[mrnoodle]

I buy some things at Wal-Mart because it's cheap and convenient. The cheapness goes away when they have to pay someone $15/hr to push shopping carts from the parking lot to the store (a skillset that is sorely lacking at our local store, btw).

Our desire for having it all, right now, at the cheapest price we can get it doesn't mesh well with our tiny little consciences telling us that low-paying jobs aren't "fair". And our desire for stuff wins every time. "Wal-Mart shelf stocker" isn't really supposed to be the sort of job that feeds a family of four.

It seems to me that there's a different sense of work ethic these days. My dad (told by his mom -- really -- that he was borderline retarded and that all of his brothers were smarter than him) went into the Navy and got the GI Bill. He worked 2 FULL TIME jobs (that's 80 hours) while taking a full courseload at college. Mom taught elementary school as soon as my older sister was old enough to go, so Dad could drop one of the jobs. He picked industrial technology as his degree and got a doctorate (he actually wanted to be a forest ranger, but he put his family's needs first). This was about the time I entered the picture. I remember eating beanie-weenies 3 days out of the week when I was a child until dad was finally able to get a consulting job along with the professor gig at CSU. We lived pretty large then, taking trips and such, and rarely duplicating a meal in the same week. I remember many nights when he and my mom (who helped him with secretarial stuff and test grading) didn't get to bed until 2 a.m.

He retired a couple years ago after 25-30 years at the university, after having put 3 kids through college, paid off his house and cars, and not a single meal missed by any of us. Not a millionaire by any stretch, he makes just enough from investments and retirement to take a trip or two to see family every year. I have lived with them for the last several years, and my rent money sends them on a fall foliage tour or cruise of some kind every year or two. I'll still send them the rent when I get a house next year (after I've cleared up my financial problems, which are finally getting under control). Until last year, he regularly turned down speaking engagements from "the industry" that would've paid a nice 6-figure salary because he was sick of working. He'd rather live modestly than spend another year of his life going from 6 a.m. - midnight for someone else.

That's 30 years in the trenches, scraping by, followed by 35 years of good times, all from hard work.

Let's just say he doesn't have a whole lot of pity for people who work 20 hours a week at McDonalds and expect the government to cover the rest of their bills.