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I buy mine at Lane Bryant. Everything else I buy at Wal-Mart but they are the best for bras and fitt

Posted By: MT and worn out on 2008-04-19
In Reply to: Can we talk about bras? - sm

nm.


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Have you tried Lane Bryant?
Haven't been there in a while, but I know they used to have very cute things. Dressy clothes too.
Lane Bryant

I haven't tried them yet, but my hairdresser swears by them.  I am also a 40C, but i probably should be measured at this point.  I hate buying bras because I hate how large I am.


Another suggestion was that Lane Bryant does measure ya' if there's a store near you and gives tips on the fit of the bra.


I am heading there at some point because I'm having the same trouble as you.  It must be nice to have small ones and buy $5.00 bras....  LOL


Lane Bryant
xx
I have this one from Lane Bryant sm

I took out and left out the little air pocket thingies that go in it because they drove me nuts, but it works just as well without them. They have a buy one get one half-price deal on it also.


In case the link doesn't work - http://www.lanebryant.com/pagebuilder/lane_bryant_product_page?pagesize=3&my_nav=&cat=&subcat=&item=6017883


Fashion Bug; Newport News; Lane Bryant
nm
Wal-Mart does offer health insurance to their workers. Wal-Mart pays part and the employee SM
pays part of the premium.  Just like other companies do. 
Arthur Bryant's BBQ, No offense to you TN'ians but ya can't beat KC BBQ!

not in the fast lane
It doesn't really matter what lane I'm in, but in fact I hardly ever drive in the fast lane. I always move over for people who want to pass me because I figure, That's the guy who's going to keep me from getting a ticket. The point I'm making is that they ride my butt when they were getting off the freeway anyway. I go to the trouble of moving over, & then I see them in front of me, pulling off at the next exit. Like they couldn't have just gotten off while they were still behind me without having to make the big macho statement, or if they were so bent on passing me, there is normally at LEAST one lane to my left that they are welcome to use, since they are almost always going over the speed limit. And on the rare occasions when I am in the fast lane, if someone is riding me I ALWAYS move over. Always.

Jeez. I didn't expect to have anyone get in my face over such a benign thread.

is there a reason you were in the fast lane?
haha since that was my pet peeve, i had to ask... i mean i may be the one riding your butt if #1) you are going BELOW the posted speed limit or #2) there is NO ONE in the other lanes you are passing!!

and you know... you NEVER know why people are going fast. Sometimes they are just irresponsible, but sometimes they may be heading to somewhere that constitutes an emergency for them you know? not that they should put others in danger but i have learned to come to that conclusion...
I highly recommend Lane and Ethan Allen - sm
We have a Ethan Allen BR set, very good quality, about $3500 for a King bed, dresser, mirror and men's dresser/cabinet. I have my mom's old Lane loveseat and recliner, they are about 12 years old and still look and feel brand new. My mom used the recliner every day, the loveseat was used less often. They were not cheap but certainly worth it, cannot remember exactly what she spent, I would think about $1500 at least on those 2 pieces (she also bought a sectional and recliner of the same pattern for another room at the same time which my dad still has and still looks great too). Stuff like Haynes and The Dump just don't seem to last (I have friends with furniture from there). Have fun shopping!
Re - bras and E-Bay
I have a neighbor that buys clothes, underwear and all from Nordstroms or the nicer stores, wears them a bit, knows how to put the tags back on (if she even takes them off) and then either sells on E-bay or returns then after wearing for a while.  She is really weird.  Buys nice dresses, wears once to the event and then back it goes.  But when I learned what she was doing with bras, sleepwear and swimwear I told her she was absolutely nuts. 
BRAS
I find this funny. Lighten up. My daughter wanted a bra at age 2, her grandmother bought her one, she wore it around the house once and then put it away. I still have it and she is 14. I don't think I will ever know why she wanted one, and I certainly would not have gotten her one, but MIL did to please the child. It would not hurt to buy those cute little matching crop/bras and panty sets for kids with the Disney stuff on them. It is just clothes or underclothes. Be thankful she wants to wear them and not running around naked. You got to know what battles to pick.
Happens with bras with me!! nm
xx
people drive in the "fast lane" when they aren't passing anyone!!!
get over already!!!
Didn't you learn to get in the left lane to pass someone? and not only that, there are signs posted everywhere "slower traffic keep right"!!!
LOL my rant for the day :)
Wacoal bras....
are absolutely the best. They are high priced, start at about $45 and up, but worth it. I got mine at Nordstrom and will not settle for cheap bras!  I also get Victoria Secret Ipex and Secret Embrace. Very comfy, believe it or not.
Wearing Bras

