darwinsjoke said:
the only time you see 17 year olds enlist is when they have already completed high school. remember some people graduate at 17 just because of when their birthday is in relation to the cut off date to start school. one of my nieces had to go to private school fro 3 years just to stay with her age group when she transfered to public school because her birthday was in nov. which in the state of florida was past the cut off date for kindergarden and without the private school she would have started kindergarden when she was 6 instead of 5. the state wouldn't let her cross laterally to public school until 2nd grade. if she had crossed before then she would have had to repeat a grade in public school.

Also, most of those 17 year olds turn 18 before they're done with their training.

[Edited on Feb 14, 2005 by ExcitableBoy]

yeah, i've only seen one 17 year old actually out in the fleet. the poor bastard couldn't wait until his 18th birthday so he could drink legally (we were stationed in sasebo japan at the time).

ASSH0LE

Las Vegas, NV

June 2003

FEB 14, 2005 11:45 PM

Walmart is only for trailer trash, isn't it?

jaLopY

I'm lost

December 2004

FEB 15, 2005 12:07 AM

CaptainDeviant said:
Actually I'm here because I like wierd girls. I made a comment because I had a personal experience that shows a company that has done a lot of good for me from a different perspective.

Calling them 'wierd' is prolly not the best way to make friends. It could be for some though. Thanks for your point of view. I thought Wal-Mart was wholly incapable of such actions.

someloudnoise

USA

August 2004

FEB 15, 2005 05:55 AM

Walmart fucking rocks and you know it. If I ran a company, I would run it just like walmart. I'd fuck everyone over and laugh into their faces with my giant army of loyal and superhuman lawyers. I am above the law! As for the megacity 1 idea, sign me up. I'm all aboard for that endeavor. Can you imagine how cheap rent would be? It'd be awesome. You know what? Walmart should seceed from the nation and start its own country. It'd grow huge and powerful and destroy all of the whining pussies that dont like low prices and cheap rent. Its the walmartian way. I for one welcome our Walmart overlords.

...man, I cant wait to invade the Rhineland.

Drago

Philadelphia, PA

January 2004

FEB 15, 2005 06:01 AM

If I was under 18 and working at Wal-Mart, I would be so stoked to use a chainsaw. I'd probably put a new picture of stuff that I cut in half on my LiveJournal everyday.

The_Plebe

Kaysville, UT

December 2002

FEB 15, 2005 06:51 AM

Whoever posted this missed the really interesting part of this story. While WalMart was fined for violating child labor laws, the "settlement" with the government included a clause that said that the labor department would, in the future, give WalMart 15 days notice before any scheduled inspections. This is not something they do for anyone else and makes little sense if the point having such a department is to actually enforce regulations. I'm not rabidly anti-corporate (like most people under the age of 25 seem to be these days) but that struck me as pretty significant.

JunkiePuppy

Canada

June 2004

FEB 15, 2005 07:31 AM

Wal-Mart closed in Jonquiere, Quebec the first unionized Wal-Mart store in North America, 3 months after the creation of the union.

You don't want to close a unionized store in Quebec. Maybe in the US you can do it, but unions are much more respected here than in the US, altough a lot of people are very egocentric and "my wallet is more important than yours"-style... The gap between neoliberalists and socialists is getting bigger every day.

Ever since, there has been five bomb threats against Wal-Mart in Quebec. But they turned out to be false (duh). Things are getting uglier every day it seems...people are very divided on the subject.

[Edited on Feb 15, 2005 by JunkiePuppy]

ChezGeek

Port Orchard, WA

January 2004

FEB 15, 2005 07:50 AM

Shalome said:

demetrius_z said:

BillHaverchuck said:

...
Child labor laws prohibit anyone under 18 from operating hazardous equipment.

I don't want to derail this thread, but what about all those 17 year olds that join the US army?

You have to be 18 to join the military in the US.

no you dont.

edit: i wish i had read all the posts first.... way to be repetitious :doh:

[Edited on Feb 15, 2005 8:00AM]

The_Plebe

Kaysville, UT

December 2002

FEB 15, 2005 09:38 AM

Here's a more detailed account of what really happened -- Labor Blog

dem_z

United Kingdom

June 2004

FEB 15, 2005 10:10 AM

Shalome said:

demetrius_z said:

BillHaverchuck said:

...
Child labor laws prohibit anyone under 18 from operating hazardous equipment.

