I actually didn't have fucking up Walmart's business operations in mind. It was actually something on the order of the inmates running the asylum. More on that below.
I take Michael's point about monkey wrenches in the system, though, and think our two approaches could work together.
Carrol, I think maybe what you mean is that, since no one here will ever do this seriously, the dishonesty of the objections (as Eric points out I think) is that people are just rehearsing debates over human nature, theories of social change, etc. while using concerns about "the people" as cover. Michael Smith said it more poetically than I.
I question the notion that people who are pissed off aren't also in the 40%. [1] I dont' know anyone who doesn't shop at Walmart. You can consult walmart's own research for that. If it's really that big a deal, then Occupy Target! Occupy Home Depot! Occupy the Mall!
Occupy the Mall is probably one of the better approaches because Malls are spaces where people socialize but they are never places for politics. We found that out with arrests during the early days of the Iraq War.
The reason why I think this is compelling is because I've seen such an action work. We disrupted people's lives and business. There was no backlash. We clogged the streets with every motherloving tractor, combine, truck, van, wagon, and all the horses, cows, and sheep anyone felt like herding along the streets. It was one massive carnival and parade. People dressed in costumes. These were members of the quilting club, the American Legion, etc.
Oh noes! Hick farmers think like situationists? BTW, there was a bit in that essay about people taking up situationist-like actions in rural France. Something which has been erased from the histories of May 68.
As for time, last I knew, according to LBO News, people were working less than ever and watching teevee more than ever. They don't have enough time to wait an extra ten minutes in line?
But if anyone is really irritated, you can always give shit away: $5 off coupons to sympathetic local businesses, cheap bicycle helmets (<$5), school supplies, free ben and jerry's ice cream. LOL
I don't think people here realize what Walmart shoppers will go through to get shit for free!
Anyway, my original thought was more along the lines of actually running the store, take it over. It would start out by people walking in the door and casually walking in to go to work: greet people at the door, clean up in aisle 9, fold abandoned sweaters, straighten shelves, water plants in lawn & garden, squeegee windows, dress like clerks and ask people shopping if they need help.
Meanwhile, in those three big aisle that divide the store, it's carnival time and political debate time. Why not host a debate like they did at the Paris Opera? And why not making it entertaining. Why NOT simply start building a pyramid out of some merchandise. Why not juggle bars of soap? Why not dress as clowns and tickle each other with swiffer mops? Doesn't this completely expose the way that property is a set of social relationships regarding how we use places, things, and people? Violating these norms - the rules regulating how we use property - exposes ideologies of bourgeois property: how they pile up in micro-political social interactions every single day.
And why not let people know that being pissed off and angry isn't the dour life of Eyeore, but can be fun and full of laughter?
the rest of the aisles: impromptu teach-ins in the shampoo aisle. Speeches in lawn and garden. Hand out literature. Chat people up in line. Start talking to people about Occupation. Keep "shopping". Don't forget opportunities in the parking lot. We could rent RVs and camp out, no? What's Walmart's RV policy these days?
Anyway, my initial inmates running the asylum idea was that it was a takeover, where employees would start running the show. You'd have to have enough people that you take it over... and then use it for public debate, a concert, whatever.
Thinking along these lines, I quickly discarded the idea for there'd be a national guard presence in no time flat. To which I thought well, in the right time and place, if there really was crazy support for this, then you'd engage a situationist tactic of human barriers. They'd have to get through the humans and cars surrounding Walmart first. I suppose you could get sympathetic farmers and localvores in outlying rural areas to bring in their tractors and livestock. Start selling freshly plucked apples in the lot. Why not do free face painting. Give away massages. Entertain the kids with clowns. Why can't we do this on the edges of the parking lot?
so Michael's idea is interesting. it could be folded into something like the above. It's not technically illegal, though I'll bet you there are laws on the books that can be used to nab people for abandoning a shopping cart.
The whole point is to get people to see that they are shopping to capitalist time. I wouldn't worry about them feeling disrupted
Of course, none of this will happen because there aren't enough people and it'll take coordination and lots of people who can act, ham it up, and who like to talk to other people. But if you ever did have enough, then the concern that "the people" would hate it is moot.
[1] Walmart's own research shows that only 16% of people shop there because they are doing so for a good value. According to their research, only 14% of the population doesn't shop there for ethical reason. Makes sense to me: I don't know a sole who doesn't shop at Walmart.
[2] I was worried that the life of the cashier might be misery. Alas, these days, the life of the cashier at walmart fucking sucks. In smaller places, you have some relieve from the constant flow of humans. Not at Walmart. It's relentless at most Walmart's. When I did the job, there were breaks. The only times it got Walmart busy was on major holiday and the day before school starts. The pressure to go faster, bag more efficiently is a constant for them and the hordes in line are always there, unlike a cashier at, say, Walgreen's. Nothing much changes for a cashier whether you have twenty in line or fifty.