Yes, I just for the first time this year bought bras for my daughter.  She seemed okay with it, but she's slightly overweight, so I felt this would be easier than buying T-shirts that are not long enough to tuck in.  So, we went with the Sport Type kind that she seemed to like at first, and now I've noticed she's not wearing them.  So, I asked her why, and she says she just forgets, which is highly possible, since it's only been since school started.  I just feel better knowing she's wearing something, but of course, she was wearing T-shirts.  So, what is one to do?  I really do not see any harm in the bra.  I am totally against having little girls dress beyond their age, but we're talking underclothes here, so if the child is comfortable, then just try one to see how she likes it.  My daughter was kind of embarassed as it was actually my idea since I felt she needed something under her regular shirts, since they tend to be thin and unforgiving in her situation.  Good luck to you, but I in no way, shape, or form believe that bra at 5 means thing at 10 and even if it does, so be it.  I think a person has a right to a certain degree to wear the underclothes of their choice if any at all!   


I just think there could be worse things that she is asking for at 5. 


Can we talk about bras?
I am a 36-D...or so I think.  The 36-part is okay, but the D-part is the problem.  Any style of bra I try, I get the "muffin boobs" out the top and it drives me insane.  A DD is too big...is there a size in between a D and a DD that I'm missing? Any particular brand that might fit better?  Thanks y'all!
why are big bras on the bottom and
the cute little AA's on top. If I reach for the ones on the bottom, I may just keep going over, unable to stop myself!
Thanks! Bras are EXPENSIVE!! nm
.
Bras - NOrdstroms fitting
I never thought that I would pay this much for a bra - but I went to Nordstroms about 10 years ago to be fitted -- before it was on Oprah - and fell in love with them.  I usually buy 3 bras at a time and they last me for at least 3 to 4 years. I tried some cheaper ones when I was going through my divorce taking the same size that Nordstrom's gave me and did not work.  I do not have straps slipping, or tightness -- unless I gain weight.   But they do know what they are doing and I now feel comfortable wearing a bra even in the hot weather.  Oprah had a special on them with the type of bra that she wears and it was all true and I agreed with all of it as I had been through that experience before.  To me a comfortable bra is more important than comfortable shoes.  
If they are wearing bras at 5, it will be thongs at 10
makeup at 12, and birth control pills at 14. How about these unbelievable salon parties some of these mothers are doing for their 8 and 10 year old girls; taking all the girls to the salon to have the hair and makeup and nails done. Today, just about everyone is a ''wannabe''. I want to be rich; I want to be beautiful; I want to be famous; I want to have big boobs; I want perfect teeth. I want a nose job. I want to be thin. I want a designer handbag. I want a cell phone, an IPOD and a blackberry! Why, because everyone that matters is or does! Everyone they look up to. Everyone on TV! That is all they know.

Ask a group of very young girls today what they want to be when they grow up and see how many say, a singer, an actress, a movie star or just plain rich and famous in any way possible! It's terribly sad what this world has turned into. And some parents are just as bad because they want this for their children, also.

TV and media magazines should be banned; it's not only destroying the kids but adults also. How many of you feel your self-esteem lowering more and more by seeing all of this stuff? How many of you have contemplated plastic surgery, veneers, teeth whitening, losing weight, especially in the last ten years? How many of you suddenly are feeling bad or envious of others because you don't have that big gorgeous home or that expensive great car?

It's a horrible world we now live in and that's why I am not having children.

And don't tell me I don't know about children because I have two nieces and a nephew that I practically raised.

