Staff at Wal-Mart are so relentlessly rah-rah, you wonder how long they can keep it up. Christine Holder, 36, the manager of the lingerie and sleepware department at a store north of Toronto, says she often comes back to shop after work. "I've worked here for six months and I love coming in every day," says Holder. Although she had no formal training, she worked as an interrior designer for 17 years before joining Wal-Mart. "I loved the job, but I used to hate going in to work. I ended up feeling really bad and stressed, and here, I have peace of mind." With more than 1.2 million employees, the world's largest retailer is also the world's largest employer. Unions have repeatedly tried to crack Wal-Mart, and failed everywhere except Germany. Pay is modest, but the chain gets so many other things right. "Maybe it's in the way they recruit people," says Daryl Porter, 23, an assistant manager at a store in Mississauga, Ont. "The emphasis is on respect of your co-workers, of customers, and so you end up with people who are really friendly." Porter, a reservist in the Canadian Armed Forces, is particularly pleased that his store has tailored his hours to his training schedule. "No company could have done more for me."