Retail Ire

For as long as I can remember I have hated Wal-Mart.  It was based on personal preference in the beginning.  Everything in the store seemed cheap to me.  My first exposure to Wal-Mart was during formative, junior high school days where peer status was the most important issue in life.  Buying low quality items at Wal-Mart when one could easily go to similar retail stores and find similar, but higher quality items, would drop you a couple of pegs on the juvenile status board. 

Fast forward to my adult life and I begin to recognize and understand the need for lower priced items for working families to make ends meet.  There was a place in this world for Wal-Mart, but I could not shake my aversion to this retail store.  Most of my personal experiences with shopping at a Wal-Mart aggravated me on some level.  Whether I had to deal with unhelpful staff or incorrigible patrons, the distaste I had for Wal-Mart had less to do with their inventory, and more to do with the people that populated this place.  I had already developed a distaste for this store, so shifting the reasons for said distaste was trivial, considering that I barely needed reasoning for avoiding trips to Wal-Mart. 

My present day hatred for Wal-Mart has accelerated past the personal preference arena and more toward ethics.  After watching Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, I had a multitude of reasons for hating the corporate entity as a whole, instead of merely being annoyed at the local representative store location.  Even if only half of that documentary is true, Wal-Mart's existence will be the downfall of society, if it has not happened already.  Their unethical practices made me ill.  Whether they are strong arming suppliers, skimping on employee benefits or mandating local statutes, Wal-Mart's greed destroyed any benefits they provide from my perspective. 

For the coup de gras, they are attempting to trade mark the smiley face.  At last check, this icon is part of public domain, which by definition means that it cannot be restricted by copyright or patent.  Based on previous tactics used by Wal-Mart, look for the smiley face to be trade marked anyway, despite this minor obstacle.

I understand that most retail stores will cut corners where ever they can to save money, so alternative retail stores are not much better by comparison.  However, it will still take a major effort to get my money out of my pocket and into a Wal-Mart.