I was more than a little taken aback today that Wal-Mart is doing away with the ubiquitous Wal-Mart greeter.
More than "taken aback." I was crushed.
That's a sunset career I've had my eye on many years.
One of the wonders that Wal-Mart has wrought is to make minimum wage work dignified, even desirable. And the greeter gig pretty much seemed like the apex of the minimum wage universe. Stand around at the front of the store and offer up a friendly "welcome to Wal-Mart" to all who pass through those sliding glass doors.
Now, offering up a friendly anything isn't in my natural-born reportoire, but I think I could have faked it well enough to bat this one out of the park. Or at least turn it into a two run double.
You stand there, pace back and forth a little, somebody comes in that you know, you catch up for a bit. Help the little old ladies get their carts, help the big young ladies get their carts. Put in your three or four shifts every week and bingo, you've put the gold in the golden years.
Well, that was then and this is now. Wal-Mart has decreed that in order to plump up the already plumpest bottom line in retail, they're gonna have to put the greeters out to pasture. Or not out to pasture exactly, but back in the store, stocking shelves and generally being just another Wal-Mart "associate".
It's a sad sad day.
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