Did anyone think “The Who?” when they read about the Wal-Mart incident? Big corporations like Wal-Mart need to learn from historical events such as this one.
Very well. Since I was one of the first to heap coals of fire on the evil Mall-Wart, let me say thank you to Tars Tarkas for bringing to light an individual who is perhaps as bereft of soul as the entity which she begrudges.
It’s a shame that stoning is no longer accepted in our societies for bearing false witness.
I still hate Mall-Wart, though.
After reading Tars Tarkas’s report, I’m no longer imagining this poor woman caught in the surge of rampaging consumers who must must must have that DVD player NOW.
I’m now seeing her shrewdly placing herself in front of a big crowd and waiting for just the right moment before flopping to the ground right in the path of oncoming shoppers. My cynicism meter is pegging out.
I remember the “Trample Me Elmo” riots. I remember the name of my sister’s Cabage Patch Doll. Hell, I remember the episode of “WKRP” that dealt with the issue of “festival seating”.
I use quotation marks on a regular basis, but don’t hold it against me.
People can be very nice if you meet them one-on-one. People in groups, if there is a real or manufactured emergency, are just big animals who are in a state of panic.
I remember a time when I was watching an IMAX movie. I heard a beeping noise, and it was not someone’s phone. It went on and on, and was ambient. I excused myself to go see where it was coming from. I left the theatre and went into the lobby, where the nice man explained that it was a fire alarm.
I forgot he existed. I ran back into the auditorium and found my then wife, and told her that we were leaving NOW. Had anyone been in my way as I was headed for her, I would have moved them. Had anyone been in our way as we left, I would have moved them hard.
I didn’t tell the other folks in the auditorium about the fire alarm.
We watched as they came pouring out, watched the fire trucks show up, and watched as they left because it was a false alarm.
If someone had fallen in front of me during an evacuation from an apparently burning building, I’d have considered their value as traction. I just can’t make the connection to saving a few dollars on a piece of consumer electronics and that mindset.
I’m just trying to make sure I read this right. You knew about a fire alarm but didn’t tell anyone other than your wife about it? And you let all of those others stay in a potentially hazardous position so you wouldn’t have to deal with a crowd getting out?
Please tell me I’m reading this wrong.
Ava
Um, may I point out that above and beyond 2trew not announcing the fire alarm, the management of the theater apparently didn’t feel the need to, either, as 2trew had to go look for the source of the beeping to find out what it was.
Oh, I realize that and I would fault the stupid theatre for that as well. I just don’t quite get the mentality of knowing that there’s an alarm yourself and not letting others in the theatre know that information.
Ava
It appears that some reporters did some digging …
If you hit that hotlink, you’ll see this woman has a HISTORY of FALLING! How “clumsy”, shall we say :wally !!!
Some “accidents” that she has reported are:
~In 1978 and 1982, more than $400 in worker’s compensation was paid after she claimed injuries from being struck by a falling object and from slipping and falling while working as a machine operator at a now-defunct manufacturing plant in DeLand.
~In 1984, she claimed a back sprain from working at a restaurant in Winter Haven, producing $356 in worker’s compensation.
~In 1987, she filed an injury claim against Deltona Lanes, a Volusia County bowling alley, after claiming she slipped and fell while bowling there. In a 1993 sworn deposition in another case, Vanlester testified she received a cash settlement from the bowling alley claim, but did not recall the amount.
~In 1989, after her car ran off Interstate 4 in Volusia and overturned, she filed a claim against Big T Tire and Wheel Service, of Orange City, claiming the crash was caused by a tire blowout. She testified she received a cash settlement in that case, as well.
~In 1991, she claimed to have slipped on a puddle of hand lotion while shopping for a curling iron at an Orange City Walgreen’s, causing “permanent injury, disability, disfigurement (and) mental anguish.” She filed suit in 1993, but it was thrown out in January 1994 after a 10-minute hearing. Walgreen’s argued no one at the store had seen any liquid on the floor, so it could not be liable for failing to clean it up.