Good day ;)

I hated to pay for expensive bras as well
but it really is worth it I promise you. I have a black and a nude bra from VS. I went in for an actucal fitting and these bras have been wonderful. I don't think I will ever wear anything else. I know that you don't have to go to VS to get a good bra, but I had a gift certificate, and while I don't think that is what DH was expecting my to buy, it was totally worth it. Right now I am in the second year of both bras, just wash in the sink and hang dry which definitely helps keep them in shape. I am 38D so I really need plenty of support. It is almost time for new bras, but since you can tighten the straps as well as around as you go, they have made all the difference in the world. Like I said, you can get good quality bras at major department stores without spending what you would spend at VS, but just check into it. I promise you it will be worth it.
Underwear, bras? Only to leave the house.
nm
I am small and only wear sports bras
I can't stand wearing a regular bra. I'd rather go without. LOL.
A local mastectomy center might fit you for bras, too. Or a high-end lingerie store. nm
s
Wal-Mart - $12 plus $2 tip - sm
I paid $20 plus $4 tip for a couple of years and was never completely satisfied but scared to switch hairdressers. I was in Wal-Mart one day and got a look at myself in the mirror and marched straight to the beauty shop in the store and got a cut. Been going there ever since and am completely satisfied...with cut, price, and convenience. No appointment necessary. I just go whenever I start looking straggly.
Wal-Mart
I was told Merry Christmas at Wal-Mart by the check-out lady last night. . but it is a small town in Ky.. so it might be different in a bigger town.
I have one from Wal-Mart....sm
I got a Bissell with attachments. I love it. I used it just tonight for the first time. You should have seen the dirty water!! I think for the price it is great. It has a switch where you can choose a heavy duty cleaning or a normal cleaning or just a water rinse. I love it so far!!
Hah ! Wal Mart
I swear, at my Wal Mart Saturday nights are a zoo, every weirdo in the county is there. Two weeks ago I was online with my 11 year old daughter for over 45 minutes. There was a woman in front of me with a teenage, a girl who looked about 13, and another who looked about 10. The mother was having a phone conversation on her cell phone, and every other word out of her mouth was the F word. I finally told my daughter to go look at the books so she wouldn't hear this woman anymore. I should have said something to this woman, but she looked like she could beat the heck out of me, so I didn't.
Wal-Mart nm
:)
actually I like K mart because they still have Lay A way
you have to get a credit card instead
OK. I have to stick up for Wal Mart and here is why: sm
Wal Mart is NO different than any other department store or retail store on the market today. Why do people think that you CAN raise a family while working as a cashier at Wal Mart? Or a greeter? You can't. Just as you couldn't if you were a cashier at your local grocers. These people are there to ring up our products, take our money, etc, just like any other cashier's job. You can't raise a family on a salary like that ANYWHERE so why is everyone blaming Wal Mart for low wages? The last I looked our local grocer was hiring for 7.00 an hour and that is 1.50 less than what our local Wal Mart pays.

Second. Health insurance. A company that is privately owned DOES NOT have to offer insurance for it's employees. Hence, again, go look for a company that does offer it if you need it. Don't blame Wal Mart. The employee has choices. They can work somewhere else. It is expensive!! If they offered its employees ALL of these benefits people keep crying about then guess what? They wouldn't be Wal-Mart anymore. They would be called Wal-Mall because that's what would happen to their prices. They would go WAY up! And then I wouldn't be able to get a loaf of bread for 87 cents. You get the picture. Wal-Mart does a lot of families very GOOD. They dont' have unions because unions cost a TON of money. Once again, they would have to raise prices enormously if they were to form a union. I don't want that. I don't need a Wal-Mall, I need a Wal-Mart.

So, to drive my point in further, let me sum it all up for you: 1. You aren't supposed to earn a living working at Wal-Mart. If you have to raise a family, get an education or a better paying job and don't blame Wal Mart for paying wages that your local grocer or department store pays just because you think "they can afford it." 2. If Wal Mart starts offering insurance to all employees, form unions, etc., then Wal-Mart would be just like our competitor here in town, Publix, who drive up prices 40 to 50% so that they CAN pay their employees health insurance, etc., which is fine - that is their business. But I am smart. And given the choice of paying 2.50 for a loaf of bread or 87 cents, I think the latter is a much better choice for me and my family.

