SecretMethod70

The sad thing about this story is that I wasn't even surprised by it. Having woken up very early in the morning for other reasons and witnessing first-hand the frenzy of people standing outside stores at ungodly hours of the morning, I saw the commercialization and materialism of the modern holiday season like I had never seen it before.

No, I'm certainly not condemning anyone who would participate in these sales - why not take advantage of the opportunities given to you to save money as you get gifts for your friends and family and yourself. But what I was astonished by Friday morning that I saw was how ungrounded many of the people were; how so many of them lacked the vision to recognize the importance (or, lack of) of what they were doing in the grand scheme of the holidays.

Anyways, what do you think of this? I know obviously no one's going to say 'serves her right' or 'why should anyone have stopped to help her?' - there's not much room for discussion as to whether or not this was a terrible thing or not. What I'm curious of is, how many of you, like me, are not surprised by this story? What do you think of what the holiday season is now as opposed to its intended meaning - regardless of your religion?

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DEI37

I think it's BS. I'm surprised that NONE of the customers stopped. This type of thing is to be expected. I remember working at Best Buy on Black Friday. It's hell. Nobody cares about the store, other people, or even themselves. We've had store damage, and other customer injuries. These kinds of people need to get a huge dose of "Sober the Fuck Up!" and in a hurry.

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spived2

The past few years I've just bought everything on Amazon.com or other online stores. I didn't even have to leave the house. Got all my shopping done way early and didn't have to bury someone under my knee to get it.

Does anyone else wonder why people rush the day after Thanksgiving? The same shit will be there until about the 15th of Dec, so what's the rush?

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"This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V." - V

empu

I blame Wal-Mart for having such a stupid sale, and for allowing such a stampede to happen at all. Blatantly irresponsible.

I blame her fellow shoppers (excluding the ones that did stop to help) for being so obsessed with saving a few $ that they forgot their humanity.

I blame her for whatever part of that same obsession put her in harms way.

Can any TFPers shed light on this phenomenon? Did any of you participate in such a mob sale? I'm genuinely curious what inspires such behavior.

rainheart

Sounds like they should have had a lineup with velvet ropes and bouncers.

Holo

If you had a heads up of this item on sale and it was out on the shelves you could do what is known as "Easter-egging". You hide it in another spot in the store and leisurely walk to your hiding place at the stampede and buy it. I know retail workers hate Easter-egging but it's not a problem if you actually go back and buy the item and don't leave it there.

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krazykemist

"Easter-egging" does not work for the Black Friday sales (day after Thanksgiving) for this very reason. I know that the stores here at least do not put out the merchandise that is going on sale till that time. 24 Hour stores like WalMart usually wheel them out on pallets. Other stores like Best Buy will assign numbers to those who are in line in that order and they recieve the items they want. Avoiding stampedes, just have the 3am campers waiting for that $99 Video card or the likes.

I have never personally participated in any of these sales as I can usually find it online for comparable prices negating the need for the insanity.

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SecretMethod70

The day after Thanksgiving pretty much every store has an amazing sale for a very short period of time. For example, a store might open its doors at 6 AM and the sale will end at 10 or 11. And in this time there might be a sale with savings like getting a $75 DVD player for $20 and various other great deals.

I didn't do any actual shopping so I can't use real life examples, but that's what I understand of all this.

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Le temps détruit tout

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taliendo

Black Friday is a horrible phenomena in this country. I worked at Wal-Mart through my highschool years, and was able to safely view the stampede of shoppers from behind the service desk. It really is a crazed day.

. . .the root of all evil.

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lurkette

Sigh. Hell in a handbasket.

We did all our shopping on the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving, because we hadn't done anything yet, and hell if I'm setting foot in a store between now and Christmas!

I hope the poor woman is okay, and you would think that stores would anticipate this kind of frenzy and put in some kind of precautions. I'd sure as hell do more than offer to "put a DVD on hold for her."

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sexymama

I am not a shopper to begin with, but I like a good bargin. However, you wouldn't catch me knocked out over a DVD player the day after Thanksgiving, when I can be laying cuddled in Lebell's arms! It is crazy and not worth the stress - IMHO.

