Damn the WalMartians and other rude self-centered-shits

The BBQ Pit
21

Crazycatlady:

"Unfortunately, this isn’t a new thing. Am I the only one here who remembers the Cabbage Patch Kids riots of the early to mid 80’s?
"

I remember, but I was also a little girl. I wanted a Cabbage Patch Doll too, but was smart enough to wait until the hype died down to ask for one. A year later, I got one. She’s a red head named Gisela in her original yellow dress. The only things missing are her shoes and socks. Yes, I still have her! :smiley:

Anyway, I’m one of those people who likes to wait until all the hype dies down, then I get whatever it is that I want.

22

Ah, racism. I lived in a mostly white town, and when the Cabbage Patch Kids finally arrived in my department store, there was only a small pile of black dolls. So I got my doll. Dad encouraged me to wait until we could find a white doll, but I was delighted to find the hard-to-get toy and insisted on having the one that was available. And I named it after Dad.

23

They’ve shipped most of our jobs to China thanks to corporate bullying, hired illegals and the acted surprized when they were caught, and I’d bet about… 25 cents that those security tapes are no where to be found.

24

[MOE SYZLAK VOICE]Ow!! OW!!! OW!!! Why would you wear cleats to a store opening!!![/MOE SYZLAK VOICE]

25

My uncle bought me a Cabbage Doll in England. Before that, I only had a homemade one that a neighbor of my aunt’s made.

I believe I still have the one real one-I don’t know about the other one, though.

26

Sorry to continue the Cabbage Patch Kid hijack, but oh man, I hope you find the clothes.

I had the same idea as you (pulling out my cabbage patch kids for my baby) and imagine my surprise to discover via E-Bay that the dolls are pretty much worthless. It’s all about the clothes. Original CPK clothes run a pretty penny…if you can win an auction!

I recall I ordered mine just before the craze hit. She arrived when everyone was hot for one. I remember being horrifed that some woman wanted to buy my doll. At the time, you might as well have asked me to buy my child!

27

Oh, God.

I was telling the CSM’s about the Florida incident and, wouldn’t you know… The overnight CSM related the following.

At our store, we had an associate guarding the plastic-wrapped pallet of DVD players. At a couple of minutes to six, her manager gave her the go-ahead to unwrap them and let the customers have at it and…

they stampeded. She ended up on the floor with her feet entangled in the plastic wrap. The customers knocked the DVD players over on top of her and trampled her as they made their mad grabs for the players. Another associate tried to rescue her, but couldn’t get through the crowd. She managed to untangle herself, got to her feet and took off down the aisle at a dead run, trying to get away from the customers.

Gloria’s OK. The worst of her injuries is a nasty bruise on her belly.

I really don’t have much hope for us as a species.

28

This is exactly why I hate Black Friday and never shop on that day. I used to work retail, Wal-Mart to be exact. That store was a hometown store; one that is small, closes at 10 p.m. and does not have groceries.

I remember one year was pretty bad. Everyone had to be at work at 5 a.m., which wasn’t a problem. When I pulled into the parking lot fifteen minutes til there was already a crowd at the doors. I had to squirm my way through the seething, barely human mass.

When the manager arrived just before 6 o’clock the crowd was foaming and frothing at the mouth. People were shoving others aside to get closer to the doors. Many were pressed up against the glass.

Several of my co-workers and I were standing just inside the store, watching humans transform into mindless zombies. The manager point blank told the crowd if they did not step back, make room for each other and enter the store in a civilized manner she would keep the doors locked until they decided to cooperate.

They treated her as if she was a supreme diety, bowed down to her, kissed her feet and begged her forgiveness just so they could get inside to buy, buy, buy.

Once inside, though, they once more were frothing consumer beasts eager to rip the head off any employee who had the bad luck to inform them the store was out of something.

29

Wal-Mart did 1.52 billion on Friday and they still find it necessary to charge the poor woman $29 for the DVD player?

If I were in charge of that store I’d invite that lady to have at least a $500 shopping spree on the house and pray to God she doesn’t hire a lawyer.

30

I heard somewhere that if Jane McTrampled accepts Wal-Mart’s offer of holding the shiny player then she can no longer attempt a lawsuit, having "settled’ with the company for aforementioned service of holding shiny player. Can anyone clarify this?

31

Question: Why does EVERYONE have to shop on the Friday after Thanksgiving? I mean, I am thinking about the season right after Halloween. Why is it a tradition to do this every last Friday in November?

I like Wal-Mart. I like that they are open 24/7, they have everything I need under one roof. ALL RETAIL SUCKS, not just Wal-Mart. I’ve worked at Sears, sold shoes, auto parts store, chain bookstore. The workers (including management) tend to be underpaid and overworked. My manager in the chain auto parts store (not AUTO ZONE) had to be in that store 6 days a week, including a open to close day on Tuesday (about 12 hours). The manager of the bookstore (who was a total prick) did about the same thing. He did about 15 hours one day, and even though I hated the SOB, I somewhat felt sorry for him.

