Ayn Rand is Screwing with My Brain

Posted by Hiraghm 12 years, 4 months ago to Culture
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Just got home from work.

My store loaned me out to a Neighborhood Market that's going to open soon. That's okay, it's closer to where I live.

But this morning, I'm listening to ASp1 (having already listened to ASp2 earlier) and I see a bunch of the store's employees gather in a big circle near the registers. I'm not paying attention.
I finish up some work in the back, and after listening to John Galt's sell Atlantis to Ellis Wyatt, and listening to Dagny's scream (I swear I'm going to make that a ringtone :D ), I'm walking out past this circle of employees.
Suddenly they all cheer, and one person says, "Give me a W!"... I kid you not these employees all spelled out "W-A-L-M-A-R-T" like they were a bunch of high school kids at a football game.

If that wasn't creepy enough, just before I ducked into the office to clock out, I heard (presumably) the manager ask, "Whose Walmart is this?" and they all shouted, "MY WALMART".

I grew up in the cult era of the 70s, so this really creeped me out.

But, I was thinking like Galt, or Rand. Because, what I thought was, "No, this is not my Walmart; people do not tell me what to do with my property. This is a business. I have contracted to do certain work for you in exchange for a certain amount of dollars. This pep rally is a not-so-subtle attempt to engage my emotions in order to extract from me more work than that for which you have contracted."

Bear in mind, that... person... Sam Walton once said individuals don't win; teams win.

Oxymoron of the day; The Walmart collective.


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  • Posted by 12 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    lol

    We have a couple grouchy old farts (male and female) on my shift.

    This one little old lady seems to be particularly annoyed by anyone messing with the plastic balls in the toy department. She'll periodically announce over the PA that people should stop.

    One night she said over the PA, "We do NOT play with our balls in the store!" Every employee in the store cracked up, I swear.
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  • Posted by 12 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I was born in Ft. Worth. I was raised in Iowa. I've lived in OK for decades.
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 12 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It's something that I would at first say "whatever" to. If they don't like your saying, "I'm 100% fired up to be excellent in everything I do and I will do my utmost to convey my enthusiasm on those around me, but this isn't how I do it," I wouldn't have anything to do with them. That sounds extreme, but these little bits of nonsense weigh on me and get in the way. Every time I've done this, I felt like I was doing something silly and objecting to something trivial, but I'm almost always glad I did it. Once I told a client, "I can't do that b/c I feel like it's the wrong approach and I would be just stealing your R&D money. I'd rather recommend another approach or help you find another engineer." In that case the president of the company thanked me. Other times I've gone along with design approaches I don't agree with, and usually I feel bad about it.

    I suspect you will provide more value, and receive more money in turn, if you find people who don't feel the need for rallies to get fired up about doing a good job.
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  • Posted by 12 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It's actually policy; all Walmarts are to do that kind of pep rally before a shift begins. The managers at my home store don't waste time on that kind of thing. It's why it was such a shock to encounter.
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  • Posted by $ johnrobert2 12 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Those would be interesting threads. Give me a 'heads-up' when you get ready to start one. I want to be ready. BTW, just from little bits here and there, I take it you are in TX around the FtW area?
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  • Posted by 12 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    You guys are going to drive me to the poorhouse with all this 1337 gear.

    OH! THAT REMINDS ME!
    MY 20TH CENTURY MOTOR CORPORATION HAT IS HERE!

    Gotta go to the complex office to get it... can't wait for them to open... open... c'mon... OPEN!
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  • Posted by 12 years, 4 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Oh, I love Gattica. And yeah, I brought up Rollerball awhile back.

    What Gattica is teaching me (thanks to Ayn Rand screwing with my brain):
    Don't save anything for the swim back.

    I keep meaning to start two message threads (actually about a half dozen but I'm trying not to make a nusiance of myself) one about "Randian" movies/tv shows and one about "Randian" books and other stories.

    "Randian" in this case would be a movie, tv show or book that either embraced or promoted some aspect of Rand's philosophy.
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  • Posted by $ johnrobert2 12 years, 4 months ago
    I refer you to the movie "Rollerball" and the exploits of Jonathon E. Or were you the one who brought it up in the first place? Lesson: when the rules are changed so the individual cannot excel, excel anyway. Another movie just occurred to me which may be tangentially appropriate is "Gattaca". In a society where genetic manipulation is practiced to produce 'homo superior' and all others relegated to second class citizenry, one person, who was a 'God-child', found a way to succeed. Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman star.
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