The worst Wal-Mart in America, and it's a 10 minute drive for me.

[fenderhutz]

http://jeffreygoldberg.theatlantic.c...in_ameri_1.php

The Crappiest Wal-Mart in America
23 Jun 2008 12:30 pm

Well, maybe not the crappiest, but the Wal-Mart "supercenter" in Martinsburg, West Virginia has to be among the top 500 most crappy Wal-Marts. Last evening it was dirty and ill-kept, the bathroom was about as clean as the men's bathroom in Penn Station was in 1974 (I remember that bathroom, that's how crappy it was), and the employees appeared just as down-and-out as the customers. In places like West Virginia it's hard to avoid Wal-Mart, and so my boycott waxes and wanes situationally, and since my family visits the Panhandle quite often (a generally beautiful place, by the way), and since, being an American family, we need lots of crap, especially Chinese-made breakable crap, we find ourselves in that Wal-Mart more than I would like.

But about those down-and-out customers: If you want to see the underside of the unregulated capitalist economy, the people who can't find the non-existent escape ladder from poverty and its pathologies, visit the Martinsburg, West Virginia Wal-Mart. Morbid obesity; spontaneous, public bouts of corporal punishment directed against dirty children; ten-year girls dressed as wh###s; tattoos running up necks and down legs; smoking like you only see these days in Baku; it's all here. I considered myself a socialist until I was about 23 (that was when I fled my kibbutz for the final time) but a visit to the Martinsburg Wal-Mart reawakens my distaste for steroidal capitalism.

Wal-Mart has built a perfect system for the maintenance of the permanent underclass. I asked one worker last night if she ever shopped outside Wal-Mart. She said no, she could find everything she needs right here. I then asked her the relevant question: could she afford to shop at a store other than Wal-Mart? No, she said, smiling. And what a smile: Dental care is an unreachable luxury for most of the poor of West Virginia, even the poor of the Panhandle, which is the least put-upon section of the state. Stump-teeth, collapsing gums, whistling dentures, these are mouths straight out of David Shipler.

Wal-Mart has had some media success lately in its disingenuous campaign to convince liberal elites that it is not driving America into the gutter, but, as I have pointed out elsewhere, this is the most self-serving of campaigns, a way to drive costs down and convince elites that Wal-Mart is going green. But the invisible workers, hopeless and toothless, their poverty ensuring their consumer loyalty, living on what is essentially company scrip, benefit not at all.

[cheezewiz]

Originally Posted by fenderhutz

http://jeffreygoldberg.theatlantic.c...in_ameri_1.php

So there were no toothless inbreds in W Va before Walmart arrived?

[fenderhutz]

Wal-Mart is just a collected effort of the best "fruits" WV has to offer apparently.

[HollowBassman]

Yeah, there are some weird people there, but I believe that's a Wal*Mart trademark. I've been in Wal*Marts from Maryland to Indiana, and from New York to Florida; none of which seemed at all dissimilar to me.

[moomoocajoo]

Yeah we have ASDA over here which is just a rebranded version of Walmart for the UK.

Plenty of weirdos in there at 3am doing the weekly shop

[burk48237]

Originally Posted by fenderhutz

http://jeffreygoldberg.theatlantic.c...in_ameri_1.php

TRANSLATED, Hi My name is Jeffery Goldberg and I am a smug elitist snob, I'm stuck in W. VA even though people like me should only live in the Hamptons and summer on the Cod or in the South of France. I boycott Wal Mart because they don't have a concierge or the personal service that Neiman Marcus provides and I don't ever get the privilege of paying 135$ for a tie or 4500$ for a suit at Wal Mart. Not only that the lavatories at Neiman Marcus are much cleaner, and they have that little servant boy to wash your hands. Sometimes, I get stuck with my family, who don't have a seven figure income from writing crap for the Atlantic like I do, because none of them are as intelligent as me. And we wander into a Wal Mart and I get to observe how the common unkept people (that I should be king over-I would make their lives so much better) live. It is appalling that they are allowed to possess things such as big screen TV's, Cell Phones, and Air conditioning. Don't they realize they are only common people? We should ban anything made in China, because then only my friends in the Hamptons (the responsible people) could afford the good stuff.