Retail drones are not usually allowed overtime (I worked in a Blockbuster where the “full time” staff worked 39.5 hrs a week, and we had to pay for our own uniforms, making 4 dollars/hr in 1990, cheap bastards.)

I have gotten off track a bit, people, PLEASE try to be nice to retail people. Allow them to be rude from December1 to December 26 (when another lady gets ran over at Wal-Mart). Retail sucks, sucks, sucks sucks, and I would rather beg or sell my fat body than do it again.

GRADY

32

Remember, folks-- “Don’t hate tha playa, hate tha game.”

Yes, I do the retail thang. At Wally-World, no less.

Okay, I’m no good with the slang, so I’ll stop. Yes, a woman was trampled and hurt by folks drooling over $29 DVD players. How DARE WE sell them for so cheap. Clearly it’s our fault. After all, we have had all these other $43 DVD players in the store for something like six months now-- It’s easy to see why one would want to spend two hours in line on a cold early morning on their day off to save fourteen bucks.

The one thing I learned on Friday is that people who pay $29 for a DVD player don’t have a TV with anything other than coaxial inputs.

But that is another rant.

33

Boy have you got that right. Okay, a broken leg on the mend is nowhere near the ballpark of getting trampled and then run over by the crowd, and having to go to the hospital…but I got rammed by a lady’s shopping cart sometime last week before the shopping madness had even started!

It was at Fred Meyer as I was passing the electronics section. Now, my leg is healed well enough to go at almost the same speed I could before I broke it, but I can’t stop quickly and I can’t turn on it quickly either. Not pushing a cart anyway.

Anyway, this was one of my “bad days” I’d taught two classes (the one right before shopping being a two hour dance class), and the leg was pretty sore, and I was leaning on the cart a bit, and moving more slowly than usual.

As I was passing the exit for the electronics section (no walls, just those clear “alarm” uprights), the lady just barreled out of there and rammed my bad ankle, I saw her coming and tried to stop or go faster or back up, or something, but it was too late (yes, she probably would have nailed an able bodied person too, but that she hit my bad ankle just made it ten times worse). The worse thing is, that she had plenty of room to have turned right or left before she even got to me, she went straight on toward the back side of the checkout lanes. (??? not sure what she was trying to do).

I just looked at her, probably a bit of a dirty look on my face, I’m afraid I wasn’t very gracious about her “oh gosh, I’m so so sorries”. I rather icily said “that’s fine” and moved on. I mean COME ON! Pay attention people. You don’t barrel out across a main roadway without looking both ways do you?

it’s not as if she were blocked by aisles and couldn’t see me, I was right in front of her when she nailed me! (the electronicsArgh. And as you say, she was obviously so focused on something else that she didn’t even see my 5’6" self, clad BTW, in a full length puffy feather coat. So it’s not as if I’m short and hard to see or something.

I swear, the same people who are morons on the roads, are probably the dipsticks who can’t walk properly and not run over people in the supermarket and department stores.

34

3 Words…

Tickle Me Elmo.

IIRC, that stupid doll caused riots.

35

At our local Wal-Mart, people show up early on Black Friday, line up nice and orderly for the item they want, and patiently wait. No riots, no disagreements, when the item is gone, it’s gone. I think it’s located somewhere in the Twilight Zone.

I remember when Mrs Fireman had two of the original Cabbage Patch babies on layaway, and decided to cancel them because the dolls were ugly. Found out later she could have picked the layaway up and sold the dolls for 3-4 times the original price.:smack:

36

I was just there today. . . Talk about an adventure. Hell, just picking up a couple of lampshades and a box of Christmas cards was a military operation in and of itself . . .

1520
Insertion. The LZ is hot with old, blue-haired ladies and kids running around without watching where the hell their going. After a couple of orbits, I locate a place to put 'er down. I lock up the Tripler Truck and begin the hump into the fray.

1522
I reach the outter border of the objective [OBJ]. I make contact with a sympathetic sentry (i.e. the “Wal Mart greeter”) who allows me to pass the border checkpoint. I’m in. I check my watch, and ‘lock and load’ my wallet.

1523
After a short hike, I come to an observation point where I can reconnoiter my inbound and outbound paths. To the North is housewares, the East is the Christmas section. Opposing forces [OPFOR] is everywhere: screaming kids, inattentive parents, the elderly, you name it. And they’re all armed with shopping carts. This isn’t going to be fun. . .

I blend in as one of the locals as best I can, and take one of the main arterial thoroughfares down towards the back of the store. I can feel the eyes on me.