I don't want to derail this thread, but what about all those 17 year olds that join the US army?

You have to be 18 to join the military in the US.

26,755 recruits disagree

In the year to 30 September 2002, 26,755 recruits aged 17 joined the armed forces: 9,870 into the active armed forces (7,699 boys and 2,171 girls), representing five per cent of all new active duty recruits; and 16,885 into the reserve forces (12,141 boys and 4,744 girls), constituting 23 per cent of new reserve recruits.7

Still, you make a good point. I thought they were still being sent overseas and they have to be 18 before they can actually do anything, so .

Samebeat

USA

September 2003

FEB 15, 2005 10:40 AM

The_Plebe said:
Whoever posted this missed the really interesting part of this story. While WalMart was fined for violating child labor laws, the "settlement" with the government included a clause that said that the labor department would, in the future, give WalMart 15 days notice before any scheduled inspections. This is not something they do for anyone else and makes little sense if the point having such a department is to actually enforce regulations. I'm not rabidly anti-corporate (like most people under the age of 25 seem to be these days) but that struck me as pretty significant.

Good catch Plebe, glad I read the whole thread because I was going to post this. You know shit is messed up when one company gets special treatment from the dept. of labor. It's like the cops calling a house full of partying highschoolers and telling them, "We're gonna bust you in 2 hours." Frankly, it's sickening.

Wren

SUICIDEGIRL

Minnesota, USA

FEB 15, 2005 12:11 PM

Timer said:
Walmart is only for trailer trash, isn't it?

Have you not been paying enough attention to realize that some of us work there? Go fuck yourself.

aegies

Oakland, CA

June 2004

FEB 15, 2005 02:35 PM

Wren said:

Timer said:
Walmart is only for trailer trash, isn't it?

Have you not been paying enough attention to realize that some of us work there? Go fuck yourself.

how do you feel about working there? i'm honestly curious. we hear bad shit about the way they treat their employees, but how do you feel about the way they treat you?

JohnClement

Silver Spring, MD

January 2004

FEB 15, 2005 05:01 PM

Actually no, I didn't. I didn't write it as the primary aspect of the news story, because the article was not primarily about that. But I did mention it.

Wren

SUICIDEGIRL

Minnesota, USA

FEB 15, 2005 06:02 PM

aegies said:
how do you feel about working there? i'm honestly curious. we hear bad shit about the way they treat their employees, but how do you feel about the way they treat you?

I hate it. And I always have. BUT. It's mostly just because I hate the customers and the work itself. I've never really been treated really poorly by management. Most of my complaints are with the policies, the pay, and the shitty benefits. The managers work with what they have, and they are people, too. Some of them are shitty people, some of them are great. I've had some of the best friendships I could ever have asked for because of Wal-Mart, and I've met almost all of my boyfriends through my employment there (either as coworkers or customers). I do not recommend that anyone work or shop there, as I believe that it's a horrible company that will soon begin to collapse from the inside. But it's put a roof over my head for four years, and helped me get through three years of college. I can't complain much about that.

I have been trying to find other work for quite some time, but Wal-Mart is my only work experience, and you can imagine - just because of the reactions people have had about the company in this thread - that employers aren't much interested, especially for office work. But have I ever been forced to work off the clock? Locked inside the store? Discriminated against because I am a woman? Nope.

stockula

Anchorage, AK

May 2003

FEB 15, 2005 07:02 PM

dday said:
do you all know that child labor laws do NOT apply to family run businesses?

Well, Wal-Mart's run by a family. The Waltons. (5 kids, each have like $25b in stock. insane)

[Edited on Feb 15, 2005 by stockula]

aegies

Oakland, CA

June 2004

FEB 15, 2005 10:51 PM

Wren said:

aegies said:
how do you feel about working there? i'm honestly curious. we hear bad shit about the way they treat their employees, but how do you feel about the way they treat you?

thank you. i actually figured it was something along those lines. as a (hopefully soon to be reformed) corporate retail whore, i've had similar experiences. the major issues seem to arise from middle management, and the anal retentive attention to things that most executives don't have a clue about, i.e., running a retail business.