And I see the worse kind of people in Wal Marts. Some haven't had a good Spa treatment in at least a week, and most of them don't even have personal trainers. It's to bad their not as educated or smart or wealthy as I am. Some of them even discipline their children, instead of buying them a european sports car to keep them from acting out. Oh, the humanity! I considered myself a socialist until I made a bunch of money just by BS'ing other elite's and now that I have a trust fund I think we should tax other people trying to get rich. The Hamptons are getting more and more crowded every year. So now I'm for the nationalizing of all industries, except of course the Magazine industry, but I'm not a socialist, just a "progressive"

Wal Mart has built a perfect system for allowing the underclass to get luxuries they shouldn't be allowed. And to allow them the chance to earn a living without getting indoctrinated in any of the Ivy league schools I lecture at. Some of their managers and district managers, most of which never joined any secret societies at Princeton, or learned how to hate America from the Columbia school of journalism are still allowed occasionally into the Cod, if only to visit. Wal Mart has made more people rich then Atlantic Monthly and has and even allowed some Americans who shouldn't be able to afford them a chance to drive their bass boats around our yachts. I can't stand this, we bought our yachts to get away from people like this. We shouldn't even have to look at them, their dental care is almost as bad as the British! And we have to look at their imperfect smiles that aren't the product of weekly cosmetic surgery.

Wal Mart, has started to use the media lately to try to convince us their just out to make a buck. How dare they, we are the only ones that should be able to lie, continuously convincing those poor illiterate slobs who shop at Wal Mart (none of whom know the Yale fight song) that we care about them, while we demand that other people pay for that care. That we have their best interest at heart while we demand that others sacrifice for them. And that we obviously know what's best for them as we try to deprive them of luxuries that common ordinary slobs who never even participated in a good game of water polo or yacht race could appreciate. What's next, are they going to try to build one in the Hamptons? Civilization as we know it could not survive!

[fenderhutz]

Originally Posted by burk48237

TRANSLATED, Hi My name is Jeffery Goldberg and I am a smug elitist snob, I'm stuck in W. VA even though people like me should only live in the Hamptons and summer on the Cod or in the South of France. I boycott Wal Mart because they don't have a concierge or the personal service that Neiman Marcus provides and I don't ever get the privilege of paying 135$ for a tie or 4500$ for a suit at Wal Mart. Not only that the lavatories at Neiman Marcus are much cleaner, and they have that little servant boy to wash your hands. Sometimes, I get stuck with my family, who don't have a seven figure income from writing crap for the Atlantic like I do, because none of them are as intelligent as me. And we wander into a Wal Mart and I get to observe how the common unkept people (that I should be king over-I would make their lives so much better) live. It is appalling that they are allowed to possess things such as big screen TV's, Cell Phones, and Air conditioning. Don't they realize they are only common people? We should ban anything made in China, because then only my friends in the Hamptons (the responsible people) could afford the good stuff.

And I see the worse kind of people in Wal Marts. Some haven't had a good Spa treatment in at least a week, and most of them don't even have personal trainers. It's to bad their not as educated or smart or wealthy as I am. Some of them even discipline their children, instead of buying them a european sports car to keep them from acting out. Oh, the humanity! I considered myself a socialist until I made a bunch of money just by BS'ing other elite's and now that I have a trust fund I think we should tax other people trying to get rich. The Hamptons are getting more and more crowded every year. So now I'm for the nationalizing of all industries, except of course the Magazine industry, but I'm not a socialist, just a "progressive"

Wal Mart has built a perfect system for allowing the underclass to get luxuries they shouldn't be allowed. And to allow them the chance to earn a living without getting indoctrinated in any of the Ivy league schools I lecture at. Some of their managers and district managers, most of which never joined any secret societies at Princeton, or learned how to hate America from the Columbia school of journalism are still allowed occasionally into the Cod, if only to visit. Wal Mart has made more people rich then Atlantic Monthly and has and even allowed some Americans who shouldn't be able to afford them a chance to drive their bass boats around our yachts. I can't stand this, we bought our yachts to get away from people like this. We shouldn't even have to look at them, their dental care is almost as bad as the British! And we have to look at their imperfect smiles that aren't the product of weekly cosmetic surgery.

