[MorganGrayson]

My husband is lucky enough to love his job. He's unlucky in that his salary is very low compared to others in his field. He's unlucky in that he can't look for a higher paying job. He's lucky that the reason he can't look for another job is the health care benefits his company provides for his wife. I get to collect disabilities and doctors with great regularity thanks to this benefit.

I've read the articles about the small towns that died "due to the building of a Walmart." I grieved. I love small towns and think there are few things as sad as driving through one and seeing all the boarded up, empty businesses.

We shop at Walmart because of the prices. Cat food, cat litter, all the paper goods and cleaning products...they are so much cheaper than anywhere else. The fact that the place is always crowded means a lot of other people think so, too.

Frankly, I doubt their employees would have a lot of luck finding jobs elsewhere, where actual intellect, skills and the all important "people skills" would be required. That either means Walmart deliberately hires from the bottom of the gene pool or these people are damned lucky to have found a place to hire them. (The elderly or handicapped greeters are an exception. All of them that I've encountered seem to be genuinely happy people with genuine welcomes. However, I'm certain they're grateful for employment, too.)

Would I pay a few cents more per item so that these people could be given good benefits? Sure, no problem. Will I deliberately shop somewhere else, paying much higher prices, because of "moral outrage" at Walmart? Nope.

I'll whore for my cats, without apology.