Walmart: The Orientation

When I was first hired at Walmart, I was asked to attend a new employee orientation session at the store. It was going to last a couple of hours. At that time, I would be given my work schedule for the next couple of weeks. I was instructed to bring my ID and my Social Security card.

I arrived and found there were about six people in the HR office. One of them I remembered seeing at the clinic where we did our drug tests. We were given several forms to fill out. Afterward, we watched a few company-produced videos. One extolled the virtues of choosing a career at Walmart. One of the things it stated was that the company would often implement employee ideas. As an example, they talked about the Door Greeter position. That started as an idea from a regular employee around 1973 and was spread out into every Walmart store. Me being the cynic, I noticed that they didn't give any more examples of employee ideas that have been utilized. If we went strictly by the video, it would appear that Walmart hadn't used any employee ideas in almost 30 years at that point.

The video also showed employees in various functions at stores across the country. It showed them in store meetings clapping and doing the Walmart "cheer." It also showed a large group at an employee convention. Everyone seemed so excited about working at Walmart. I knew I was never going to be that excited.

Another video downplayed the company's anti-union stance. The video claimed that "We are not anti-union. We are pro-associate." But it went out of its way to demonstrate that unions were less than reputable organizations and their only interest was in collecting dues from the thousands of people who worked for Walmart across the country. The message was to tell anyone who appeared to be from a union to go away and that we didn't need them. It didn't matter to me how Walmart portrayed unions. I'd never been in one, and any job I applied for that had a union showed no interest in hiring me. From my perspective, having a union wasn't going to help me at this juncture.

(And I should make it clear that I am not anti-union. It's really just something I don't feel would help me in the long run with regards to work.)

We spent the rest of the time filling out paperwork and agreeing to terms of employment. We each had to go to a computer, log in and read the conditions. We then chose the "Agree" option and the next person would go to the computer and do the same thing. After everyone cycled through this, the Store Manager came in. He appeared to be just a few years older than me, but he seemed to have a positive outlook on working for Walmart and was rather friendly and charming. I actually felt a little better just after he spoke to us. I got the idea he was able to sweet-talk his way past any customer complaint. He appeared to be friendly and approachable, unlike some other bosses I've had in the past.

We were all then given vests and told when to show up for our on-the-job training. My short period of unemployment was coming to an end. I almost hated to see that happen.