Not really, some are good, some not so good. I worked a lot of different low wage jobs, not at Wal-Mart but some in retail and a lot in food service. Retail's better than food service IMHO. I never would have made it thru college without some of these jobs. The no autonomy and little prestige seems to be dependent on the specific job and in comparison to what? I can say without doubt that I've been treated better at some low wage jobs than at some of the biggest financial institutions in the world. I'm not one for saying 'everyone should have to do this in life' but if I did the one suggestion I would make is that everyone should have to have a job serving the public because they'll learn more about people in 6 months than they would in 4 years of college or just about anywhere else.

"There are ways in which academic and retail jobs are similar as well as ways in which they are different.
"Low level retail jobs at Wal-Mart are less desirable than many jobs but more desirable than some jobs--or no job.
"Undesirable jobs are often a gateway to more desirable jobs. And food."

You got it

Many of the part timers at Wal-mart and similar retail places want part time jobs, because they are often students who don't intend to make their retail job their career. I worked retail all through high school and college-the vast majority of people I worked with were part timers, because they didn't want more than 20 or so hours a week. I worked 20 hours a week-because that was all I needed.

And I have to agree that anyone viewing their job as a cashier or stocker as the height of their employment goals is pretty sad-those jobs are entry level.

My husband managed a grocery store while completing his college and masters degrees. About half the employees were high school or college students. A hard working employee willing to move around the stores within a district could easily be in management within the first year or so of employment. One of the guys who worked stock crew for my husband had a full time job elsewhere (union at that) and worked at the grocery for extra income. My husband begged him to come on full time and go into management (it took the guy a couple of years and a royal screwing by his union, but he did come on). Its been about 4 years now, and he is a district supervisor within the company and doesn't need a second job to keep his family fed.

My mom worked part time for about 6 months at a department store, and they got no benefits at all.

The unions don't seem to be fighting to have all those jobs unionized...

And, in the grand scheme of things, most jobs suck.

Maybe this is why they call it work. After all if was fun and exciting, it would be called 'fun' and not 'work'.

James, it seems it is "Answer the Obvious Questions Day" here at OTB.

The Wal-Mart job sucked, but it did pay off my credit card debt and it paid better than any of the other retail jobs I had in college. And, in the grand scheme of things, most jobs suck. The working conditions at Barnes and Noble were slightly better (mainly because BN's aesthetics are a bit upscale from Wal-Mart's), but the pay and benefits were worse, the dress code was more expensive, you were expected to know more (Wal-Mart at least had paid training for what you did need to know, while the answers to customers' obscure book queries weren't in any manual I could find), and shelving books is pretty damn boring work.

And, unlike academe, nobody should be making a career out of working at Wal-Mart, for the reasons you articulate. With the exception of management, I'm pretty sure nobody does. Most everyone I knew there was in school part-time or full-time, which they couldn't have done without the income.