As a millennial: I think it’s the dichotomy between “I play the game even though I hate it because it genuinely feels like the only viable option to have a remotely satisfying life” and “fuck the game”.
The comp cut thing is going to be interesting to see play out, because that comp is why most people put up with working at places like that. They’re selling their morals. And I can’t honestly blame them that much, considering how unforgiving and brutal the socioeconomic system in this country has become.
Meta-commentary: as a term of art in the sphere of employment law, “right to work” is intentionally confusing to laypersons. That was one of the points of the legislation that established the concept: make people who don’t bother with doing research judge the book by its cover, as it were, in the interest of suppressing union activity.
If people are ultimately willing to abide by the rules of democracy, they’re not a lost cause - they can be negotiated with.
The line is drawn at dogmatic, slavish devotion to the idea of power at all costs with complete disregard to democratic processes. That isn’t something you can have a debate with.
I’m a staunch progressive, but if she somehow becomes the nexus of a new “reasonable conservative” party in the US, I would honestly love it. I disagree with her on nearly everything - especially domestic matters - but she and I both apparently actually give a shit about small-d democracy, and that’s something I can actually work with.
So, my imaginary friend is telling me to pull down as many voter records as possible for swing states and build an analysis pipeline to determine which voters are conservative and then automatically file challenges to their registrations.
If these chucklefucks really want to fuck around, I and many others are perfectly happy helping them find out.
The stuff from these stores do not have a shelf life
And therein lies another aspect of why DG is horrible: not only do they push stores that sell non-consumables out of business, but also grocers.
In terms of foodstuffs, DG pretty much only sells low-quality and -nutrition groceries with extremely long shelf lives, like chips, bottled drinks, snacks, sometimes some crappy frozen stuff squirreled away somewhere - you know: junk food. No fresh meat, poultry, fish, fruits, or vegetables, ever. So not only does DG exacerbate socioeconomic issues in poor area, but they also exacerbate and create health problems in low-income populations that they serve, because they push all the stores that sell any food or groceries of reasonable quality out of business.
I’m not talking about how there are a small handful of reasonable use cases as a customer that make sense at Dollar General.
What I’m pointing out is that they’re intentionally nickel-and-diming poor people on cost-of-goods. If you compare pretty much anything Dollar General sells to the same thing at Costco (or, even better, the Kirkland brand stuff, which is generally at least as good AND less expensive), you’re going to be paying a LOT more per weight/volume/unit at DG.
Their business plan is to go into economically-depressed areas, undercut EVERY OTHER STORE IN THE AREA and force them to close, and then they can do literally whatever they want because they’ve cornered the market by driving the competition into the ground. And they use that monopoly to exploit poor people.
It’s super fucked up, and their business model has a demonstrably negative socioeconomic impact on areas that are already struggling socioeconomically.
They’re “cheaper” as in “you walk out the door generally having spent less money”, but they are absolutely FAR more expensive in terms of how much you pay per quantity/volume of products purchased.
It’s a chain that’s specifically designed to predate on poor people. The business model is “separating poor people from their money by making them a shitty offer that they can’t really refuse”.