In fact it does go to the original point. Being in the corporate world,
I do believe that real success for a company must involve decent
corporate morals and ethics. Maybe being ruthless gets you gains in the
short term, in the long run, it will cost you. Look at Microsoft. How
many people tried Linux only because it isn't Microsoft? Their
reputation has certainly cost them business. Imagine if they didn't have
a monopoly stranglehold on the market. How much business would they get
if no one needed to use their products?

I think someone else here said something like " don't mind paying a
little more for decent quality and good customer service" I agree and
there are many people coming around to that idea again.
One of the sayings that we built our business on is "Good word of mouth
is powerful, and bad word of mouth is exponentially more powerful".
I believe this. It took us longer to build our business, but our
customers are loyal, even on the rare occasion when we can't beat a
competitor on price. Because they know we will treat them with respect,
and fairness. And we will stand behind our work.
As a consumer I also look for this in my choices of who I do business
with. Have I boycotted Walmart? No. Sometimes they have what I need when
no-one else around does so just plain not buying that thing I need only
hurts me. On the other hand, I shop there last, once I've tried
everywhere else. If they create enough people like me, there business
will suffer. Even if they don't care about me, at least pretending to is
good for business.


Bob Axtell wrote:
> Tachyon wrote:
>   
>> Yeah, I had a similar experience. A friend and I were standing in an
>> aisle, discussing what shampoo it was his girlfriend had asked him to
>> pick up. A non-descript guy came up behind us, accused us of
>> shoplifting, and threatened us with a baseball bat. Needless to say,
>> that didn't go over too well and his threat had the opposite affect to
>> what I think he intended. I didn't back down or cow to him and instead
>> made my way to the store's office with him following me screaming to
>> stop or he'd call the police. I acted as if he no longer existed, went
>> to the manager, and demanded that HE call the police so I could press
>> assault charges. They then refused. I sent my friend to the pay phone
>> outside to call them. When they showed up, they denied it all, and
>> claimed we had been acting suspicious and were believed to be the people
>> who had been shoplifting there recently. I showed the cop my drivers
>> license, pointed out that I lived over 500 miles away and had never been
>> in that store before. My friend and a woman shopper backed up our story
>> about the threat, but the cop said is was still our word against his,
>> and told us it wasn't worth pursuing. The manager asked the cop to give
>> him our licenses so he could copy them, and distribute to his corporate
>> security office with a recommendation of banning from the premises.
>> That's when the cop turned on him and told him that then I'd have
>> something to sue them about. The manager shut up, the cop gave us our
>> IDs, and walked out with us and kept the manager and security guy from
>> following (they threatened to get our license plate too).
>> Since I started following some of the anti-walmart sites after that,
>> I've seen a lot of similar stories about their staff and security people
>> getting rude, and even physical with people. Detaining people, searching
>> them, etc..
>> If that's how they treat their customers, it's not hard to believe the
>> stories about how they treat their employees and their competitors.
>>
>>   
>>     
> Wow, what an experience. I had no idea this was going on.
>
> --Bob
>
>   
>> David VanHorn wrote:
>>   
>>     
>>>> Can somebody document a bad experience at WalMart so I can get
>>>> understand this?
>>>>     
>>>>       
>>>>         
>>> My wife and daughter were detained there one afternoon, on suspicion of
>>> shoplifting.
>>>
>>> They had receipts for everything, but the security people weren't
>>> interested.
>>> They took my granddaughter away from my daughter,  went through EVERYTHING,
>>> and managed to break something on the stroller.  The girls were not allowed
>>> to call anyone.
>>>
>>> In the end, we resolved it satisfactorally, the manager was unaware, and the
>>> appropriate people were sacked.  If I'd been there, things would have gone
>>> down VERY differently.  At the point where they tried to separate the
>>> granddaughter, someone would have needed hospitalization.
>>>   
>>>     
>>>       
>
>   
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