The First Week
As most of you know, Randy and I are moving to Northwest Arkansas because I have accepted a position at the Home Office of Wal-Mart. I know, I know I’ve had some freak-out moments of “WTH have I done?!” but let’s wait and see how this goes before we pull any fire alarms and drag out the life boats.
I started Dec. 1 with the first 1.5 days being filled by the obligatory orientation. I’m quite certain corporate orientation sessions are not much more than another step of the weeding out process for candidates. If a typo in your resume, late arrival to an interview, a stain on your suit or just general poor presentation didn’t get you thrown out of the running you are subjected to endless hours of company history, rules, regulations and just general rah-rah talk to see if you can take it without expiring of boredom or insanity. In the case of Wal-Mart this was done in near sub-zero temperatures. Not only was it around 30 degrees outside but, if asked, I would have said it was about the same temperature inside. And that was before cool air started pouring out of the vent above my table. Yes, chicks are always bitchin’ about being cold (so says Friar K) but given that several other people in the room (including guys) spent the day roaming around in their coats I think the freeze out was for real. Could it be just another weed-out tactic?
Save Money. Live Better. HINT: You can save a little more money if you are NOT running the air conditioning in December.
The remainder of the week was spent trying to figure who is who, what is what and WTH I am supposed to be doing. Two things I’ve learned so far – well, three if you count locating the bathroom: Wal-Mart is HUGE and Bentonville is small. So far everyone has been nice and helpful and only moderately shocked that I have no children but four cats. You can imagine how much fun it was explaining that one while trying to find a place to live. Really, I don’t see what the big deal is. I mean, some people have that many kids and I can assure you that four children would do far more damage to a house than our cats. There’s really nothing a vacuum and big roll of tape couldn’t take care of. At any rate, with a roll of their eyes and an additional security deposit someone was willing to rent us and our four cats a house for six months. Randy and the cats stayed in KC while I managed to move in a few essentials to get me by temporarily. With the exception of having to get up and go to work each day, I pretty much lived a cross-breed life of a bum and an anti-social college student by spending my evenings horizontal on the futon (which also doubled as my bed) watching DVDs. This worked out much better once I was able to move everything closer assuring that I would not have to actually get up to start the DVD. The remote has apparently been packed away somewhere. A special shout-out to my sister for lending me the first two seasons of Sex and the City, especially since she hadn’t even taken them out of the shrink wrap. 
I’m in KC this week working remotely and helping Randy to finish the last of the packing. Better get done soon. The movers come Thursday.
Comment by C. Patrick
Ah, company training videos. At least yours didn’t include what one is supposed to do if one has to escape from enemy forces while trapped deep inside hostile territory. Or did it? Heh.
Posted on December 11, 2008 at 8:14 am
Comment by amy
No, there was no discussion of what one should do if you found yourself in Target.
Posted on December 14, 2008 at 2:51 am