Wal Mart, has started to use the media lately to try to convince us their just out to make a buck. How dare they, we are the only ones that should be able to lie, continuously convincing those poor illiterate slobs who shop at Wal Mart (none of whom know the Yale fight song) that we care about them, while we demand that other people pay for that care. That we have their best interest at heart while we demand that others sacrifice for them. And that we obviously know what's best for them as we try to deprive them of luxuries that common ordinary slobs who never even participated in a good game of water polo or yacht race could appreciate. What's next, are they going to try to build one in the Hamptons? Civilization as we know it could not survive!

That was awesome, so much so I sent it to the author and editor of that article. GOOD JOB!

[peterbright]

Love the translation.

[moomoocajoo]

XD Excellent translation. But we have pretty good dental care here in the UK. Just bad teef is all :B

[mike phillips]

this reminds me i need to do an oil change on the van. off to wally world for 5qts of mobil 1 syn lube.

[SoComSurfing]

AWESOME translation!

[Unrepresented]

Originally Posted by cheezewiz

So there were no toothless inbreds in W Va before Walmart arrived?

There's no reason anyone in American should suffer from basic medical and dental negligence. Unfortunately corporations like Wal-Mart are absolutely focused on denying their employees and through monopolistic practices their suppliers and competition reasonable wages and benefits to be able to maintain their health and live better lives.

Wal-Mart is a perpetuation and multiplier of poverty and destruction of the middle class.

[fenderhutz]

Originally Posted by Unrepresented

There's no reason anyone in American should suffer from basic medical and dental negligence. Unfortunately corporations like Wal-Mart are absolutely focused on denying their employees and through monopolistic practices their suppliers and competition reasonable wages and benefits to be able to maintain their health and live better lives.

Wal-Mart is a perpetuation and multiplier of poverty and destruction of the middle class.

[TheDarkReaver]

Originally Posted by moomoocajoo

Yeah we have ASDA over here which is just a rebranded version of Walmart for the UK.

Plenty of weirdos in there at 3am doing the weekly shop

well asda was here before wal-mart bought it you know.

[moomoocajoo]

The ASDAs we have now are just Walmarts though really. :/

[Unrepresented]

Originally Posted by fenderhutz

I thought I straddled the line. No discussion of political parties, bills, candidates, etc. just a reminder that our society is what we make of it.

If you don't want toothless, ignorant, impoverished Americans, then make sure you're part of a solution to avoid creating them in the first place.

[fenderhutz]

Yeah, you can confirm this with Hollowbassman, we actually have billboards paid for the by the state that encourage tooth brushing. (RT 45 from Shepherdstown).

It is a real issue. That and there is no flouride in well water and parents let their kids drink and eat sugar all day.

[TheDarkReaver]

Originally Posted by moomoocajoo

The ASDAs we have now are just Walmarts though really. :/

true true, there are even some massive ones called wal-mart asda.

[Unrepresented]

Originally Posted by fenderhutz

Yeah, you can confirm this with Hollowbassman, we actually have billboards paid for the by the state that encourage tooth brushing. (RT 45 from Shepherdstown).

It is a real issue. That and there is no flouride in well water and parents let their kids drink and eat sugar all day.

Legitimate education along with economic practices that would allow for movement through the social strata are possibly even more helpful than the occasional billboard.

[fenderhutz]

We used to have a break in our school day for a flouride rinse. Now mind you, this was 20+ years ago when I was in grade school.