Today Kmart had checkout operators wearing pajamas. Not only do they have to come in at the wee morning hours, but they have to be humiliated.
At the grocery store I saw a man smelling bread. He put the plastic bag up to his nose and squeezed the bread while sniffing it. Apparently after a few loaves he found the one he liked the smell of. It might also be that he took that one, because he saw me starring at him when he had that loaf.
I so regret having forgot to buy a medicine on Wednesday, so I didn’t have to shop today.
I’ve read that story twice and even saw it noted elsewhere on the site that a woman miscarried but all I see in the story is that a pregnant woman was hospitalized for observation.
I am sickened that a man was trampled to death by greedy holiday shoppers but it seems like it was really a bad idea for any employees to get in the way of a large crowd of people and try to hold them back. I’m sure that his family will use that when they sue Wal-Mart.
I hope the families of those who got such good deals will appreciate how much their gift really cost.
On a hopeful note, I just spoke to my mother; she heard on the news (she didn’t remember which station) that it’s (currently) unconfirmed that the woman miscarried. I hope to hell that the “news” that she miscarried is a rumor & that she delivers a healthy baby.
I’ve no idea how people could become so frenzied in the hunt for non-essentials (I consider food & water to be the only essential items Wal-Mart stocks) that they would knock down & trample a fellow human to death. It’s sickening.
I think the part that bothers me the most is the eyewitness saying that she realised the man was dead, but obviously didn’t try to help him in any way – the fact that anyone would ever stampede…I just don’t get this whole herd mentality and I honestly wonder how many of those people will hear on the news (after seeing blood and gore on their shoes) that they were responsible for another person’s death and think “well, at least I got that laptop for $5 off!” Ugh. This is why I loathe people.
In an earlier version, the Daily News quoted another customer saying the woman was knocked down and told two paramedics she was pregnant; they tended to her and later told her something like “we’re sorry, the baby’s gone.” The police must’ve thrown some cold water on that story for now.
I’m unsure about the chain of events there. Other articles have said the shoppers broke down the doors, in which case it was still a bad idea for him to get in the way, but doesn’t make it sound like he was cluelessly obstructing the crowd.
It’s a terrible situation either way, and maybe it’s because I don’t have children or a huge extended family to shop for, but I just can’t believe anybody gets involved in this kind of bullshit. (Okay, full disclosure: I hate shopping at all.) But to go this crazy over shopping, to the point where these idiots were battering doors and running people over, is just unbelievable to me. Of course the stores have been encouraging it lately, which doesn’t help.
Black Friday is an idiotic idea. And stores encourage these stampedes and lineups and craziness by offering these “doorbuster” deals for just one day, and they only have 3 of each big item in stock, and they advertise like mad about it, opening at 4am or what have you.
Stores have to stop pulling this shit. Start your damn sales on Monday or something. I know they’re just trying to make money, but this concept of Black Friday is absolutely insane, and people get hurt every year trying to get at a Wii or Tickle Me Elmo or whatever. Is their business model so crappy that the only way they can make money is by luring shoppers to the store one day only for** doorbuster deals**?
I’d like to think that the fact that someone died this year because of the insanity, something will change. But I doubt it.
I always shook my head over those “doorbusters” advertisements, hoping against hope that people had more common sense than to actually break the doors off their hinges and go stampeding through the store. Clearly some [del]people[/del] sheeple don’t.
Don’t blame the employee for getting in the path of all those people. Blame the stores for creating that atmosphere and for encouraging the mindless crowds who work themselves into a frenzy to save $200 off that HDTV.
One line in the story said he was trying to hold back the crowd. If they did indeed rip the doors off the hinges then that is the time to run for safety, not try to get in their way. I doubt that even policemen in riot gear could have held those people back. I certainly wouldn’t expect a store clerk to be able to react quickly and rationally in such a situation but he should never have been put in that danger in the first place.
I would really love to see people behave sanely but frankly these stores are the ones responsible for creating these dangerous situations for the almighty dollar. It doesn’t take a genius to figure this sort of thing could happen. It’s the main reason I never attend these type of sales. That and getting up at a ridiculous hour of the morning.
ETA: I did not want to make it seem like I was blaming the employee. My feeling is that if he was attempting to hold the doors it is because he was told to do so and that is not something the store should be expecting their employees to do.
Yeah, I saw. I was trying to say that I’ve seen the situation described differently in different stories, so I’m not positive how exactly it happened.
It was predictable that this kind of thing was going to happen eventually and I agree that the store promotions that have made this Friday into a holiday of its own were moronic. It’s a combination of dumb store promotions and dumb shoppers that made this happens, but since it’s not happening at every store - yet - the blame goes to the idiots at this store.
Coming next November… “Black Friday,” directed by George Romero. Ugh.
It sounds very vague and you can’t get a sense of the timing of events. For example he may have heard a creaking and gone over to say “Hey, folks. Be careful, you’re breaking the doors. Back up a bit so we can open them right.” and then the dam broke. It’s hard to say what “holding back the crowd” actually meant.
I can’t believe people stampede for SHOPPING. Really, WTF? Stampede because the store is on fire and you’re trying to run away? That I can see. Running to get in? Better be zombies chasing you, because I can’t fathom why saving $20 is worth joining a mob in a rugby skirmish.
Sorry but they refuse to leave if the store is on fire. They want the checkouts to ring them up when they decide to leave, not evacuate the store at once.
The sales have stopped many people to stop shopping on Friday and to start staying home from the crazies. This leaves a high percentage of people that have no fear or regard for other people to concentrate into lethal mobs of roving loonies.
I’ve linked to the pit thread for those that wish to continue the Walmart mob story. you should be able to express yourselves freely there. Pit thread.
I hope people continue to add what you encountered today that was bad behavior on somebody’s part. I’m looking for personal accounts you had.
And now, what would have been that stores busiest day (I assume), will probably be it’s worst (income wise anyways), since they were probably closed for a good chunk of the morning considering that it was probably a crime scene.
Why not outfit the employees with riot gear? You know, shields, pepper spray, etc.?
Okay, not a serious suggestion. I agree, this Black Friday madness has got to stop before someone gets hurt (oh wait, it’s too late for that). Last year they opened the mall here at 1:00 AM (yes, 1:00 AM for Chrissakes!). People went absolutely apeshit after camping out waiting for the doors to open. While there were no fatalities, the doors were literally busted and people got trampled and hurt, and lots of people were pissed off that the free giveways to the first 50 or 500 people or whatever it was went so quickly. Needless to say, this stunt was not repeated this year.