If your convictions stop you, then don't shop there. But Wal Mart is just too good a thing to pass up for millions of families.

I will say this in contrast, though. I don't always go to Wal Mart because I hate crowds. I do occasionally shop at our local Publix as I find them friendlier and more convenient. But, I always spend a lot of money and don't get nearly as much for my money except maybe peace of mind.

I HATE Wal-Mart!!!

So, last weekend, 10/27, I ordered a large Nintendo Wii bundle (this includes a bunch of games and accessories) from Wal-Mart's website for my daughter for Christmas. On 10/30, I received an email stating that the Wii console was "not available" and they were canceling this part of my order. I tried to cancel the rest of my order, but WM does not allow you to cancel online orders once you place them. Obviously, I'm extremely mad as I now have a bunch of games and accessories for the Wii but no way to play/use them!! I really feel like I was tricked into buying this very expensive bundle when there's no guarantee that I will be able to get the Wii console before Christmas. I actually filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and sent a letter to Wal-Mart's corporate office. I received a response back from their customer service dept stating that they would call me to "resolve this issue" within one business day, but that was 2 days ago and nothing as of yet. The really crappy part on their behalf is that they are STILL selling this Wii bundle on their website and it states it's IN STOCK when they know very well that it's not!! So, I'm not the only one that is going to be tricked into paying hundreds of dollars for games and accessories and not getting the Wii console!


 


I really don't know if there is someone else that I can complain to - like the Attorney General or what??? I really feel like this is very unethical of them to do this. I know I can take all the games and accessories to the store to get a refund for that, but I'm still out the shipping charges which isn't right.


 


Please all you WM haters don't flame me for shopping there in the first place. I've never had a problem with them before and I'm not sure why they are treating me like this now. I really just wanted to get ideas or suggestions from anyone that knows whether this is illegal or just unethical and if there's anything I could do about it, besides complain on here and hope I keep someone else from shopping at this horrid place :)


Wal-Mart & WiFi sm
I live near a new Super one, thought it would be an added incentive since all the other stores in my area have closed and I have to go a distance to get anything I need. The store is dirty, employees are rude, most do NOT speak English, just point when you ask a question and the place smells like BO all the time. Nobody washes up anymore either, never mind dress up and be courteous! Anyway, to answer your question, they are setting up a WI-Fi area near where the Christmas trees have been since Sept., and I am sure they will be getting in shipments any day. If you live within 50 miles of one, it may be worth the trip to keep calling and see if you can pick one up right from the store. I did fall for their After Thanksgiving sales pitch once, got up at 4:00 AM only to find they had only a few per store and were all out. I am used to old-fashioned service and commitment, I don't go for this bait and switch, but hey, it's WAL-MART! You get what you pay for. So sorry, have had the same experience at the holidays. Complaining is like spitting in the ocean, won't do you much good and may come back to spray you. Try to relax and enjoy the holidays, I know we hate to disappoint our kids. Once I had to resort to cutting out a picture of what they wanted and they had to wait until after Christmas, they were just as happy though as they knew it was coming sooner or later. TTFN
Wal-mart Cake

Keep in mind this actually really did happen!!!!   This is someone who was moving from a claims office.
 
Okay so this is how I imagine this conversation went:
 
Walmart Employee:   "Hello 'dis Walmart, how can I help you?"
Customer: " I would like to order a cake for a going away party this week."
Walmart Employee:  "What you want on the cake?"
Customer:  "Best Wishes Suzanne" and underneath that "We will miss you".
Walmart Employee: "Dat all? Okay, Bye."


Seems llike I got something like that at Wal-Mart
NM
Wish I DID have a phobia of Wal-Mart
I'd have a little more money..LOL. .
Why do stores, like Wal-Mart,

always redesign their layout just when I finally learn where things are?


Why are the seats of the carts at Wal-Mart so little?  My 3-year-old barely fits in.


Why is it when I go to buy something on sale or "as advertised", the store never has it in stock?


