"A social worker told me," she said to me indignantly, "that I'd be better off if I quit my job and went on welfare. I'm not doing that!"

I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart in at least six years, not counting when I am out of town and don't have ready access to alternatives. But the lack of alternatives is usually the result of Wal-Mart's presence. I know and understand that they provide a service to lower-income families by making some staples available that might not otherwise be affordable. But they do it at the cost of their employees, as well as at the cost of diversity in the neighborhoods they set up shop in. And the buying power they wield is what bothers me the most– they can have more effect on the content of records just by refusing to sell them, than any number of "parental advisory" stickers could ever hope to.