I am also saddened by the commercialization of the holiday season. For that reason, the family is flying to Vegas to see grandpa and grandma this year. Our gift to each other is time with each other. (None of us really gamble.)

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rockzilla

It's funny. Almost every day something like this happens at the homeless shelter I work at when we send a cart out with coffee and desserts (I've been knocked to the ground while bringing it out before myself). And it's not like these guys are starving at the time either (it goes out not even 2 hours after breakfast). But these guys'll still tear each other limb from limb for an extra bitter coffee & a 2 day old donut.

I think it's human nature; a modernized, twisted, pathetic incaration of our self-preservation instinct. When you want a $29 DVD player (or a coffee), everybody else becomes "competition". If somebody gets trampled, tough shit, it's survival of the fittest.

I went to a sale like this once, I was pushed and shoved like I was in a mosh pit, and for what? An uncommonly cheap something-or-other (I think I was looking for speakers) that I probably didn't even want to begin with?

Fuck that. I stay the hell away from stores all through the holidays. I don't give or get christmas presents because I hate dealing with the basest, most self-centered side of people that comes out only during the holidays. And I wouldn't wish that on my friends and family either.

shakran

That's just plain stupid. You're saying retailers can't have great sales anymore because stupid fucks with the herd mentality can't handle it? Gee, guess you wanna spend a lot more money than you have to.

And I've worked retail on black friday before. There's no stopping the stampede. People are assholes. The store employees don't have teargas grenades, so they can't be expected to stop the customers.

What SHOULD happen is a review of the security camera tapes, and the people who trampled the woman should be arrested and charged.

meepa

LOL

...

In that way that one laughs like a drunken maniac right before the world blows up in a firey inferno. Because it's happening! At it's starting at Walmart!

lordjeebus

What I don't understand is why Wal-Mart doesn't try to make some sort of effort (give out numbers, whatever) to make Black Friday a more orderly process. I don't see what they gain from having an annual stampede.

If they know they're going to have chaos like this, I think they're responsible to at least try to prevent it from being so bad. If not for legal reasons, then because they're dealing with their own customers.

shakran

Because people would take the numbers, and then trample people anyway. Plus, how is giving out the numbers gonna work? Number 1 gets to run thru the store getting what he wants, and only when he's done does number 2 get to go? That'd cause a riot, number one, and it'd lose the store a LOT of business.

in the first place, they DON'T know they're gonna have chaos like this. Check your newspaper. Do you see thousands of people dead in stampedes in every store across the nation? No. Because most stores make it thru black friday with a crapload of customers and none of them get hurt.


And if you're gonna require them to try to prevent it, how about some suggestions? Make 'em logical and they have to 1) 100% prevent any possibility of anyone getting hurt and 2) not kill business for the store in the process.

lordjeebus

i'm not saying they should be required to prevent it, just that it would be nice if they did.

how about this:

you've got a line of people waiting to get in.

instead of opening the doors and letting them all in at once, let 20 or 30 in every minute. you could even start 15 or 30 min. before the regular opening time so that the doors can be open to all at the regular opening time. i'm not exactly sure how many people are in line so you could adjust that accordingly. the idea is not to let everyone in at once.

gnort

When stores give out numbers they don't just let one person in only to let the next in when the first exits. The stores let in a group of people around 10-20 and let them go get their merchandise. After a certain amount of time passes or people leave the store will then let in another group of people, thus reducing the mad rush of hundreds of people at once. Sure it's not fair to the people who have a higher number, but it's just a greater advantage to get the store earlier to get a lower number. It's a system that works the majority of the time if something like customer injury is iminant to the store.

A few years ago my father and i went to the mall early to get into Best Buy to get some electronics that were on sale. When we got there the enterance to Best Buy was packed and they were already well into handing out numbers. We had no hope of getting what we wanted so we decided to walk the mall even though most stores had yet to open. We go into Target and there are barely any customers in there. We find the stuff we wanted at the same price with no hassle. Suffice to say that was a mighty fine day for us!

Money spent this "Black Friday" : $0.00

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Journeyman

Either turnstiles or employees at the doors letting people in at a slower pace could put a damper on the odds of someone being trampled.
Seriously, there's no excuses for putting someone in the hospital when the driving force behind it is DVD players are on sale. People put other people in the hospital for five-finger-discount sales all the time, and they end up with cheaper rent for it.

