Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A day in the life of a Walmart manager

wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 266 posts

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#121

Post by mvkel »

traviswingo wrote: post #96
BLanen wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That stuff can't be faked, even with a high salary. Before you say, "it's easy to say when you're getting paid $240K a year." Nah. A person needs challenge; a purpose. Lots of FANG ICs making $500K+ who hate their job. Why? No challenge or palpable purpose. Something only someone with a high income would say. Contrary to all data and research and evidence.

Not sure if you’re discrediting the parent comment or pointing out the reality of it. But yes this is something only someone with a high income would say. And yes, it’s true. Beyond a certain income, the wrong job can be soul sucking and depressing. And it takes achieving that level of income to fully appreciate that reality.

It's been described as another way to hit rock bottom, because you realize that even after "making it" it doesn't make you happy. So NOW what do you do?

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#122

Post by SilasX »

vunderba wrote: post #119
mvkel wrote: post #67

Credit to Walmart for creating an environment where a person can still love their job after years of service. That stuff can't be faked, even with a high salary. Before you say, "it's easy to say when you're getting paid $240K a year." Nah. A person needs challenge; a purpose. Lots of FANG ICs making $500K+ who hate their job. Why? No challenge or palpable purpose. To create a scaled corp structure where a person can…

Doesn't Walmart have a disproportionately high number of employees taking advantage of food stamps due to suppressed wages? https://www.jwj.org/walmarts-food-stamp-scam-explained-in-on...

Not the $240k/year store managers, no.

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#123

Post by giantg2 »

mvkel wrote: post #67

Credit to Walmart for creating an environment where a person can still love their job after years of service. That stuff can't be faked, even with a high salary. Before you say, "it's easy to say when you're getting paid $240K a year." Nah. A person needs challenge; a purpose. Lots of FANG ICs making $500K+ who hate their job. Why? No challenge or palpable purpose. To create a scaled corp structure where a person can…

It's also possible they're saying it because they're in a national article and would almost certainly lose their job if they represented the company poorly. I would also guess PR got involved to approve or even pick which manager would show their image the best.

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#124

Post by giantg2 »

bradlys wrote: post #99
xenospn wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a close friend who was making about 1M in TC and hated every moment of it.

I’m not the friend but I’ve quit a 7 figure job. I hated it and put my money where my mouth was. I took another job for a massive pay cut. Money isn’t everything. I started comparing my everyday life to prison. “How much money would I take to live in prison?” Realized it was gonna have to be a lot more than what I was getting.

I hate my job. I've never been close to 7 figures. I'd love to have a job I'd hate and make 7 figures for a year or two.

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#125

Post by giantg2 »

bicx wrote: post #89
mvkel wrote: post #67

Credit to Walmart for creating an environment where a person can still love their job after years of service. That stuff can't be faked, even with a high salary. Before you say, "it's easy to say when you're getting paid $240K a year." Nah. A person needs challenge; a purpose. Lots of FANG ICs making $500K+ who hate their job. Why? No challenge or palpable purpose. To create a scaled corp structure where a person can…

Yeah, after a certain amount (like enough to cover expenses, have a little fun, and build savings) and a certain amount of time, your income stops being something that makes you excited. This is especially true if you’re around other people who make the same as you do. If becomes normalized in your mind. Everyone needs a challenge and some goals. Something to look forward to.

I'm looking forward to retirement. I'm not interested in professional challenges anymore. In my experience they're usually BS and you don't get rewarded.

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#126

Post by throwaway598 »

havaloc wrote: post #10

"Walking every aisle is a new practice for store bosses in her area, implemented by their regional manager. It helps managers “see what your customers see,” says Hart, and pay attention to details. It also keeps her employees on their toes." I can't believe this wasn't policy already. Seems like good practice.

Management by wandering around

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management_by_wandering_arou...

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#127

Post by bookofjoe »

loceng wrote: post #66
havaloc wrote: post #10

"Walking every aisle is a new practice for store bosses in her area, implemented by their regional manager. It helps managers “see what your customers see,” says Hart, and pay attention to details. It also keeps her employees on their toes." I can't believe this wasn't policy already. Seems like good practice.

Akin to the golden rule of "use your own product."

Eat your own dog food.

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#128

Post by giantg2 »

BeetleB wrote: post #63
karaterobot wrote: post #25

> “I love my job,” says Hart, but “it doesn’t turn off. That is one of the hard things about it.” I'm lucky that in my industry I can make a good living as an individual contributor, because having to actually think about my job when I'm not at my job sounds like a living nightmare.

If you're in SW, you probably will need to think about your job off work: They usually don't work in shifts, and will have deliverables in a timeline of months. They need to plan the work, and always adjust to hit the deadlines. If you're a doctor, then you probably don't have to think about your job off work.

And there's on-call responsibility

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#129

Post by Seanambers »

mvkel wrote: post #67

Credit to Walmart for creating an environment where a person can still love their job after years of service. That stuff can't be faked, even with a high salary. Before you say, "it's easy to say when you're getting paid $240K a year." Nah. A person needs challenge; a purpose. Lots of FANG ICs making $500K+ who hate their job. Why? No challenge or palpable purpose. To create a scaled corp structure where a person can…

There is a trap in there.

If you work a lot like this lady does you do not really have much time to reason about how you spend your life and whats important. It just happens to you. But it becomes all encompassing and consumes the person. For some thats the right way to live their life, for most not so much.

FANG has a problem in that they have a lot of highly paid individuals doing nothing or very little, so they have a lot of time to sit around and get depressed about it.

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#130

Post by giantg2 »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #61
notdang wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was a trap, she, as a boss gave 2 options for the answer: "easter or summer toys" then she proceeded with the 3rd option: eclipse. That gives bad vibes.

In some contexts yes but I think the idea is to teach the employee that they can answer with a different option. But it does depend on their relationship and personality.

If their answer is anything other than "eclipse", then they failed. There was no follow-up question to see why theh felt that way. There was no real discussion on strategy or reasoning. This is a trap.
Post reply on HN