There’s Fail, and Then There’s Army Fail: December 12, 2008

In which the Army crosses the line.

Categorized

Life

My husband works retail. A few days ago, the chain of stores where he works announced that it is planning to shut down several of its stores. Fortunately, they are only shutting down new stores, and only one in our state — and it isn’t the one my husband works at.

Yesterday a guy walked into my husband’s store, came up to him and asked if he or anyone else there wanted to join the Army. When my husband said no, the man immediately turned nastily sarcastic and abrasive, telling my husband he was “just a retail worker” who should “be worried about [his] job”, and that his store was going bankrupt (it’s not). “I’m in the Army for eight years! I have a pension waiting for me! Where’s your pension?” Finally, seeing that his pitch wasn’t working, he left, grousing.

My husband’s reaction was to laugh the experience off, but having heard all the details, I’m royally pissed. It’s painfully clear what happened: an Army recruiter saw on the local news that this chain was having hard times, interpreted that to mean the whole business was going under, and headed to his nearest branch to suck up the newly–laid-off employees. He obviously expected to find a group of demoralized workers too worried about their futures to reject his advances. And he obviously wasn’t used to hearing the word “no”.

Is this how the Army works now? Picking on people right after they’ve been laid off? Lying in wait, hoping for bankruptcies so that they can swoop in like vultures? Next they’ll be knocking people over the head and impressing them.

This just disgusts me. And to think I once considered an Army career.