1530
A bit later, I’m at the back of the store (northern end of the OBJ). My shoelace comes untied in the aisle. I quickly take cover behind a display of Scotch tape in order to avoid being lit up in an ambush. A fat lady on patrol comes barreling down the way with a cart full of crap and two small kids. Instantly, I freeze–this could be it. . . Thankfully, she grabs two rolls of tape and moves along without seeing me. Man, this mission ain’t worth the pay. . .

1535
I’m forced to low crawl through the Shoe department and weave my way through Lingerie. I can see the OPFOR commander in the distance (the dreaded “floor manager”). Just beyond her is Housewares. I quickly and quietly pick myself up and dust off. As casually as I can, I walk past her, dodging a few motorized patrols of the elderly on scooters, and make it to my first objective. I grab two lampshades and take cover for the next leg of the trip.

1542
After waiting until the OPFOR commander is gone, I pop up into the aisle to get my bearings–almost getting hit by a roving patrol of teenagers on cellphones armed with shopping carts!! Holy shit! They must be a radiotelephone company [RATELO] on patrol. I let them pass, and quickly duck back into the mainstream aisle traffic, nearly getting lit up by a 24-pack totin’ redneck.

1549
After nearly an eternity, I make it to the Christmas section at the eastern end of the store. Traffic in the aisle is movin’ pretty quick, and I have to keep up to avoid detection. . . This is going to be tough–I can see a display rack of prepackaged Christmas cards coming up–I’ve only got a moment to grab and go. . . 5 meters away and coming quick. . . 3 meters. . . 2 meters. . . One meter, almost there!

WHOA!!! Some locals disguised as a middle aged couple stops dead in their tracks in front of me to look at some Christmas candles! Do they sense something? It doesn’t matter, I take the brief distraction to quickly identify my cards, grab 'em, and sneak behind 'em without being noticed.

1553
The big time:

I proceed to the checkout line, hoping my local currency will pass as real. If there was ever a time to get ambushed, this is it–I gotta stay calm. With my guard up and on a ‘tight 360’, I patiently wait . . .

1604
The checkout:

I drop my lampshades and cards on the counter, hoping the border guard (i.e. “cashier”) won’t think anything of it. Thankfully, after a quick pleasantry, she scans everything and tells me my total. Then she asks me if I want to buy a $2 “Santa Buck” for $3.50. :eek: :conused: Is this some sort of password the Intelligence brief didn’t inform me of? Aw shit. . .

I look her in the eye and politely decline, hoping she takes the bait. If not, I think I can dash across the high-traffic aisle, and take up cover in a rack in the Ladies’ section.

Thankfully, she says, “Okay. $14.88 please!” to which I give her $15.00, and she gives me my change. Still under cover, I thank her and quietly take my bag and head towards the border checkpoint.

The same border guard is still there, and he smiles and waves at me whilst gazing his dutiful eyes on all those coming and going. Hopefully, I’m home free at this point. . .

1610
Extraction:

From the checkpoint, I can see the Tripler Truck, but the .10 klick hike is already fraught with danger: those same damned kids on bikes, the elderly on scooters, the people down the lane loading a couple of peat moss bags ( :confused: ). Fortunately, I’m able to make my way to the parked cars and get into the relative safety of my truck. I fire up the engines, and make like a bat out of hell for the exit.

I pull into the exit lane. . . :smack: Shit! A freakin’ BUS of senior citizens pulls up in front of me, and begins dropping off OPFOR agents left and right. I quietly wait, and as soon as the airspace clears, I damn near floor it to the main road. . .

1628
I finally get back home, skin and teeth still intact. . . thankfully. Whew.

Tripler
I have nothing against the elderly. I swear!

37

That’s what my parents did for me and I was always happy regardless if I got the goods five years after my peers, like my Nintendo Entertainment System. Most of my peers had theirs by the time they were five, but I didn’t get my first one until I was eleven. I didn’t care.

38

You beat me to it, SnoopyFan, and I’m surprised it took this far down the thread for someone to think of it. Even though the store can’t hold everyone’s hand they have a responsibility to provide a safe environment for their customers. If I had been the one overrun in that store, the Waltons would be buying all my Christmas presents that year. Of course, I wouldn’t have been the victim, because I stay out of places like that on feeding frenzy days.

As Dread Pirate Danno pointed out, this kind of retail store deliberately creates the idea of scarcity and urgency because wants people to behave that way. They create the frenzy, and when the mindless idiot customers behave in the way they’ve been encouraged to, the store ought to be held responsible for the result.

For Wal-Mart to offer to hold a DVD to sell her at the sale price is the absolute height of cynicism. I hope the woman doesn’t accept it and holds out for a generous settlement. No doubt, she could get one.

39

At least it’s not the same branch of WalMart that resold toys donated to poor kids.

40

Tripler, that was beautiful. I was laughing so hard, I scared the poor baby and annoyed Airman.

Robin