Wal-Mart Greeter Killed in Black Friday Stampede

No, it’s not. It happened today and at that place and not elsewhere and -when because of consumerism and Black Friday, especially the latter.

If this is supposed to refer to the Cincinnati Who concert, wrong stadium. Three Rivers Stadium was in Pittsburgh.

I noticed the same, though I imagine it’s more of an economic issue than a race issue.

Regardless, Black Friday is an eerily apt name for the events that transpired.

Yeah, it was Riverfront Stadium, which no longer exists, and was a pretty different scenario.

Maybe Wal-Mart should hire some Hell’s Angels to work security…

:rolleyes: Apparently having your jaw wired shut didn’t affect your fingers at all.
brickiebee, Black Friday is KNOWN for unruly mobs, pushing and shoving, and fights (remember the Cabbage Patch Doll fights of the 1980s?) I think THAT’S what people are talking about. Not that she should stay home her entire gestation period.

I don’t celebrate Christmas. If I did, I would do like a friend of mine does, buy the presents in October and then relax.

My point is that people have been trampled and crushed before, for completely different reasons. This was just a mindless drive toward satisfying wants that has always been present in society. It’s really unfortunate, and I hope that we attempt to minimize the damage by examining closely what happened there today. But, it doesn’t mean society is falling apart or that it is any more savage now than it has ever been. All the other millions of people who went shopping today and left peacefully and alive didn’t make the news, these two incidents did.

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In my experience with Black Friday, I find it ironic that those who are the most motivated to get up at 4 am to rush to a crazy 5 am 25-50% off feeding frenzy would never consider doing so for an interview or a real job. Imagine if they were that motivated every day!

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Just what in the hell is that supposed to mean? So now I’m compared to Ann Coulter because I expressed curiosity over the racial demographic of this type of behavior? Or because I correctly pointed out that there weren’t any white people in those pictures except the police (which I pointed out as a matter of being tounge-in-cheek, you know, whitey, the cops, the man and all that).

Get a grip, it’s no wonder you get pitted like you do for your knee-jerk behavior.

They wouldn’t have had the chance to “push and push” the people in front of them if the store hadn’t set-up a fucking “blitz line.” That had nothing to do with how selfish the shoppers are and everything to do with the rampant greed of capitalism. Jesus Fucking Christ, I hope that the man’s family sues the ever-living fuck out of Wal-Mart. I hope the hospitalized woman sues the ever-living fuck out of them. I hope every employee that was subjected to this, including watching a co-worker die, sues the ever-living fuck out of Wal-Mart. I hope Wal-Mart has to pay out of the ass for this fucking bullshit. I hope it hurts their bottom line, their reputation, and their shareholders so fucking much that nothing like this is allowed to happen again. A year from now, I want to hear that this ultimately cost the store hundreds of millions of dollars.

The SoCal high desert has very serious problems with gangs, drugs and racial tensions. This isn’t a Black Friday thing as much as it is probably another violent dispute that just happened to erupt in a toy store on a Friday. Just a guess, of course.

ETA- I am referring to the Toys R Us shooting this morning in Palm Desert…

Hehe I wanna correct that as irregardless just to annoy people.

My SILs and I have done the Black Friday thing, but it was more of a girl’s day out rather than an attempt at any bargains. Getting up before the crack of dawn, marveling at the lines already waiting to get into Toys R Us, having lunch at Red Lobster (including drinks, because we had worked hard!) when we were done, laughing at the other people who were getting pissed off at the crowds and lines, that type of thing.

We did go to Wal-Mart, and they had the discount items wrapped in plastic on pallets, with employees standing by, ready to cut them open at 6am when the sale started. I remember standing over by the jeans, out of the way, and just watching. While there was a madhouse, I don’t think anyone got hurt or trampled, and we did laugh at the other Wal-Mart employees who were hiding out in the garden section.

But I agree with other posters…there’s nothing I need that badly that I need to get up at 4am and go wait in line for the store to open. I’m so sorry people got hurt and killed…I wish people would get more perspective.

I have never understood why Black Friday even exists. What’s the appeal of going shopping the day after Thanksgiving?

No.

Any question of “Does ETHNIC GROUP/RACE1 tend to <insert some despicable action here> more-than / better-than ETHNIC GROUP/RACE2?” will always be slapped down with disgust and white-guilt on this board unless A) the “bad actors” are white or B) the action is something positive or good and it’s suggested the the ethnic group/race is better at said action than whites.

It’s how this board operates but the vets here wouldn’t admit it.

I’m not going to dig up cites so just carry on.

I don’t understand it either but it seems part of it is that people have the day after Thanksgiving off, little to nothing to do and it’s been drummed into our heads that it’s the start of the holiday gift shopping season.

Also, there’s a little competitive spirit invoked by the earlier and earlier opening times, the crazy stakes (quantities, low prices)consumers think are there and the self-centeredness of needing to be noticed as being first at . . . . well, something.

I wish you would since you fell for the baited hook that’s been cast out; go ahead and do the work that you were set up do.

That works when everyone is going to be at one place. There aren’t enough off duty cops to work security for every single store that could have a riot on black Friday.

I think it’s easy to look at the situation and say, “Oh, here’s what they needed to do to stop it,” but on site without the knowledge that the crowd will turn ugly what do you do? What if you decide to draw that line and bring things under control after the point where things have already gone out of control? Could it have been kept completely under control at all?

It’s the classic mob problem with the extra downside that the store is limited in how they can respond to a crowd that doesn’t want to be controlled. Really the only solution is to not do the big promotions at all and no retailer is going to concede a potential advantage to their rivals.

That honestly was not my intention. I’m not sure where you’re getting that. I have only been a member here since last January, and while I might post quite a bit, I haven’t figured out all the nuances of this board. If there’s nothing to it, there’s nothing to it.

Feel free to label me a racist for asking a question and noticing that everyone in the pictures in the link provided by PaulInSaudi were black, though.

I agree. Lines of Russians at the bakery come to mind.

Oh, my God, that’s just [snerk] . . that’s horrible, that’s really [choke:o] awful, it’s tragic, it’s, it’s HAW-HAW-HAW-HAW-HAW-HAW!!! :p:p:p

That was your reaction too. Admit it.