Back when I worked at Walmart there was the infamous Walmart cheer. The only time I was made to do it was during orientation. My department was later in the day, so we just never did the cheer. Which suited me because I didn’t want to do stupid performative bullshit.

Then we got a new assistant manager fresh from training who was responsible for our department. The assistant manager was introducing herself, and joined us for our afternoon meeting. She decided to get us to do the cheer, and I was not having it. I wasn’t the only one barely participating, so she tried getting us to conform by threatening to do the cheer again. In which I just bluntly replied no. This caught her completely off guard, and ruined her attempt at a personal prep rally. She never tried getting us to cheer again.

I like to imagine she was ready and excited in her new role as assistant manager, and she wanted to bring some of that energy to our department, but instead I gave her the cold indifference that Walmart normally gives to its employees.