Wal-Mart employee
I read about that as well - pitifully sad.   Shows the state of manners and common decency in this country.  If they ever find out who it was who incited this, they should get the book thrown at them!   That is one of the reasons why I shop online the majority of the time...
I always hear: Get a job at Wal-Mart..sm
Not everybody lives in the vicinity of a Wal-Mart or Wendy's, duh?
I too have a Wal-Mart brace
but I paid 14.97 for mine. It is mostly gray and very firm which is good. It sucks to work in and it makes it hurt more when I first wear it. I wear mine at night, which a lot of people say not too, but I think that at night I don't really have control of it and I could possibly hurt it worse. So I slather on some ActivOn, put on the brace, and then sleep and then I wear it until I work and that usually does the trick. Good luck!!! This job takes a toll on the wrists... and the BUTT!!!
Wal-Mart WILL celebrate Christmas...
Look it up on CNN.com.  Made the decision today.   MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL!!!
Have both worked at and shopped at Wal-Mart
My experience both as a part-time employee working odd hours for extra money while the kids were small to shopping there to stretch the overall family budget has been overall positive.  I dunno what the big whoop is.
Wal-Mart to the rescue...what we found...sm
ring just like she wants for $124.99. The exact same quality and design of ring through the school contact? $335. Someone's getting rich off of students if allowed! The best part is she'll have the ring within 2 weeks from Wal-Mart versus 3 months from the school vendor.
yep, automotive stores and I think Wal-Mart
any store that has an automotive department, could be K-Mart, Auto-Zone, anywhere mechanics get their stuff from.......maybe even the grocery store in the automotive aisle...where you can pick up oil.....
polaroid-DVR-wal-mart-ebay
;)
Correction to above.K-Mart. Not Walmart.
Wouldn't step into a Walmart. Can't even afford that store these days LOL.
I didn't realize K Mart still had Lay away!
I always loved Lay Away. You could shop and know you got what you needed and save up for it. Yes, the year Walmart did away with Lay away everybody around these parts were really upset. Most people who do lay away do so so they can use cash and not credit. Uggg. Credit. Wish I never heard of a credit card. But that's another story for another day. LOL.
One of many reasons I don't shop at Wal-Mart

Against the Wal
A class-action lawsuit in Dakota County could strike a costly blow to the world’s largest private employer
by MARGARET NELSON BRINKHAUS


In July 2001, Nancy Braun was watching television with a friend when a commercial caught her attention. The ad was soliciting litigants for a potential lawsuit against Wal-Mart, the Arkansas-based retailing giant, for allegedly cheating employees out of wages they were rightfully owed.


A single mother of two—and grandmother of four—Braun had started working for Wal-Mart in 1997. At the time, she lived in Slidell, Louisiana, where she had previously worked for a grocery store. She considered Wal-Mart a step-up. “I liked shopping there,” she says. “I thought I’d like working there too.”


And she did enjoy it, at least for a while. She liked the people, the work, the sense of solidarity among employees. But in 2000, homesick for her family, she moved back to Minnesota and transferred to the Wal-Mart in Apple Valley, where she was assigned to run the Radio Grill, the outlet’s now-defunct in-store restaurant. There, Braun quickly became disenchanted with the company, especially after a supervisor repeatedly prohibited her from taking breaks—even after she had surgery that required frequent trips to the bathroom. She soon quit.


Braun’s friend encouraged her to call the number mentioned in the advertisement to see if she qualified for the suit, but Braun was hesitant. She didn’t relish the prospect of reliving that period in her life. Yet she remembered how her mother, a longtime switchboard operator at Carleton College, had always encouraged her to speak up, to do the right thing when confronted with an injustice, big or small. “You can’t allow yourself to be treated like an animal,” she says. “I’m sure Mr. Walton would agree with me on that.”


One morning this past October, six years after she first saw that television ad, Braun sat inside a Dakota County courtroom in Hastings, her striped shirt and beige pants—bought from Wal-Mart—in marked contrast to dark suits, leather briefcases, BlackBerrys, and laptops sported by the army of attorneys in the room. “I’m a Plain Jane kind of gal, nothing fancy,” she said. “But I know what’s right. What Wal-Mart did to me wasn’t right.”


