Wal-Mart: resistance is futile

June 4, 2012 1:36 PM

"Wal-mart is software" - MeFi post or comment?

I'm looking for some previous content to show a friend that who recently quit a job at Wal-Mart, talking about how Wal-Mart could be best understood by thinking of it as software. I'm pretty sure this was either a post that linked to an external site with an account by an ex-Wal-Mart employee, or a comment on MeFi itself.

The general subject matter dealt with abusive practices, lock-ins, overnight shifts to defeat hours-per-day overtime rules, etc.

Some specifics that were dwelt on were the importance of the hand terminals (and trying to wrangle a reliably working unit), the management of placement of products on shelves, etc.

I've tried to look through the MeFi archives for it, but I'm drawing a blank on the specific account.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

(I was going to post to askme, but the instructions seemed to suggest MeTa is more appropriate.)

posted by snuffleupagus to MetaFilter-Related at 1:36 PM (8 comments total)

Possibly, this was Target and not Wal-Mart. But the practices described definitely were reminiscent of Wal-Mart.
posted by snuffleupagus at 1:52 PM on June 4, 2012

Yep, that triggered it for me -- I think it's this one.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:54 PM on June 4, 2012 [3 favorites]

Possibly you're thinking of an essay that I linked to in the comments on a post about Target? Unfortunately, the website that hosts it seems to be down, but you can see the text of it cached here -- it's the essay called "On Target" that's midway down the page.
posted by Narrative Priorities at 1:57 PM on June 4, 2012 [3 favorites]

It was both! Thanks guys, this was driving me crazy.
posted by snuffleupagus at 2:02 PM on June 4, 2012

Annnnd the site is working for me again -- here's a direct link to the Target essay.
posted by Narrative Priorities at 3:26 PM on June 4, 2012 [1 favorite]

Ah, bummer. pts' account (via MCMikeNamara's link) is disabled.

Hope everything worked out OK for that guy.
posted by notyou at 3:37 PM on June 4, 2012

I hope everything works out OK for everybody else, too.
posted by notyou at 3:41 PM on June 4, 2012 [7 favorites]

Narrative Priorities: "Annnnd the site is working for me again -- here's a direct link to the Target essay."

This is great, both the linked Target essay and the author's other writings.
posted by Perplexity at 5:22 AM on June 5, 2012