~In 1995, Vanlester reported slipping and falling on liquid or grease while working in the meat department of a Eustis Publix, resulting in more than $1,200 in worker’s compensation.
~In 1996, she claimed to have slipped and fallen while working at the layaway desk of a Mt. Dora Wal-Mart, leading to more than $600 in worker’s compensation payments.
~In 1997, she claimed a back strain while working at the snack bar of an Orange City Wal-Mart that was replaced by the Wal-Mart Superstore where she claims to have been trampled last Friday.
Things that make you go hmmmmm :dubious:
Hoo-Haa!! Thank you for confirming the first thought I had when I heard about this whole thing. How crap-tacular does at 29.00 DVD player have to be and to what in the world would you hook that junk up to? Why, a 39.99 television of course!
MeanJoe - who does not mean to sound like a total audio/video snob, just a partial one.
In 2trew’s defence, I don’t think I’d go shouting “FIRE!” in a crowded theater without my family safely out of the way. In any event, I also don’t think it would be a hot idea to do it myself, though I might urge theater management to do it. It’s not my job to do such things, and I’d be absolutely horrified if my action caused a person to get trampled when management knew it was a false alarm.
Good point. I didn’t think about it that way.
I don’t know. I’m not flaming 2trew, I’m just curious as to what his reasoning was for not informing others in the theatre.
Ava
I’m with CheekyMonkey. Something stinks.
Good job reading 8 posts above yours! 
Tars, do you ever feel invisible?
Tars is protected.
Rather than reaching down and helping them up?
That’s a truly terrible attitude.
What if your wife or child fell?
Would you want some one consider them as traction?
Most of the crowd situations that turn real ugly do so because people panic instead of using their heads.
Please reconsider your every man for himself philosophy.
This whole thing reminds me of the “Boy Who Cried Wolf” story.
Just suppose that this time the woman was in the wrong place at the wrong time, really got knocked down and trampled.
With her ‘History of Falling’ it will be a really interesting lawsuit/trial (if there is one). Can her previous claims be used against her? Would genuine medical records of injury clinch the case? If she does win would a judge or jury decide to award her a lower award because of her past history?
I can just see Court TV gearing up for this one.
Oy, I’m so sorry Tars Tarkas. You scooped me in a big way. And you were so polite about it too!!! Quite impressive for the BBQ pit.
I got all excited 'cause I saw that article in the news today and thought I could add something to the convo. Sorry again!:smack:
I wouldn’t call it a philosophy, it’s more of a reflection on what happened in one specific incident. If it had been every man for himself I wouldn’t have gone back into the theatre to get my wife.
I help old people onto the bus, I’ve done my time picking up cataclysmically stoned 13 year olds in the mosh pit so they don’t get stomped, and if I could safely help somebody up in the case of a burning building I would do so.
If I can’t do it safely, though, I won’t.
I don’t endorse this as a philosophical point. I certainly don’t try to derive a moral system out of it. If you want to call me an unfeeling bastard, at least I am aware of just how much of a bastard I am and can work around it. I won’t trample you to save a few dollars on a DVD player, and I won’t volunteer to burn to death so you can get out instead of me if I don’t know you.
I can live with that.
The thing that surprised me about 2trew’s story is that he reacted that way. Seems as if, in every office building I’ve worked in, that the stupid fire alarms were always going off for no reason.
Most of the tenants would check first, before reluctantly leaving the building.
Is it a REAL alarm, or is this just the 15th screw up by maintenance this month. I’ve seen the same thing happen in stores. I went shopping at Fred Meyer a few months back where some high pitched alarm was going off. The workers said it had been going off for 4 hours and that they were working on it.
I told them about OSHA worker’s rights regarding noise pollution. If it had been me? I’d have left and told them to call me when they fixed it, (but that’s another rant).
sorry end hijack!!