The Walmart Monopoly

Pretty much anyone and everyone has heard of Walmart. Walmart is an American based retail corporation with countless chain stores around the nation. Servicing and selling everything from groceries, toys, cosmetics, and automotive services, Walmart gives a mass amount of goods and services to consumers. Combined with Walmart's slogan of "always low prices", Walmart has begun to build a reputation of being a one-stop shop with low prices. Walmart prides itself on having the lowest prices and even offering price matching, matching the price of a competitor if proof is shown. This type of simple system attracted consumers at large and keep them hooked due to the prices.

What I have found is that with mass quantities companies, quality is usually sacrificed. As a Walmart shopper myself I have found this to be true in some departments and not as prominent in others. When it comes to food, specifically produce, I am often dismayed by the amount of unripe and rotten fruits mixed together in the stands. However, Walmart's generic brand has often proven to be the more cost-effective choice when it comes to cosmetics and skin care products and often proves to be a staple item for me. This amount of variability within the store has caused me to become a fluctuating Walmart shopper. Coming to college, I made the change to Meijer, a store I had previously been unfamiliar with. However, overall Meijer has proven to be a more dependable company to me in terms of overall quality and service. Walmart's brand and reputation combined for me hasn't been one that has withstood my personal experience and instead has fallen second or worse to other competitors with common business strategies and goals. 

Reputations and Personas

After taking up an undergraduate research position with a fellow UofI professor this past semester, I have noticed that I have not only gained invaluable research experience and skills but also professional and social skills regarding how to behave and act in this situation. Working closely with a professor and three other undergraduate students, acceptable behaviors and norms were set the moment we walked in the door. All four of us students knew that we should be on time if not early to our weekly meeting and emails should be sent promptly and checked frequently. It was never explicitly told to us or written out, however, once one student started slacking, it became increasingly clear. For this one student, she had originally been given the opportunity to be paid for this research position, however, the grant had fallen through and her offer had been rescinded. Her lack of incentive and motivation became clearer as her emails became less responsive and she often had to cancel on meeting times. The professor and us remaining students never talked about her change in behavior, however, it was implied that this would affect her reputation with not only the professor but also us students. So while I watched this unfold, I couldn't help but make sure I was keeping in check. Often times I would end up having to pick up the slack for her. While I really didn't mind since the work went hand in hand with what I was originally doing and actually probably would be done more efficiently by one person, I made sure I held my own weight with my original duties and kept in contact with the professor. In a way, I believe this helped me build my reputation in comparison to her's, so while her reputation continued to decrease, mine did the opposite. 

I believe that by utilizing this change in group dynamic, I was able to benefit my professional reputation with the professor and with the remaining students. The remaining students looked to me as a resource and someone who was dependable and able to rely on. So with the next upcoming semester, I was able to secure an offer from the professor to continue working with him and the remaining students and possibly even gain course credit. While I had never really thought beyond this semester and what kind of opportunity this could hold for me, I am very glad I upheld my reputation throughout the position. 

This past weekend was actually my first time that my behavior wavered. When the professor asked me if I would be free to meet a second time the following Friday, I quickly calculated in my head and realized that Friday was an open day for me, however it was also my birthday. Of course I didn't want to have to work on my birthday and had been looking forward to having the day to myself, I knew I couldn't tell the professor this truth. So instead, I told a white lie and told him my day had already been filled. While I know my moral reputation had gone down a little bit in that moment, I chose to continue to uphold my professional reputation and instead tell him this reasoning. Having to give up a little bit of my integrity to gain a free day was something I chose to do.