As if we needed another reason not to shop at Wal-Mart...
I saw this first at Bitch, Ph.D.. Attack of the Tiny Purple Elephant directly quoted the form letter Wal-Mart is sending to people who have written in protest of Wal-Mart's position of allowing its pharmacists to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions. I expect nothing less from a company that already has a terrible reputation regarding the way it treats its female employees. I'm not surprised it extends this abyssmal treatment to all women customers. The letter says that Wal-Mart's pharmacists may decline to fill prescriptions "based on personal convictions."
Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for contacting us at Walmart.com regarding women's prescriptions for birth control. Your comments and concerns are very important to us as we strive to meet your needs.
Wal-Mart does not carry emergency contraceptives. Our pharmacists may decline to fill a prescription based on personal convictions. However, they must find another pharmacist, either at Wal-Mart or another pharmacy, who can assist you by filling your prescription. Again, we thank you for your comments regarding this issue.
You can get a your very own copy of the letter, explaining why Wal-Mart does not give a rat's ass about its women customers, in the "original Wal-Martese" by signing this petition. I already knew of (approximately) severalthousand* reasons not to shop at, much less go on the hottest date ever at Walmart.
So, just to add one more, let's translate this e-mail they sent me from Customer-Servicese to English.
Dear Fornicating Harlot,
Shut up about the birth control already. Your comments and concerns are so very important to us, that we responded to your questions about our policies with an uninformative form letter.
Walmart believes that the "Emergency" in emergency contraceptives is ridiculous hyperbole. How could the possible pregnancies of adulterers, fornicators, monogamous heterosexual married couples, and rape victims be anything but a joyous occasion and source of future cheap Walmart labor? If you want to go against God's will, you can always go to one of the many nearby pharmacies that we haven't yet driven out of business.
Our pharmacists may decline to fill a prescription based on personal convictions, as long as there is a pharmacy somewhere on the North American continent that will fill it instead.** Why are you so upset? We’re considering a policy that requires our pharmacists to force birth-control seekers to read the entire Left Behind series before being stoned to death, so our current one seems relatively benign to us.
Shut up, shut up, shut up.
Sincerely, Customer Service at Godcorp.
Walk into most any Wal-Mart in the U.S. and here are a few of the things you can buy:condoms, birth control pills, hunting rifles, " Western" style toy guns, the movie There's Something About Mary, the National Enquirer, cigarettes, the video game South Park, the hard-rocking Powerman 5000's hit Tonight the Stars Revolt. And here are a few of the things you can't buy:a " day-after" birth control kit, handguns, authentic-looking plastic guns, Playboy, rolling papers, the movie South Park, the video game Grand Theft Auto and any number of rap CDs. Inconsistent? Absolutely, and deliberately so.Big Brother down in Bentonville, Ark. knows best.
