A day without bashing Wal-Mart is like a day without sunshine

And with CEO's like Lee Scott, a corporate version of brutal overseer Simon Legree, Wal-Mart will always have plenty of bashing to come

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On Private Web Site, Wal-Mart Chief Talks Tough

In a confidential, internal Web site for Wal-Mart's managers, the company's chief executive, H. Lee Scott Jr., seemed to have a rare, unscripted moment when one manager asked him why "the largest company on the planet cannot offer some type of medical retirement benefits?"

Mr. Scott first argues that the cost of such benefits would leave Wal-Mart at a competitive disadvantage but then, clearly annoyed, he suggests that the store manager is disloyal and should consider quitting.

Yep, Scott comes off just as touchy as one would think, heading an organization that gets rightly ripped to pieces for the atrocious ways they treat their lowest level employees, especially by not paying them enough to be able to afford the company sponsored health care plans

And let's face it, one can't run one of the most miserly corporations in the world without having a bit of the ol' Simon Legree in his makeup

And what we find with the CEO of the world's largest source of evil outside the present Presidential Administration is, not surprisingly, a VERY thin skin when it comes to any opinions that don't paint Mr Scott as the most altruistic of souls bent on making the lives of all he touches infinitely better & brighter

The Web site has a folksy name — Lee's Garage, because Mr. Scott pumped gas at his father's Kansas service station while growing up.

But its tone is at times biting. In his response to the store manager who asked about retiree health benefits, Mr. Scott wrote: "Quite honestly, this environment isn't for everyone. There are people who would say, 'I'm sorry, but you should take the risk and take billions of dollars out of earnings and put this in retiree health benefits and let's see what happens to the company.' If you feel that way, then you as a manager should look for a company where you can do those kinds of things."

ROWOR, ScottKittyLegree's got his claws out-talk about drama queen bitchy, Scott needs to step back from the ego diva precipice and just calm the hell down-but I'm sure he had a good reason for sniping at the manager who had the unmitigated temerity to inquire about health care benefits

Mona Williams, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said Mr. Scott responded so sharply because of the manager's sarcastic tone. The question, she said, indicated the manager failed to understand how competitive retailing is and would not be able to convey that to his subordinates.

Yeah, a manager at Wal-Mart-WAL-MART FOR GOD'S SAKE-fails to "understand how competitive retailing is"

Good Christ, a corporate behemoth and that's the BEST spin one of their numerous mouthpieces can possibly come up with? That the manager is too stupid to explain Wal-Mart's lack of health care benefits to the people working under him?

5...4...3...2...1-Right on cue, comes a slam from ScottKittyLegree about, you guessed it, those mean ol' media types

Stung by the many news media reports about allegations of sex discrimination, off-the-clock work and child labor violations at Wal-Mart, Mr. Scott wrote, "The press lives on things that are negative."

Interesting comment about living on "things that are negative", considering how hard Wal-Mart puts the screws to it's overseas workers already at the bottom of the economic ladder

And so, what's one way ScottKittyLegree thinks can not only perk up the lower level employees, but get their minds off their lack of healthcare benefits?

Why, bother the customers even MORE than the Wal-Mart Greeters already do

In one posting, he urges managers to set an example by doing more to comply with the company's 10-foot rule, requiring employees to smile and ask "Can I help you" when a shopper is less than 10 feet away.

I swear to God, if I ran into these greeters every 10 feet, I'd go to the sporting good s dept, grab a shotgun and go on a Dick Cheney styled hunt, the one for the ultimate game

Man

In his postings, Mr. Scott tries to strike a chummy, "in the trenches" tone, reminding managers how frequently he visits stores — at least once a week — and pops into meetings unannounced "to make sure there's not a filter keeping me from hearing what's really important."

You mean a filter like being asked about health care benefits which precipitates an ultrabitchy, whiny response, you mean THAT kind of filter?

But maybe we're too harsh on ScottKittyLegree-maybe he really DOES stick up for the little guy, maybe he does try to get back to his roots as often as possible

But his responses often serve to remind managers of the gap between them and their chief executive, who earned more than $17 million last year, including stock options, who hops around the globe on Wal-Mart's fleet of jets and who lives in a gated community called Pinnacle.

"I recently had dinner with the prime minister of the U.K., Tony Blair, and his wife; my wife and I had a meeting with Prince Charles to talk about sustainability; and I met with Steve Case, the founder of AOL, and talked about health care," Mr. Scott wrote in a two-week-old entry describing how he represents Wal-Mart around the world.

Well, I can certainly see how ScottKittyLegree is entitled to that $17 million salary, after all, we can only stand in mute awe & dumbstruck respect at not pushing for a higher paycheck, seeing as he has meals all over the world with the globe's prime movers & shakers

Yep, certainly underpaid for that globetrotting is our ScottKittyLegree, I can't imagine how anyone could perform such corporate accounting wizardry at the rock bottom bargain price ScottKittyLegree so generously charges

But regarding all the problems Wal-Mart's gone through for years now, let ScottKittyLegree have the last word ala looking in the mirror and describing what he & his rapacious corporation

"If you choose to do the wrong thing: if you choose to dispose of oil the wrong way, if you choose to take a shortcut on payroll, if you choose to take a shortcut on a raise for someone — you hurt this company," he added. "And it's not unlikely in today's environment that your shortcut is going to end up on the front page of the newspaper. It's not fair to the rest of us when you do that."

Nope, considering how badly Wal-Mart shafts it's lower level employees, it sure isn't fair in the least when ScottKittyLegree sneers at their problems & has hissy fits at justifiable questions