SL Sex, Lies, and Mind Games

If I were your GF, and you kept teasing me like that, you wouldn't have to pay for airfare to Toronto. I'd ship you off there myself just to get shut of ye.

Real men get vasectomies.

sorry - it didn't translate that way to me.

Well, I am thinking that there would be a lot more activity and experience that would preceed the "Main Event." You know, things like moonlit walks, a fireside chat with some nog and grog, a shared ice cream cone, a trip to coast, some massage therapy, anything with candlelight, maybe even a casual yet intellectually stimulating walkabout at the local bookstore (although I must admit, I have a propensity for magazines). The voluntary pull out is essentially a courtesy. Anything for you Scylla...anything.

Wow Lindal. The sound of the word vasectomy sends a cold, tingling chill down my spine and really messes with my mind. I was raised to believe that real men don't need vasectomies. Only for Scylla...

Wal Mart does put small family owned businesses out of business. Plain and simple. Those cannot afford to offer the same low prices as a huge mega corporation like Wal Mart. They also often try to buy American-made goods, not foreign-sweatshop-made items.

Wal Mart may be convenient and cheap but I don't think anyone was arguing they are not.

There is a good documentary about Wal Mart and exactly how and why it drives small town small businesses under, but I can't recall the name of it at the moment.

When the small family owned businesses go, so does their livelihood, and it does impact the town as well. Domino effect. This is not made up for with Wal Mart's employee policies, which usually do not cover a living wage or health insurance.

Anyone who argues that Wal Mart has no effect on local towns or businesses is either obtuse or pretending to be for the sake of arguing.

Pardon?

Exactly.

No one has said that. What's been argued is whether or not Wal-Mart is the engine of destruction its detractors claim. My observations are, it is not.

You're one to talk about arguing for the sake of arguing. And that's not what happened. We simply gave viewpoints....until a few decided to make it a difference in class structures.....and one decided that any community that has people going through some tough economic times....should have never had children.

Excuse me when did I say that anyone here had done so?

It does seem striking, though, that some think it was aimed specifically at them or their posts.

Unlike you Mickey, I never aimed an insult directly at you in this thread.

LOL....right, Melita. I'm hip to how you respond to my posts.

Whatever, Mickey.

yeah, whatever.....so the "obtuse" comment was directed at who?

At anyone who would argue that Wal Mart has no effect on small town economies. Watch the documentary I mentioned, because that is what I was thinking of.

Okay??

(The one I can't remember the title of, Lol)

oh yes....of course. ........ if that's that case....then probably best not to use the word "Exactly" directly toward someone.

Well, if you WANT the 'arguing for the sake of arguing' title...here! With tiara.

I can go all night like this, Mickey!

Yes, I know you can. Find someone else tonight, for your thrill.

It seems that many of us, in our experience, haven't seen the small businesses go out. Even in the smaller towns surrounding me that have Wal Marts they didn't lose small business because of Wal Mart. If anything Wal Mart was a gain because the people didn't have to drive 30 minutes to do their shopping.
As for losing their livelihood, have you ever worked for a "hometown" retail business? Sure the owners, their kids, and the guy who started with the owner's father 30 years ago were making some decent money, everyone else made minimum wage. And don't talk about benefits, there weren't any.

Ask yourself Melita, who made those documentries? Who financed them? The UFCW?

LOL thrill isn't the word I'd use for that exchange, Mickey. If you think it was thrilling for me, you're a bit of an egotist. (I don't take any crap, or accept blame for things I never did. Simple as that.)

--

Chris, those are good points.

I know a lot of small town family-run businesses who are very good to their non family employees, though. Including providing health insurance. It's often more than Wal Mart does.

I used to shop at Wal Mart when I was near one, until I saw the documentary. I don't know who financed it.

Oh I shouldn't even get into this. I am not pointing fingers in any direction, naming no names. I am only going to point out what happened to me. I have been slapped before for saying that WalMart put me out of business. Probably not the way you think it happened.

