Life Within a Big Box

Book excerpt: For more than 25 years, author Megan O’Hara worked as an hourly associate at Walmart in fifteen stores across five states. In Life within a Big Box, she shares her story, revealing the challenges, laughter, tears, fun, and hard work that went into every year. In chronoloigcal order, O’Hara describes her work experiences. This memoir follows her career from one store to another, through her progressive and sometimes regressive steps toward her final goal. Offering a behind-the-scenes look at how the stores work, she discusses: well-managed and ill-managed stores; how to do the job; shift changes and schedules; a CEO visit; fraternizing with hourly associates; unfair coaching with integrity at stake; discrimination, unions, and Walmart; corporate rules; Black Friday, Christmas, and other holidays; theft; associate camaraderie and favoritism; and hourly wage problems. Life within a Big Box gives an insider’s perspective of Walmart and explores what it’s like to work for the largest retailer and private employer in the world.