Let's go back to the workers for a second. Most of us haven't had a personal experience with being employed at Wal-Mart - all we know is what we read in the papers, and perhaps some of it is true. But I think many of those same allegations could be made against other very large companies, if we looked closely enough at their employment records.

In a large company, things sometimes happen because of an individual's poor judgment, and not necessarily because of company policy; and in a large company, there is likely to be a pretty fair number of jerks with their heads up their asses. They will do things that make the whole company look bad; and in our age of media sensationalism, the negative will almost always be emphasized over the positive.

Now then... Doug's son has worked at Wal-Mart and had a good experience. I have a female friend who has worked at Wal-Mart for several years, and her only complaint is that her hours aren't as flexible as she would like - but that's the way of retail, and she knew that going in. She and her husband own a house and two cars, and have a lifestyle they enjoy. It's not upper-class, by any means, but they have what they need, and they're happy. If she feels mistreated by Wal-Mart, she hasn't said... but I know Sam, and if she did feel mistreated for one second, she'd leave there so fast that heads would spin.

Anyhow, I'm not taking a side, or anything. I would certainly prefer that there not be so many damn Wal-Marts. On the other hand, my experiences there have always been satisfactory. Your mileage may vary.