That sense of determination is one of the reasons why Braun found herself in Hastings, taking on the country’s largest corporation. She’s one of four lead plaintiffs in a massive, class-action lawsuit filed against Wal-Mart, a case that could affect 56,000 people who worked at Wal-Mart in Minnesota between 1998 and 2004. The suit alleges that over that period, the discount retailer systematically avoided paying wages earned by employees for overtime work and missed or shortened meal and break periods. And though the case is not the first of its kind—workers have won victories in similar cases in California and Pennsylvania—it may end up being one of the most significant. If Judge Robert King Jr. rules against Wal-Mart in this phase of the trial, the company would likely have to pay up to $500 for each employee, which could mean a payout in the tens of millions. More significantly, a ruling against Wal-Mart in this first part of the trial would also mean that the case would move to a jury to assess whether punitive damages are in order. If that happens, Wal-Mart could be on the hook for not only millions, but billions.


Braun’s troubles began after she returned to Minnesota. At the Apple Valley Wal-Mart, she worked in several different departments before running the Radio Grill. At first, she enjoyed the work. “I treated that place like my own kitchen,” she says. “I did it all willingly. I’m not afraid of work…never have been.” Not long after she started in Apple Valley, Braun had learned she needed to have gallbladder surgery. After the procedure, Braun suffered some relatively common side effects that required her to take frequent bathroom breaks. Braun’s supervisors initially said they would accommodate her needs, but that’s not what happened. “I’d get in a pinch, be there all alone, and soil myself, ruin my clothes,” Braun recalled. “I’d feel so degraded. Sometimes I wouldn’t have clothes with me, and the manager would say ‘We have clothes here for sale. Get your purse and go buy yourself some.’ They didn’t care.”


Putting up with an insufferable boss is, of course, an unavoidable part of a job for many people. Yet Braun’s treatment, argue the plaintiffs’ attorneys, wasn’t unique among Wal-Mart employees. Another lead plaintiff, Debbie Simonson, 59, started working as a cashier at the Wal-Mart in Brooklyn Park in April 2000. As a single mother of two children, she needed the money. And, like Braun, Simonson was often told by her supervisor not to take bathroom breaks. “He’d say ‘Skip the bathroom and get your butt out here,’ and I’d do it,” she explained in court. “It was an order. Your boss tells you to do something, you do it.” She quit after 13 months.


According to Justin Perl, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney, the denial of breaks was standard operating procedure at Wal-Mart. As part of the case, he and his colleagues combed through Wal-Mart’s own records to find workplace violations. They identified millions of missed bathroom and rest breaks, as well as millions of shortened rest breaks, along with thousands of missed meal breaks. “It’s the Wal-Mart way,” says Perl. “They nickel-and-dime the lowest- paid workers so they can improve their own bottom line.”


Wal-Mart sees it differently. A spokesman, John Simley, says the company doesn’t comment on pending litigation, but in other cases the company has denied it encourages employees to miss breaks or work off the clock. Wal-Mart, company officials maintain, tries to ensure compliance with company policies and state laws, but has no control over individual choices workers make.


Yet those individual choices are often informed by pressure from the company, argues Perl. According to testimony in other wage cases, Wal-Mart compensates its managers largely via bonuses that are tied to profits—and the easiest way to increase profits is by cutting expenses. “They do it by erasing everyone else’s salary,” says Perl. “It’s not a hard job. They cut staffing. They shave breaks. They make their profit goals. It’s the only basis for how they compensate their managers.”


Pamela Reinert, 54, saw for herself how that pressure was brought to bear. A petite, soft-spoken mother of seven from Maplewood who has a PhD in psychology, she joined Sam’s Club—a Wal-Mart subsidiary—in 1997, after she was laid off from another job. Like Braun and Simonson, Reinert liked the work, and was good at it. She made it into the management-training program shortly after joining the company. As a manager, she would sometimes try to intercede on behalf of workers who weren’t getting their breaks. Eventually, though, she was told to stop making trouble. She eventually quit after a supervisor threatened to write her up for insubordination—for trying to take her complaints up the chain of command.


