Thoughts on work ethics and work environment

When choosing a place to work, i want a place that values their employees. A place where the product, the place of business, the cleanliness matter to the management and hopefully the employees. Is that too much to ask? I started working at a retail store near my home. I thought this is great!! I can walk to work and its a place i like to shop at. I also lucked out on the job i got. I was actually hired to do one thing but then fell into another position that was so tailored to my skills and personality that i felt like i was the luckiest person. I know a lot of people think retail sucks, including my husband, but i love it. My main job does not have me dealing with guests but i do get out on the floor at times. I am basically in charge of putting the ad signs together in chronological order and locating them; It is a very detail oriented job. To do this job a person must be a self starter, not need supervision and be able to keep to a time table. I excel at this type of job and expect to be respected for my work. I am not in any way an upper employee,i am simply an hourly wage employee who has taken it upon myself to do things that upper employees are suppose to do but don't. I know i don't have to and in reality shouldn't, but i can't stand to see things half done.I actually care what our store looks like and that things are safe and accessible and clean for our guests. The problem is it seems like myself and only a hand full of others in the store care, the shelves and product are filthy. I tried to implement a cleaning system for all the floor employees, it was accepted and lasted a week. The floors of course get cleaned daily but everything else goes to pot. The furniture displays are always broken and are a hazard to customers. Product is constantly found expired, shelves are broken, label strips are broken and even after bringing this to the attention of management, nothing has changed. The employees who come in do what they have to and that's it, they talk on their phones, take longer breaks on the clock, leave the store without clocking out and then putting in a correction as if they forgot. Things get blamed on the person that is not there constantly, if you are not liked they are made to be the bad guy and eventually get fired or leave. The ones who do care realize this is a thankless store and quickly leave to go to another one, i should have taken the hint, but i am a true optimist so i stayed. The problem is: I think the optimism has been beaten out of me. People get recognition for things i do, people get promoted by sucking up to the point of infidelity. One such person came in was there maybe 4 months and was promoted over people who applied and had been with the store for years. What has happened to our work place? Why is it that no one cares anymore about anything but themselves? I mean people get hired here by phone interviews and some are not even interviewing the potential employee but their mom. When they do come in they are in jeans and a t-shirt and nothing is said, no one even blinks. I really fear for our country if out young don't care about anything, i can feel a tirade of off the subject topics so i will stop here.