, TX around 4-5pm to see what I am talking about. Walk over to the Sporting Goods area and look down the hallway in the middle of Shoes. Starting at 4pm, you can sit here and watch as the management team of the store pile pallet jacks, carts, and other things in front of the fire exit. These items will stay here until close to 10-11pm. But I guess it just goes to say that they don't care about the safety of their employees and customers during those hours.

I am not asking you to believe me. Come by and see for yourself. This is an invitation, not just a statement of fact. Make up your mind for yourself. Most places get fined for doing things like this, but Wal-Mart can do it in the open and nothing happens.

LISSA'S: Wal-Mart: Home of Favoritism and Popularity

As an ex-Wal-Mart employee, I have witnessed many disturbing events done by the company and by the Sherman, TX Wal-Mart #947. Just to begin my story, let me just tell of what I have seen in the areas of Favoritism and Popularity Contests.

Let me first begin with my story. I worked for Wal-Mart in the One-Hour Photo Center. During the busy Labor Day Weekend, I was trying to help a customer who was standing outside the center, while trying to keep the machines running. During all the activity, I accidentally poured the wrong chemical into the wrong slot on one of the machines. I immediately realized what I did and asked for help in correcting the situation. During the process of trying to fix my mistake, two other associates in my department ran a test strip and spread the contamination through the whole machine. It ended up with us having to drain the entire machine, clean it and refill it. In the end, no one was hurt, no machine was damaged, no one's property was damaged. We were down for a few hours due to the whole thing. I was led on for a week that this was no big deal, that everyone understood it was an accident. But a week after the event, I was called into the office by Co-Manager Donnie Baker and terminated for the event.

Since my termination, I have found out that I am not the first person to accidentally put the wrong chemical into one of the machines. I am just the first to be punished for doing it. I have always known that I am a square peg trying to fit into a round hole in this place, but I tried my best. And for all of my trying, I was terminated. Just because I was not as high up on the manager's favorite list. Management got along with everyone else that I worked with, so it didn't surprise me when I found out that no one else was questioned on the spreading of the contamination, or the reasons we were down. No one else's part in the event was brought into consideration.

Let me give you an example. There is an associate who was terminated by his Assistant Manager. The reason for his termination was "repeated poor job performance." There was one problem. This person is extremely liked by Donnie Baker and Store Manager Bryan Lambert. So, after he was terminated and escorted out of the building, Mr. Baker went outside and pulled him back into his office and immediately gave him his job back in the same department, under the same Assistant Manager who terminated him. So, basically saying that an accident from an associate who he doesn't like is worse than an associate who doesn't do his job, but he does like.

And it continues from here. A popular cashier was found doing many acts that any one of them should have gotten her terminated. One of the events she was guilty of is even listed in training, manuals, and computer based training as Gross Misconduct. And to quote Wal-Mart's policy "Gross Misconduct will not be tolerated. Coaching for Improvement will not be used to address gross misconduct. The employment of an Associate who is deemed to have engaged in gross misconduct is subject to immediate termination." But again, she was a popular cashier. They rolled all the events into one "no-no" session and gave her a verbal warning not to do them again. Since then, I have found three other associates who have done the same "Gross Misconduct" event, and none of them have been punished. It didn't surprise me to find out that one of those people guilty was the same as the one who had "repeated poor job performance."

There have been many people who have been victims of accidents at this place this year. The ones who are popular, nothing happens to them. The ones who are square pegs, they get punished. One of the steps managers are supposed to do during a coaching process is "Perform a Consistency Search to determine the level of coaching given previously for similar offenses.” But yet, in my situation, no one had gotten in trouble before for the same act, so how is this considered consistent? I had never had an accident in the 8 years of working here before this, how is this consistent? But yet, when I received my coaching, it became more of a terroristic event. I was taken into the office, and not allowed to leave until I signed the paperwork. I was not allowed to disagree, not allowed to do anything. In fact, I was told that there was no Open Door Policy. The Open Door Policy that Wal-Mart is so willing to throw into their associates faces is only there when they can use the information against someone. It is not there when an associate needs it.

This is not the first time Donnie Baker tried to attack me. I have been threatened for termination for being diagnosed with an illness that made me "too contagious for being in public." I have been threatened for being in the hospital. I was even told by Donnie Baker that when my 8 year old son had chicken pox, I should not have stayed home with him, and the next time I did so, I would be terminated. In all the previous attempts, they did not have the standing to actually terminate me, but they found a way in an accident by twisting the wording and making it look like I did sabotaged the machines on purpose.

But in all the days I missed, there are many others who get away with missing days and are never punished or threatened.

We have contacted Wal-Mart Ethics on these events, and have been told that these actions are not considered as part of their department. On November, 2, 2007, we also sent a letter to Lee Scott, CEO of Wal-Mart about all of this, and they have refused to answer.