A ruling on the case is expected sometime this month. But no matter how it turns out, Nancy Braun says she will always miss Wal-Mart. “I wish I could have stayed working there,” she says. She enjoyed the other employees, the customers, and the idea “that there was always something to do, always a way to keep busy. I worked my way up—that was a big deal for me. When I quit, I felt defeated.”


Now living in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, and selling insurance at a cell phone company, she tries to attend the trial whenever possible. When she’s in Hastings, she occasionally makes a stop across the street from the courthouse to do some shopping—at Wal-Mart.


Margaret Nelson Brinkhaus is a Minnesota-based writer.


One of many reasons I don't shop at Wal-Mart

Against the Wal
A class-action lawsuit in Dakota County could strike a costly blow to the world’s largest private employer
by MARGARET NELSON BRINKHAUS


In July 2001, Nancy Braun was watching television with a friend when a commercial caught her attention. The ad was soliciting litigants for a potential lawsuit against Wal-Mart, the Arkansas-based retailing giant, for allegedly cheating employees out of wages they were rightfully owed.


A single mother of two—and grandmother of four—Braun had started working for Wal-Mart in 1997. At the time, she lived in Slidell, Louisiana, where she had previously worked for a grocery store. She considered Wal-Mart a step-up. “I liked shopping there,” she says. “I thought I’d like working there too.”


And she did enjoy it, at least for a while. She liked the people, the work, the sense of solidarity among employees. But in 2000, homesick for her family, she moved back to Minnesota and transferred to the Wal-Mart in Apple Valley, where she was assigned to run the Radio Grill, the outlet’s now-defunct in-store restaurant. There, Braun quickly became disenchanted with the company, especially after a supervisor repeatedly prohibited her from taking breaks—even after she had surgery that required frequent trips to the bathroom. She soon quit.


Braun’s friend encouraged her to call the number mentioned in the advertisement to see if she qualified for the suit, but Braun was hesitant. She didn’t relish the prospect of reliving that period in her life. Yet she remembered how her mother, a longtime switchboard operator at Carleton College, had always encouraged her to speak up, to do the right thing when confronted with an injustice, big or small. “You can’t allow yourself to be treated like an animal,” she says. “I’m sure Mr. Walton would agree with me on that.”


One morning this past October, six years after she first saw that television ad, Braun sat inside a Dakota County courtroom in Hastings, her striped shirt and beige pants—bought from Wal-Mart—in marked contrast to dark suits, leather briefcases, BlackBerrys, and laptops sported by the army of attorneys in the room. “I’m a Plain Jane kind of gal, nothing fancy,” she said. “But I know what’s right. What Wal-Mart did to me wasn’t right.”


That sense of determination is one of the reasons why Braun found herself in Hastings, taking on the country’s largest corporation. She’s one of four lead plaintiffs in a massive, class-action lawsuit filed against Wal-Mart, a case that could affect 56,000 people who worked at Wal-Mart in Minnesota between 1998 and 2004. The suit alleges that over that period, the discount retailer systematically avoided paying wages earned by employees for overtime work and missed or shortened meal and break periods. And though the case is not the first of its kind—workers have won victories in similar cases in California and Pennsylvania—it may end up being one of the most significant. If Judge Robert King Jr. rules against Wal-Mart in this phase of the trial, the company would likely have to pay up to $500 for each employee, which could mean a payout in the tens of millions. More significantly, a ruling against Wal-Mart in this first part of the trial would also mean that the case would move to a jury to assess whether punitive damages are in order. If that happens, Wal-Mart could be on the hook for not only millions, but billions.


Braun’s troubles began after she returned to Minnesota. At the Apple Valley Wal-Mart, she worked in several different departments before running the Radio Grill. At first, she enjoyed the work. “I treated that place like my own kitchen,” she says. “I did it all willingly. I’m not afraid of work…never have been.” Not long after she started in Apple Valley, Braun had learned she needed to have gallbladder surgery. After the procedure, Braun suffered some relatively common side effects that required her to take frequent bathroom breaks. Braun’s supervisors initially said they would accommodate her needs, but that’s not what happened. “I’d get in a pinch, be there all alone, and soil myself, ruin my clothes,” Braun recalled. “I’d feel so degraded. Sometimes I wouldn’t have clothes with me, and the manager would say ‘We have clothes here for sale. Get your purse and go buy yourself some.’ They didn’t care.”


