Yet Another Reason Why Wal Mart Is Evil

This is from B eth, who was sorely missed at work today (see previous post):

In the "Worst Persons in the World" segment on the Wednesday 3/26/2008 broadcast of Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, Wal-Mart earned the top spot on the list. It made me sad and angry enough that I felt compelled to spread the news. Below is a transcript of the story as recounted by Olbermann. Additionally, here is a link to a CNN report about the plight of the Shank family: <http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/25/walmart.insurance.battle/>

Just something you may choose to consider when you decide where to spend your money.

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And our winners, Wal-Mart. Nearly eight years ago, a Wal-Mart shelf stocker in Missouri got broadsided by a semi. Debra Shank, now 52, is now brain damaged, in a wheelchair, in a nursing home. She needs 24-hour-a-day care. She got 700,000 dollars from a settlement from the trucking company. After attorney fees, $417,000 was left for a trust fund to make her shattered life better.

Wal-Mart promptly sued Mrs. Shank for the money, because, says spokesperson Webber, Wal-Mart‘s health plan says, and your company‘s plan may also say this—you'd better check—if you get really hurt and you receive damages in a settlement, your employer can sue to get back anything it paid you for your treatment. So they sued this woman, who had 417,000 dollars, for 470,000 dollars.

Contrary to general opinion, Wal-Mart is not owned by the devil. Its stockholders are not uniformly horrible people. The stores often do not destroy and sometimes even improve communities. But you know why people think of Wal-Mart and evil in the same sentence? Because of the crap you guys do, like this—instead of letting this one go and maybe even putting out a press release saying, "We take care of our own"; maybe you get 470,000 dollars worth of good publicity. No, now you get this.

Wal-Mart‘s profit last year was over 11 billion dollars, including 470,000 dollars it got back from Mrs. Shank, who is, between the truck that hit her and what you amoral Wal-Mart trolls did to her—she is so confused that she doesn't really understand that six days after you beat her in court, her 18-year-old son was killed fighting for this country in Iraq.
Wal-Mart, may your stores melt in the hot sun; today‘s Worst Persons in the World.