Wal-Mart Sues Brain Damaged Employee! Outrageous.

Wal-Mart used to be a really interesting home-grown company that had a lot to recommend it. Its founder Sam Walton supported numerous American companies and sincerely tried to give people the best value for their money.

Now Sam was no saint, and indeed his business plan squashed lots of mom and pop stores and left many small towns in this country with only one shopping option, Wal-Mart. So fast forward to today.

Wal-Mart is a huge operation with little or no soul left. It buys almost everything from China and regularly pressures American firms to ship production jobs overseas to meet the “guaranteed low price” pledge of the store.

Wal-Mart is notorious for unfair labor practices and has been targeted by unions across the country for refusing to allow employees to unionize. Not a very nice place to work from the reports I have heard from ex-Wal-Mart employees.

Further proof comes in the story of Wal-Mart employee Debbie Shank. She was hit by a truck eight years ago and left brain damaged stuck in a wheelchair. She then lost her son in Iraq, killed in a battle while serving his country. How much worse could it get?

Pretty bad! Debbie’s medical expenses were paid for by Wal-Mart until she won a judgment against the trucking firm. Now Wal-Mart wants everything back. The problem is after her legal fees, she was left with only $417,000 and the suit is for $470,000. This act of amazing greed comes from a company that posted an $11 billion profit last year!

The action has caused such a moral outrage that Keith Olbermann has decided Wal-Mart ranks as “Worst Person in the World” for 4 straight nights. When contacted for comment, Wal-Mart spokesman said, “Wal-Mart’s plan is bound by very specific rules. … We wish it could be more flexible in Mrs. Shank’s case since her circumstances are clearly extraordinary, but this is done out of fairness to all associates who contribute to, and benefit from, the plan”

Bulls*#t! That is the kind of response a person makes when they do not want to admit that they are acting in a greedy and soulless manner. “I was only following orders” was no defense during the WW2 Nurnberg trials and it won’t work for Wal-Mart either. I already avoid the place but now I will never shop in a Wal-Mart again and I encourage everyone else to refrain from shopping there either. It’s a freedom to shop issue!