March 26, 2008 03:06 PMWell, this just sealed the deal: Why I am never going to shop at Wal-Mart again.
Watch this video... then ask yourself "Do I really need to buy anything at Wal-Mart that I can't find at another store?" The answer is no. . . and you won't be supporting stupid, horrible shit like this.
Debbie Shank used to stock shelves at night for Wal-Mart so she could spend time in the afternoons with her three sons. Now she lives in a nursing home, requires around-the-clock medical care and owes Wal-Mart almost $500,000.
The story of the Shank family is heartbreaking in the sense that it could happen to anyone. Driving home one night, Debbie's car was hit by a tractor-trailier, leaving her brain-damaged and paralyzed. After collecting health insurance money for hospital bills (Debbie's policy with Wal-Mart paid for over $400,000 worth of emergency care), the Shanks sued the trucking company responsible for the accident, hoping to provide for Debbie's long term needs.
Now Wal-Mart has sued the Shanks, citing a line of fine print in Debbie's insurance policy that entitles the company to any lawsuit settlement. Wal-Mart intends to collect $470,000 from the Shanks, despite the fact that this will undoubtedly bankrupt Debbie's family.
A CNN interview with Jim Shank, Debbie's husband, gives some insight into how difficult the legal proceedings have been. Wal-Mart earned $100 billion in the final fiscal quarter end of 2007, meaning the company earned the disputed $470,000 in just 38 seconds. When confronted with a lifetime of medical bills and longterm care, Jim Shank was understandably disspirited.
"They are quite within their rights. But I just wonder if they need it that bad," he said.
Btw, the Shanks also lost a son fighting in the Iraq War. Just you know, to add to the fact that this is fucked up.
Well, 60 pages later... and I managed to score myself a 100 on that god awful paper! That means I am at least one step closer to getting an A in at least one of my courses this semester. I don't think I am going to get a 4.0 once more, but I have come to terms with that (besides, four courses instead of 3 is a hell of a lot harder). Now I just need to start getting in some other work during the lull between this paper and the next monstrosity (which should be double the first... which was around 45... so 90?!).
See what happens when I get lost in paper land? I swear that I must be writing to much for this damn class: there is no way we are really expected to be turning in a 60 page paper every time for an undergraduate course. I know that there is English in the title, but I haven't even ever written something this long for a literature class (the longest paper so far for that is 27 pages and I thought that was monstrous at the time). I might as well be writing a thesis or something, considering the amount of time that I am taking to craft these things. Worse, I know that I could have done better and that kills me.
This weekend was fun, beyond someone somehow deciding that my favorite SandtheC character is a heinous bitch. I would have thought that being labeled Miranda was a good thing... I love Miranda, but I just figured that I was far more likely to be the Samantha of the group than anyone else. Yes, the conversation was as lame as I am making it out to be, but we apparently offended someone and I honestly did not intend for that to have happened. I kind of feel bad, if you weren't getting the reason for this post.
Easter came and went. It's not even a remotely enjoyable as a holiday anymore: We don't look for eggs at my grandparents (that stopped this year, I just put ten dollars in every egg and was done with it) and we don't get easter baskets at my parents. I won five dollars in a scratch lottery ticket... but that's not really going to get me very far in this world, is it? Already last as far as holidays go... this year (where I spent my time writing a paper) has cemented Easter as my least favorite. Congrats Easter!