It is not hard for me to feel the effects of having a Wal-Mart in our community.

As a full-time student, a part-time job can accommodate the needs of having an income and still hitting the books. Unless supported by someone else, students generally live-a shabby life, financially speaking. I guess this is part of the whole experience. I get it. People have always told me that grocery stores are good with part-timers and offer flexibility with one's schedule. Therefore, one day I went and applied at Albertsons, Publix, and Target.

Publix's job application process is in-store. You walk over to this touch screen kiosk. You just fill out the basic info with your availability. I applied at the Cobblestone monstrosity and the kiosk was tucked away in the wine section. It sucks that you cannot apply online for Publix. The only thing good I can say about the application process is that at least you are in a corner of the store so you don't have to be in the way of all the shoppers gazing at you while you apply. The whole process takes about 15 or 20 minutes.

You can apply for a job at Albertsons online. They have this whole "personality" test thing for you to answer when you do. The questions are not only odd, but they have absolutely nothing to do with grocery stores. One question had to do with how one feels about judges and early release. What the hell does that have to do with the way I can stock pasta on a shelf? It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the stupid test is there to weed out any "individuals". It's easy to lie on these things. Just answer the way Big Brother would want you to. After clicking submit, you just wait to see if Albertsons deems you interviewable. If they do, they will call.

Target's job application is also done via computer. But with Target, you got to actually go in the damn store and to the returns/exchanges section to fill out the application and apply. I found this to be pretty disheartening. I hate sitting in front of strangers while applying for a job (I don't know why...! can't explain it). You sit there staring at a screen, isolated, yet still in full view of all who come in the store. Their application takes almost an hour. Their personality test is more like a "seek-out-all-individual-thinkers-and-destroy-them" sort of test. I was amazed by some of the questions they were asking. I wish I could remember them. I do remember shaking my head at some parts and laughing at many others. One was asking if you have ever been involved in a union. It seems to me that most of these places are very concerned with individual thinkers as well as possible union activity. Both, Albertsons and Target's tests appear to be tailored to weed out anybody who might try to organize in the workplace. The paranoia is there.

After clicking submit on Target's application, you are instructed to pick up this red phone receiver that is positioned beside you (I swear I am not making this up). An operator you cannot understand comes on the line and then instructs you to go sit in their food court and wait for a manager to see you. So I did just that. Sure enough, five minutes later, a manager instructed me to follow him or her back into the bowels of Target. After talking for a few minutes, this person tells me that I am hired. No big surprise except we have not talked about a wage yet. The manager tells me they hire at $6.50 an hour. I asked the manager to re-evaluate my resume and asked if the wage still applied to me (I do have some experience and a very steady work history).

Apparently, Target stands firm on two things: One is that they hire "Team Members," not employees. The second is the $6.50 starting wage (which is the minimum wage in Florida now - it started in April 2005...in case you don't know). I said thank you and declined the offer. Walking out, I wondered how many employees, I mean Team Members, at Target thought they got a raise to $6.50 because of the generosity of the company. How many of them understand that if Target could pay them less, the corporation would.

Albertsons called me a couple of days later. I went in for a short interview and after hearing the manger talk about the opportunities to move up the ladder at Albertsons and what a great place it was, I was hired on the spot there also. The pay was $6.75 to start out though. Again, I thanked the manager who interviewed me and declined.

The next day, Publix called. Sitting in the manager's office, I was once again told how great it is to work at a place like Publix and about all the rewarding opportunities Publix offered people like me. I don't mean for all this to sound condescending. I'm sure Albertsons and Publix are great places to have a career and/or work. These managers are doing the right thing by telling all potential employees all of what their company has to offer. Seven or eight years ago, I would have probably seen things in a different light, but now I have my eyes set on something else. In fact, the interviewer was just transferred from an out-of-state Publix to one here in St. Augustine. After all the formalities, the manager offered me a position. They started an employee at $7.00. I found myself, for the third time, thanking them and declining the offer.

Well that was that. I had struck out three times in one week. Nevertheless, something interesting happened along the way.

While interviewing. for one of the jobs, a manager explained something to me that was happening here in St. Johns County. He/she talked to me about why places pay so shitty now (more than ever). "Wal-Mart has changed the game for us. Look around you. Look out there to our store. If we did not change our hiring practices a year ago, then this store would not be here right now. We had to change to keep up." I asked what she/he meant, and they elaborated, "I've been here at this store for almost six years. I use to hire almost all full-time employees. I only had a handful of part-time employee workers here. About a year ago, I was told to hire only part-time workers to start out. Now, if I want to hire somebody full-time, I have to justify it and clear it first with my boss. See, Wal-Mart only hires part-time employees so they do not have to pay them benefits. We had to adapt to keep up. We still do offer benefits later and you can get in to a fulltime job later, but not right off the bat anymore. Those days are over."

I was not shocked. I knew about Wal-Mart's dirty hiring practices already, but to hear it come out of the mouth of a manager is what surprised me. It was like this person was genuinely apologizing to me for not paying me more. She/He must have known that it was hard to hire good help when you're paying that low. Following the Wal-Mart conversation, we talked about the recent minimum wage increase in the state of Florida. By this time, I knew I was talking to someone who had a clue and was not just spouting off B.S. about whatever. Regarding the minimum wage increase, he/she stated, "I voted for that increase. What nobody told us was that if or when the increase happened, food stamps and welfare would be cut dramatically. If I had known that, I would have reconsidered voting for it. I think it's a shame."

I knew then that what is going on in St. Augustine because of Wal-Mart is going on in every city or town that has a Wal-Mart. What saddens me is that there used to be many small "mom and pop" stores dealing with every consumer good one could want. Now there are very few. It's also sad that so many jobs are being sent overseas because America can't compete with the low wages of other countries. Our country has standards that are put into laws. America protects workers from sweatshop conditions while the jobs, under "Free Trade" agreements, goes to places that don't protect workers from anything. Some people call it pure capitalism. That, still, is no excuse. Wal-Mart is the biggest buyer from many of the places that exploit workers

So really, Wal-Mart not only screws it's own workers here in the U.S. by hiring only part-time so they don't have to pay benefits, they also screw other American workers by not buying or supporting products made in the America. On top of all that, Wal-Mart supports the exploitation of people in other countries by being one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) purchaser of sweatshop-made consumer goods in the world. None of this is good for America. Where is our middle-class going? What about us?

In the meantime, I challenge someone to find me a company more un-American than Wal-Mart. Good luck...