Corrupt Workplace

When I first joined Vocal, one of the top stories was a story about how workplace discrimination does not take place. As I was at the time employed at a place that broke that rule yet denies any wrongdoing I could not speak about it. I like many people in Alberta struggled to find work with the onset of the pandemic. Worse yet is I suffer Schizophrenia, Complex PTSD, and Sensory Processing Disorder. Most places of employment dislike hiring people with disabilities due to occurrences that happen. Walmart Canada ultimately did employ me in May 2020. Two months ago I had to leave because the toxic work culture and discrimination was too overwhelming.

Walmart Canada has three types of associates, full time, part time, and part time flex associates. Almost all workers are now hired as part time flex. I was an exception. I was hired for E-commerce as a part time employee. The day I came in for training I learnt that there were no positions left. They put me as a cashier. There was no communication that I was to be a part time flex associate. Part time flex means no guaranteed hours-often you get no hours a week, no benefits and no sick pay. You have to have open availability and while you can pick up shifts from others, the hours are never good. Luckily I don’t have a life outside work.

The management loves to promote women over men. Note this is store specific. The front end manager was a woman who could not do the schedule properly. Some days without telling anyone they would find their shifts changed without any notice. Failure to come in resulted in reprimands. Thankfully I checked the schedule daily. Some days in spite of the company being extremely wealthy, I would be all alone with line ups of twelve people forced to cash them as fast as possible. Majority of the people were scheduled in the morning and given a set time every day. They push you to sell MasterCard’s which actually have a 19 percent interest rate. While I was always transparent about any fees I still succeeded in selling some. After about a year my therapist noting significant stress from me demanded the store transfer me out of cashier.

I worked on the sales floor building displays and moving merchandise. Some of the full time people hardly had to do much work. Some did not have to lift any more than ten pounds. I brought it up to management that if I could only get 5 hours a week, why could they not be forced out of full time for not being physically fit for the job. The manager brushed it aside. Naturally I had to do the same. January 3, 2022 I came in feeling unwell. They sent me home no pay. I tried to reason with them to no avail. I got a rapid Covid test which said negative. However, I had to isolate without pay for five days. January 8, 2022 I return. The cart pusher has fetal alcohol syndrome and neglects his job. He is full time, gets Alberta income and has an Indian status card. It was not the first or last time management would send me out to do his job while I had to neglect my own health. This by no means is the cart pusher’s fault. His disability makes him get distracted.

The store is busy and some people had called in sick. I work outside in the bitter cold for three hours straight. I come in to use the bathroom and when I walk out I start having violent convulsions. The management accuse me of not dressing warmly enough. I go via cab to the hospital. The doctors hear my story and say regardless of how I dressed my body should not be under stress. I tell them I don’t get sick pay, and they do a Covid test. It turns out I am Covid positive. By government law I have to be paid by Walmart for this. They say they will pay for five days. Yes, as you guessed four hours for five days totally twenty hours of pay. I miss three weeks of work and just get a small amount of pay.

My schedules come three weeks in advance. I get 4-12 hours per week with a chance to be called in. I sometimes would be called for a three hour shift. When I get my two year review my manager states that I need to work on communication to state if I need a day off or less workload. The whole time I had been there I begged for less workload. One day I had a seizure and while they said they would go easy on me they did note. I had to get carts from outside, pull trucks and run a cash register on top of getting my own work done. Sadly, management is terrible. I bring up concerns and they get waved off. I beg them to understand that they keep forcing me to do other people’s jobs and yet the lazy people still get paid. A few days later they present a Shining Star of the Year Award to me. Rather than making me happy I destroy said award as soon as I get home.

Politics and religion talk there is taboo but it happens. There is a large lazy guy working there who makes inappropriate jokes saying priests are pedophiles and Republicans are evil. I bring this up to management. The supervisor tells me-don’t like life? Kill yourself. As a person who thinks of suicide everyday-issues with perserveration, this bothers me. I go higher up and they ignore this concern. I stayed in the job a couple more months until I finally realized that the toxicity was building. While I am actively looking for work, I could not by any means be in that environment again.