Second unit
American hillbilly's richest man
Art Harris
He put on his dinner suit and was going to be a waiter at the birthday party of America's richest man. In his imagination, he is bound to see: luxury houses, Rolls-Royce cars that owners ride every day, domestic dogs with diamond collars, and servants everywhere.
He set off for the building and drove through the deserted town square in Bentonville. Bentonville is a remote town with a population of 9,920 in Arkansas, where sam walton started as a small shop specializing in cheap goods and gradually developed into a discount chain Wal-Mart with $6 billion in assets. The waiter walked into a country road, turned a mailbox marked "Sam and Helen Walton" and jumped out of the car in front of a forest house.
The house is not bad, but it is definitely not a palace. The furniture is a little old, an old pickup truck is parked in the garage, and a brown bird hound runs in the yard. I don't see any servants at all.
"It's disappointing," sighed Jamie Bowie, the waiter.
Only in America can billionaires live an ordinary life like ordinary people. Sam Moore Walton, a 67-year-old discount store king, still drives his red and white Ford pickup truck 1979 through the winding country road, next to his bird catcher. When the hunting season came, he queued up at the local Wal-Mart supermarket to buy shotgun bullets like everyone else.
"He doesn't want any special treatment," said Johnny Baker, the night manager, who found it difficult to call his boss by his first name as stipulated in a recent memo of the company. Few people here consider his billionaire value. They call him Mr. Sam, and they don't blame his civilian style at all. "He is still the man who opened a discount store in the city square to dream of working 18 hours a day," said Mayor Richard Hobak.
Everyone says he is friendly, cheerful and a good neighbor. He tries his best to get along with others, never showing off or being overbearing.
No matter how late his nightlife is on Saturday night, you can still see him in the church on Sunday. Sitting on his bag seat, of course, right? "We don't have a booth," said local church pastor Gordon Garrington.
Where does America's richest man sit? Sit wherever there are empty seats. "You know, he is not that kind of person at all. He has no seat. There was a dinner party in the church the other night, and he and his wife were washing dishes in the back. "
From 65438 to 2009, the same master always cut his hair. John Mayhoe opens the door at seven o'clock in the morning and will find him waiting outside. He chats with people about domestic news, or sits in a chair and reads a newspaper. It may be Benton Democratic Daily, another Walton industry. This newspaper never lets news about him appear on the front page. It filled the Forbes Rich List at the end of the second edition.
"He is not the kind of person who falls in love with front-page news at all," explained a newspaper employee.
But one recent morning, the richest man in America did something that would surely make headlines elsewhere: he forgot to bring money. "I said,' Never mind, let's pay together next time,'" said the barber Meho. "But he said,' No, I have to go back and get it', so he went home to get his wallet."
All this, um, isn't it a little strange? "Not at all, sir," said Meho. "The only unusual thing about sam walton is that he is ordinary."
However, where Walton goes, celebrity groupies follow him, and it's hard to say how long his civilian habits can last. Since Forbes magazine announced that he owns 2.8 billion worth of Wal-Mart stock and became the richest man in the United States, he has become a rich man hiding from Tibet. He must get rid of journalists, dreamers and schemers.
"He may be the richest man on Forbes list," said Jim von Gramp, director of corporate affairs, "but he doesn't know if he is the richest man-he doesn't care. He doesn't spend much money. He does own stocks, but he always keeps them in the company so that the company can develop. What he really thinks about is the success of Wal-Mart's 100,000 employees. "
He usually comes back for a sales meeting on Friday, or an executive mobilization meeting at 7 am on Saturday. At that time, Walton will jump on a chair and lead everyone to shout the slogan of Wal-Mart: "Give me a W! Give me an a! Give me an l! Speak louder! "
So everyone shouted louder and louder. Nobody said it was a bit silly. This is part of the lifestyle of Wal-Mart in Sam: loyalty, diligence and overtime; Starting from the bottom of the company, everyone brainstorms and manages in Japanese style; Be kind to employees; Reduce the price as much as possible, and have a good sleep until dawn. Employees are eligible for stock options after one year of employment, and are repeatedly encouraged to buy as much as possible.
After the pep rally, everyone will play wild birds together or play tennis in their backyard. But his shop is always in his mind. In order to distract him from playing tennis, a guest who came to play tennis deliberately asked why a tube of tennis was more expensive in one Wal-Mart store than in another. It's not true, but it really works. Walton lost four games in a row.
Walton set up a university scholarship fund for employees' children and a disaster relief fund for employees whose houses were damaged by fires, floods and tornadoes to rebuild their homes. He believes in opening his mind and praising success.
"He would say,' That man works hard, so give him a reward,'" recalled Gerald F Arendt, a retired former president. His former employer was very stingy, so he was deeply shocked by this generosity after leaving there to join Wal-Mart. "After joining Wal-Mart, I had to change my way of thinking."
"Our success," Walton wrote in the company brochure, "is due to our employees, the treatment they received and their feelings for the company. They think it's different here, but they deserve this honor. "
Jim Genderen, the lawyer of the company, added, "I have never seen anyone working for him or contacting him for a while without benefit. I don't just mean money, of course, many people have more money. I mean something inside him-associating with sam walton will make you a better person. "