Hrothgar

I detest the Holidays because of the prevailing mentality that I can be an asshole the whole year except the last month because the more gifts I give the better person I am. Too bad if I had to trample people to get little Johnny the last toy on the shelf.

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Brian Fellows

What people will do to get their hands on a crappy $29 DVD Player.

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dragon2fire

must stop laughing

i know it worng but its funny

wannabenakid247

Reminds me of the joys of shopping online eh.

phunktastic

I remember hearing about a story a few years back when Furby was popular. A wal-mart had set a table full of furbys hidden off in the back of the store with one worker and one of those metal bar things to keep people back.

Well, when the mob found the table, they rushed it and ended up pushing the bar into her so hard it broke both her legs.

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Scorps

LOL thats is funny, They had a sale at my local Canadian Tire(same type of store) on Pressure washers man the line up was so damn long, it went for 2 blocks(no lies)

tgg7979

I unfortunatly used to work at Wal Mart, last year's post thanksgiving day sale was bad as well. We had a woman get knocked unconcious by some man scrambling to get a 27" inch tv that was onsale, he picked it up and swung around to put in his cart and hit her in the side fo the hit. He saw her go down and took off walking with the tv in his cart.

Scorps

Ok now he is just an ass....I hope you went and helped her up?

sailor

Wow... I am glad to say that I had no part in any post-Thanksgiving shopping.

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Sledge

Argh, pressed Reset Form by accident! NOO!

SecretMethod, when I read this I was wondering whether or not the shoppers even noticed her, but then I snapped out of it and realized that YOU NOTICE WHEN YOU STEP ON A FUCKING BODY. So yes, I'm still surprised and dismayed at the news.

And putting a DVD player on hold for her in recompense is just tasteless.

username

I'd have to agree with this and it just adds to the reasons I dislike Walmart.

Also, how could people just ignore her? I guess working in retail and reading this points out one thing: most of the people in the world are morons.

Arrion

Meh, walmart's always a zoo, I have no godly idea why you'd go on the biggest shopping day of the year

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guthmund

I live next to Arkansas' biggest Wal-Mart (at least that's what they claim) and Friday was unbelievable.

I thought it would be fun to go see what's on sale. I wasn't really looking for anything, just scoping things out. I got there at 6:00 (I had stayed up all night so, what the hell ) and there was already this giant throng of people moving in the doors.

There's a little alcove between the two sets of doors into the place and it was jam packed. I had never seen this many people in one spot. I lasted about halfway through this little alcove when people started shoving and pushing. Now, I'm a big guy and I had a lot of trouble getting back outside. I had to raise my voice a lot and in a couple of instances I had to physically break holes in the line. They just didn't want to give up their space.

I came back about 9:00 and talked a friend who worked there and she said it was a madhouse. A couple of people had gotten knocked down, a lot of stuff was damaged, and the store employees had zero power to handle it. She said she found a quiet space in garden supplies and waited most of it out. All the stuff they had set out for this sale was gone by 7:30.

I had been warned not to go, but I didn't take them too seriously. I will now.

So, remember kids, if you have to go to Wal-mart on Black Friday, don't bathe for a couple of days previous (bad smells throw them, I noticed) don't make eye-contact and never show fear (they can smell it). I would also advise either taking a big friend or a small non-lethal weapon to ward off the more aggressive.

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shakran

i dunno. Seems to me that if you only let 30 people in at first for the sales, you'd end up with trouble. Lots of the items on sale only have a starting quantity of 10 or 20. So there'd be a big drive to be in that first group of 30. The way I see it, all you'd be doing with that system is moving the mania out to the parking lot instead of in the store. Plus, since you now have a crowd of angry people milling around, you're much more likely to have a fight break out.

hu-man

That's just insane. People in large groups are like mad cattle, and if they can save a buck or - gasp - even get something for free, they'll stop at nothing to do so. It's like their brain just switches off and they're left with the hypothalamus to splurt out hormones to control their animal instict of Eat Or Be Eaten (Get Stuff On Sale Or Others Will Get It)
People are cattle.