WalMart can put small business owners out of business either by moving in to their location or moving out. Most new business decide on their locations by traffic count. You have Your Mom & Pops pulling nice traffic. In comes WalMart, this cuts down on small retail income, for me it was by 30%. Most of these people are mortgaged to the hilt as it is. They have to put in their stores what draws the customers in. You just have to grit your teeth and hope you are stocking something that pleases the customer. That Lexus is not allowed to be parked in the front of your store. My car is over 30-years old, I wish I could afford to buy a new one. It is written in your lease and they will have you towed in a wink if they catch you parking there. There is probably a huge loan on that thing and several months behind in payments. Thank goodness I don’t drink latte’s because I couldn’t afford them. Did you ask yourself why those owners are standing out in front of their business? “No customers in the store” Those WalMart employees probably had more money in their pockets then I did. They are nice people I don’t fault them in fact I feel bad for them. My daughter worked at one while I set up our store. They have great benefits, even health insurance if they allow you to work enough hours. Their hours are a story of horror, what time they work and how many hours.

WalMart doesn’t really under cut. They are able to buy so much cheaper then other people because of volume. We carried some of the same items at times. They sold theirs for what I paid for mine. Yes I checked and they didn’t have those items when I purchased mine. They were seasonal for them. Vendors will make items specifically for WalMart. They are the same as the Mom & Pop, just poor quality. Thus that product lasts a shorter time so the customer has to purchase it again if they want that item. To me this is not helping them, it is hurting them. Most customers don’t have any idea about the quality of their purchase. The retailers purchase price is based on quantity. If they allow you into their special discount club, which they don’t because you can’t buy enough.

So WalMart pulls more traffic into that strip mall, they take many customers away from Mom & Pop because they can sell it cheaper regardless of lesser quality. So in comes the City Fathers dealing with WalMart. We would like you here instead of in that strip mall because we can make more money from you there. Guess why they move, the City pays them to. It was $7,000,000 in my case. Guess who paid for that, the population of that small town did, all of those Mom & Pop stores. Right out of their property tax pockets. Yes I planned I had more then six months of cash in reserve, just in case something bad had happened. What happened could not be foreseen.

Off goes WalMart and your dead. Your gross is cut once again another 30% by them moving out, you are still stuck with a long lease. Somewhere around 7K a month. You are still stuck with your entire overhead. Purchasing inventory, paying your employees (no you can’t afford to buy them health insurance, you cant buy your own) and the rest of your overhead. You struggle just to stay in business until your lease runs out. You sell every asset that you have. Put everything you buy on your credit card. You are now way in over you’re head with no visible way out. So the end of the lease is coming up. You have a ton of inventory in your store. You have to liquidate. You get about 10cents on the dollar, it costs a fortune for advertising you need to help pull those customers back in. Many of these people end up in bankruptcy and lose everything they worked hard for so many years. I was fortunate, I did not. Not because I am filthy rich living on my parents money. Because of how I budget my money. It took me years to pay off my credit cards that I had to use to liquidate my store. I took a huge loss, over ¼ of a million dollars. That shows up on my tax returns. So, now I am unable to get a loan for anything because of that loss. What a shock, even though I have terrific credit.

There is so much more to this story. I hope you have understood what I have said here. I am not complaining about any of this. I don’t regret anything I did or what happened. I would do it again in a heartbeat if I could. I was just sad when it all happened. I miss my store. I tried to help the people there and the economy of the area. “Sales Tax”. I have left so much out of this and probably repeated some things. Please forgive if I have done that. I don’t know where many of you are coming from, your background, your story. This is just mine.

Nuff said

Chris I have. I saw seven retailers go out of business including a Hallmark. I didn't make decent money and I paid my employees over minimum. The mechanics of owning a small business can be pretty sucky. Most people really have no idea what goes into running one. Not saying that you don't, but I have no idea really where any of the people posting in this thread obtain their information from. Mine is from experience. Been there done that. Loved it. Lost everything I had. Just remembering it makes me sick to my stomach. I am just a normal person.