Putting up with an insufferable boss is, of course, an unavoidable part of a job for many people. Yet Braun’s treatment, argue the plaintiffs’ attorneys, wasn’t unique among Wal-Mart employees. Another lead plaintiff, Debbie Simonson, 59, started working as a cashier at the Wal-Mart in Brooklyn Park in April 2000. As a single mother of two children, she needed the money. And, like Braun, Simonson was often told by her supervisor not to take bathroom breaks. “He’d say ‘Skip the bathroom and get your butt out here,’ and I’d do it,” she explained in court. “It was an order. Your boss tells you to do something, you do it.” She quit after 13 months.


According to Justin Perl, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney, the denial of breaks was standard operating procedure at Wal-Mart. As part of the case, he and his colleagues combed through Wal-Mart’s own records to find workplace violations. They identified millions of missed bathroom and rest breaks, as well as millions of shortened rest breaks, along with thousands of missed meal breaks. “It’s the Wal-Mart way,” says Perl. “They nickel-and-dime the lowest- paid workers so they can improve their own bottom line.”


Wal-Mart sees it differently. A spokesman, John Simley, says the company doesn’t comment on pending litigation, but in other cases the company has denied it encourages employees to miss breaks or work off the clock. Wal-Mart, company officials maintain, tries to ensure compliance with company policies and state laws, but has no control over individual choices workers make.


Yet those individual choices are often informed by pressure from the company, argues Perl. According to testimony in other wage cases, Wal-Mart compensates its managers largely via bonuses that are tied to profits—and the easiest way to increase profits is by cutting expenses. “They do it by erasing everyone else’s salary,” says Perl. “It’s not a hard job. They cut staffing. They shave breaks. They make their profit goals. It’s the only basis for how they compensate their managers.”


Pamela Reinert, 54, saw for herself how that pressure was brought to bear. A petite, soft-spoken mother of seven from Maplewood who has a PhD in psychology, she joined Sam’s Club—a Wal-Mart subsidiary—in 1997, after she was laid off from another job. Like Braun and Simonson, Reinert liked the work, and was good at it. She made it into the management-training program shortly after joining the company. As a manager, she would sometimes try to intercede on behalf of workers who weren’t getting their breaks. Eventually, though, she was told to stop making trouble. She eventually quit after a supervisor threatened to write her up for insubordination—for trying to take her complaints up the chain of command.


A ruling on the case is expected sometime this month. But no matter how it turns out, Nancy Braun says she will always miss Wal-Mart. “I wish I could have stayed working there,” she says. She enjoyed the other employees, the customers, and the idea “that there was always something to do, always a way to keep busy. I worked my way up—that was a big deal for me. When I quit, I felt defeated.”


Now living in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, and selling insurance at a cell phone company, she tries to attend the trial whenever possible. When she’s in Hastings, she occasionally makes a stop across the street from the courthouse to do some shopping—at Wal-Mart.


Margaret Nelson Brinkhaus is a Minnesota-based writer.


Wal-Mart corporate policy states....sm
that if you ask the person at the kiosk overseeing the self-check out lines to check you out they have to. Wal-Mart has gotten a bad reputation for not hiring people and then claiming their lack of check out lines being manned by humans is due to not having enough staff. Bull crap - if you pay well you can get good employees. I NEVER check myself out and provide free labor. I rarely go there but when I do, if there's more than 4 people in line ahead of me then I go to the self-check out lines and have the person overseeing them check them out. A couple of times they gave me flack about it and I requested the store manager be called... and then the store manager made them ring me up because the manager knew it was corporate policy.

My husband has asked the manager why they even have 20 checkout lines when he's never seen more than 2 cashiers working at any time of the day. Good question I say!