In the meantime, the popularity poll continues. In October, the store held a costume contest. The winner was not the best costume, but it was the prettiest contestant with the highest skirt and lowest cut blouse. It is a proven fact that to get Donnie Baker to acknowledge you, the deeper the 'V' in your shirt, the more attention and favors you get. Third place was given to a Customer Service Manager who is also the leader of the local Safety Team. Now management was not supposed to be considered in the contest, but one did get through. And her costume really didn't match up to the others. She dressed up as Princess Fiona from Shrek. But yet, there was a person who actually dressed as Shrek, and his costume was technically more difficult and artistically more accurate, but he didn't even get a nod.

Now for December, they have decided to take it all one step further with the "Wal-Mart #0947 1st Annual Awards Banquet". This is a poll to vote for the most popular in the following categories: Office Associate, Overnight Associate, Department Manager, Salesfloor Associate, Cashier, Manager, and Associate of the Year. Now there wording says "Vote for the most deserving", but if it were the most deserving, shouldn't the contest be considered from Evaluations, Statistics on the job, and Customer comments? If it were, it would be open to everyone. I had very high stats, and made "Exceeds Expectations" in many areas on my Evals. But not everyone knew that. But to get the public vote you have to be popular, and that is what they are wanting. And by the looks on the categories, the managers themselves are looking for a little pat on the back this time around. I will make you a bet right now. There are 7 categories being voted on. I am willing to bet that at least 6 of the winners will be at the banquet. Why? Because it is the popular thing to do, and you have to be popular to get off from work to make it to the Banquet.

BILL’S: Wiped off the map

While watching our local CBS affiliate, KXII Channel 12, they took the time to report on this story about how Dallas has changed 40 signs on Highway 75 North from showing that the route went to Sherman to now showing it goes to McKinney. They really made a huge deal about how this would effect tourism and travel from the Dallas area.

First of all, I found it very odd to hear this story. While KXII is located in Sherman, TX, they very rarely report about events in Texas. The majority of the newscasts deal with Oklahoma. So, to hear them complain about an event in Texas was almost mind-blowing. Add on top of that, the report was about their own home city!?!?! This is the station known for the Sherman weather report being shown on a live camera in Denison, TX (15 miles away to the north) brought to you by a car dealership in Gainesville (30 miles away to the west), and that is about as local as it gets. So, why the interest in the local area now?

Secondly, how much does this really effect the area? The only thing in Sherman people drive hundreds of miles to go to is the local Wal-Mart. There really isn't anything else in the area. Which is obvious because of the lack of news that happens here. Unless you want to come see retail and restaurants, there really is no reason to come here, and you pass by several of the same places between Dallas and Sherman anyway. Most of which are in McKinney. The only reason people come to Sherman is to drive through on their way to Lake Texoma or Oklahoma. Again, what difference would the signs actually make?

I just think something is wrong when the only time the news reports about it's own hometown is when the hometown has been, and I quote, "wiped off the map."

LISSA’S: Get to know your Wal Mart managers: Confessions of a Wal Mart Hit Man

I am a former Wal Mart associate and I can tell you from experience that this is typical communist practice that goes on at Wal Mart. This video is just a piece of the very informative movie "Wal Mart: The High Cost of Low Price". The more I can spread the word about these evil practices and open people's eyes, the better off the world will be.



What this person is saying is true. Not just for certain Wal-Marts, but for even the ones in your own backyard. In the section titled "Ghosts", I have personally heard the Ex-manager, Jack Steed, and one of his assistants, Mark, have the same talk at the Wal-Mart 185 in Gainesville, TX. They would brag about how long it would take to shut down businesses, and they actually put the "3 month", "6 month", and "one year" tag on many of the local stores. They were proud that the new SuperCenter store would be closing down other businesses.

At the Wal-Mart 947 in Sherman, TX, I have seen the Assistants (or Lieutenants as this gentleman says) sitting in the break room, listening to other peoples conversations. I have seen the people who have no money and cannot afford lunch, and just sit there for an hour. I know for a fact that there are many people who work in the Sherman store who are on welfare because they do not make enough and Wal-Mart forces these families to live off the Government as part of their pay. I have seen the posters informing the associates of the Government programs they can get so they can live to come to work tomorrow. I, myself, was told of the food stamp program, and the medicaid program. I was also told that if I could get pregnant, I could also qualify for WIC.

I have seen people working off the clock here at the Sherman store. Not only just working, but in the past few months under Manager Bryan Lambert and Co-Manager Donnie Baker, I have seen hourly associates called in to work off of their vacation, and been expected to work without pay.

One of the "benefits" given to you at this store is the ability to take two 15 minute breaks during an 8 hour work period. But I have also been told by the management at this store that since you are paid for these breaks, it doesn't matter if you get them or not. There were many times I was expected to give up my breaks.

So the next time you shop at your local Wal Mart and you see associates that are not smiling or act like they just don't want to be there, remember this blog and video. Remember the managers and company that are "behind" them.

For more information, go to www.walmartthemovie.com. Please spread the word. Thanks!