Welcome to the New World of Machines
Welcome to the New World of Machines brought to you by the laziness of people.
We know the old adage. "No one wants to do their job anymore." Thanks to technology, we can add to that. "Why should they when a machine can do it for them?" Walmart human resource people found a way to do less on their job. Let a machine reject job applicants so a human doesn't have to weed through them all.
Around one in the morning, I applied online for a job with Walmart. The application is not an easy task. It took me about two hours to get through it...a lot of time for a job that doesn't even pay a living wage. The last part of the application process consisted of an online job interview, Walmart's euphemism for personality test.
After taking the test, I checked my email to ensure the application went through. Waiting for me sat an email from Walmart with the standard, non-original subject line, "Thank you for applying...." I opened the email and it informed me in short, sweet terms that I was no longer being considered for the position because I wasn't competitive enough.
Since it was two in the morning, I knew no person reviewed my application. The computer decided I wasn't competitive enough. Given my experience for the position, I deduced that the computer based its decision on the personality test...oops, online job interview.
Best I can figure, my non-competitive nature must've been inferred by the handful of superlative questions asked. The superlative questions were questions in some form like "you would do anything to meet store goals." I had four answer choices: completely disagree, somewhat disagree, somewhat agree, completely agree. For these superlative questions, I answered "somewhat agree." I wouldn't lie, cheat, or steal to meet store goals. I wouldn't bad mouth a coworker to ensure I got the promotion. I wouldn't falsely document records to make it look like I was doing a better job than I was. In short, "I wouldn't lie, cheat or steal," covered the exception to every superlative question asked. I could not answer those questions "completely agree" in good faith.
Now I understand why my shopping experience at Walmart is always a bad experience. A company is only as good as the people it hires. Walmart appears to want employees who lie, cheat, or steal to get ahead and make the store a success. When you have liars, cheaters, and thieves working for you, you end up with cameras in the store following your every move. You end up with signs posted everywhere, including the bathrooms, that shoplifting is a crime that will forever alter your life for the worse. You end up with store employees boasting about Walmart's security system that takes a picture of your car in the parking lot if you are suspected of stealing. You have customer service scanning your driver's license if you return an item without a receipt.
Let's back up there. The growing trend in retail is to scan a customer's license for anything they want to keep a record of. Walmart and Target scan driver's licenses for returns without receipts. Goose Creek and Royal Farms convenience stores scan for alcohol purchases. None of these stores have a privacy policy posted anywhere. I emailed all four stores asking what information is being stored when the license is scanned, how long it is kept in the database, who has access to it, and what legal recourse an individual has if the database is breached. None responded to my information request. It's their secret...and law enforcement's secret. Perhaps there is some truth to the rumor that every time a store scans your driver's license, the scanned information (including the transaction conducted) is forwarded to the local police and Homeland Security for review. With liars, cheaters, and thieves running some of these stores, sharing the information with law enforcement wouldn't surprise me.
In the New World of Machines ruling the Police States of America, we're all guilty of something. Cameras follow us. Metal detectors and X-rays record what's in our pockets. Scanned driver's licenses track our moves as we visit buildings or conduct daily business. It's only a matter of time before a machine not only refuses you a job, but will send the police to your door for that something everyone in power knows you're guilty of...even if you don't know what it is.
The liars, cheaters, and thieves hired by the machines are safe as long as they play by the machines' rules and help catch the rest of us guilty ones. The rest of us are unemployed oafs one step away from a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
For your listening pleasure:
Posted by A Drunk Redneck
We know the old adage. "No one wants to do their job anymore." Thanks to technology, we can add to that. "Why should they when a machine can do it for them?" Walmart human resource people found a way to do less on their job. Let a machine reject job applicants so a human doesn't have to weed through them all.
Around one in the morning, I applied online for a job with Walmart. The application is not an easy task. It took me about two hours to get through it...a lot of time for a job that doesn't even pay a living wage. The last part of the application process consisted of an online job interview, Walmart's euphemism for personality test.
After taking the test, I checked my email to ensure the application went through. Waiting for me sat an email from Walmart with the standard, non-original subject line, "Thank you for applying...." I opened the email and it informed me in short, sweet terms that I was no longer being considered for the position because I wasn't competitive enough.
Since it was two in the morning, I knew no person reviewed my application. The computer decided I wasn't competitive enough. Given my experience for the position, I deduced that the computer based its decision on the personality test...oops, online job interview.
 |
| Walmart's HR rep who didn't hire me |
Now I understand why my shopping experience at Walmart is always a bad experience. A company is only as good as the people it hires. Walmart appears to want employees who lie, cheat, or steal to get ahead and make the store a success. When you have liars, cheaters, and thieves working for you, you end up with cameras in the store following your every move. You end up with signs posted everywhere, including the bathrooms, that shoplifting is a crime that will forever alter your life for the worse. You end up with store employees boasting about Walmart's security system that takes a picture of your car in the parking lot if you are suspected of stealing. You have customer service scanning your driver's license if you return an item without a receipt.
Let's back up there. The growing trend in retail is to scan a customer's license for anything they want to keep a record of. Walmart and Target scan driver's licenses for returns without receipts. Goose Creek and Royal Farms convenience stores scan for alcohol purchases. None of these stores have a privacy policy posted anywhere. I emailed all four stores asking what information is being stored when the license is scanned, how long it is kept in the database, who has access to it, and what legal recourse an individual has if the database is breached. None responded to my information request. It's their secret...and law enforcement's secret. Perhaps there is some truth to the rumor that every time a store scans your driver's license, the scanned information (including the transaction conducted) is forwarded to the local police and Homeland Security for review. With liars, cheaters, and thieves running some of these stores, sharing the information with law enforcement wouldn't surprise me.
In the New World of Machines ruling the Police States of America, we're all guilty of something. Cameras follow us. Metal detectors and X-rays record what's in our pockets. Scanned driver's licenses track our moves as we visit buildings or conduct daily business. It's only a matter of time before a machine not only refuses you a job, but will send the police to your door for that something everyone in power knows you're guilty of...even if you don't know what it is.
The liars, cheaters, and thieves hired by the machines are safe as long as they play by the machines' rules and help catch the rest of us guilty ones. The rest of us are unemployed oafs one step away from a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Posted by A Drunk Redneck
Comments
Post a Comment