A LITTLE WAL-MART STORY: Sitting around the kitchen counter this morning with daughters. Oldest daughter says she's sorry she missed last weeks' showings of the new Wal-Mart movie. I say I didn't like it that much, and was frustrated by one particular thing -- the filmmaker has a number of former W-M workers on camera repeatedly but never once asks "How much were you paid?"

Oldest daughter then tells us about a woman she knows, the mother of a friend, who has worked at a Cleveland-area Wal-Mart for nearly seven years. This woman's current pay, after seven years on the job: Seven and a half dollars an hour.

Oldest daughter says the woman continues working for Wal-Mart mostly to get health insurance, which costs her a large part of her pay. After seven years the coverage is supposed to become vested. As she approaches her seventh anniversary, she has suddenly found herself under the microscope, and is pretty sure they're building a case to fire her before that magic day arrives.

Just thought I'd pass this along in case anyone is confused by that $10 average pay figure Wal-Mart likes to toss around.

(Oldest daughter also relates that she herself applied for a Wal-Mart job several years ago and was told she would start at minimum wage.)