Applying for work at WalMart is an eerie thing. I spoke to the Customer Service Manager who pointed me to a machine, like a computer game next to the wall. I had to wait for 2 kids to finish playing Spiderman on it. Then I saw it - a battered touch screen which was how I was expected to apply for work.

There was a physical keyboard but it was so loaded with something sticky it was beyond hope. The touchscreen alignment was off but I soon got used to being about 12 pixels high and 20 pixels to the right to make it work. I filled in the application. There was no place in any of the job history for me to tell them that much of my work has been in Europe. They only wanted street addresses and Zip Codes. I felt unique and unemployable. So where i had 25 characters to explain why I left the position I typed US CITIZEN LIVING IN ENGLAND which will hopefully clarify things.

What was freaky was that after completing the particulars I had to take a quiz. It tested no skills but asked me to answer in 10 degrees of "Strongly agree" to"Strongly Disagree".
86 questions on my morality and drug use! I resisted temptation. Questions like "Stealing just a little money is Okay" and "Being high on the job is alright if you get the work done" demand sardonic responses. But I just gave the company man answers. See, desperation does kill your sense of humor and rightness.

As to my ex-job the idiot boss is playing silly buggers with the settlement agreement. What a fool. I'm to be fired for being an exemplary employee who wouldn't be cheated. Which means I now have to go sign some notarized papers and file an appeal. Which means I'll make money if, and it's likely we will, we win. The stress won't stop but I'll be more right. Oh well.

One upset is that I was so entranced with Walmart versions of products that cost 50% of the real things price that I forgot to go look at Walmart Christmas cards and the Walmart book selection. I was looking forward to that. The shop was PACKED with poor people buying things that they would then attempt to struggle with on the bus ride home. (A 20 inch TV for $69 kind of thing) I walked the 6 miles home and regretted it only twice when the clear skys gave forth hail and high winds.