text: why are so many people down on wal - mart these days? i don't understand why, but it seems as if wal - mart is rapidly gaining somewhat of a bad reputation. what's up with that? i've been in a number of their stores and have always been treated very well. what's going on? maybe because of unfair treatment of their employees, prices that keep going up, discontinuing programs such as lay-aways and such. according to others, they have been "going downhill" since mr. walton passed away.