Black Friday Turns Black
Written by: Tom Sawyer
The video in this post may be disturbing to some so don’t click on the play button if you think you may not be able to handle it.
The video is the scene from a Long Island Wal-Mart this past Friday, captured on a cell phone. If you didn’t know, an employee was trampled to death by an unruly crowd looking for cheap (in price and likely quality) printers, computers, hard drives, blu-ray players and whatever else everyone went to Wal-Mart for.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is no excuse for this. In my opinion, two parties are to blame: the shoppers and Wal-Mart.
The shoppers were so determined to get to some holiday bargains that they didn’t mind taking part in killing someone. They literally killed someone for shopping! If that isn’t ridiculous I don’t know what is.
Wal-Mart is also to blame. They admittedly increased security because they knew things could get ugly. Obviously, they didn’t hire enough extra security and someone who just wanted to go to work and make an honest living (or extra cash) lost their life. Again, have you ever heard of something so ridiculous?
I’m not necessarily a fan of all the litigation that goes on in our country, but this is one time I say sue, sue, sue! If I was related to the person who died, I would sue everyone who had a boot, pump, loafer, tennis shoe or flip-flop involved. Would I stop there? Not hardly. I would sue Wal-Mart. The last time I checked, all the Walton children were in the top 30 richest people in the world – all with billions and billions.
I still can’t believe all of this took place for shopping. It is disgusting. To those who were involved, Merry Christmas!
Tags: black friday, death, Stampede, Wal-Mart
December 1st, 2008 at 6:42 am
Tom,
I work in Wal-Marts as a vendor and I am honestly surprised events like this don’t occur more often. On black friday I was in a Wal-Mart at a quarter to five and the entire parking lot of a supercenter was maxed out and I had to park next to the main road. In this particular store the chaos was kept to a minimum not due to Wal-Mart security but due to reasonably calm customers. That’s not to say these Moronic people weren’t surround wrapped pallets like wolves circling some prey.
Last year in Tennessee things weren’t so calm, at one of the supercenters they had some flat panel tv’s on deal and they were stacked high on a pallet. Once five o clock rolled around they started handing them out and were bombarded by people who actually knocked the tall pallet of tv’s over, tv’s were falling on people and they didn’t care, they were grabbing what they could and getting out of there.
Really, has portions of the human race turned into animals? and for what, a flat screen marked down 15%. At the end of that video you actually hear people laughing, ARE YOU kidding me, what is there to laugh about?
December 1st, 2008 at 7:56 am
Tom this is ridiculous! I can’t imagine loosing my life this way. How horrifying! And I heard she was a woman with child (pregnant). These people committed two murders for the price (no pun intended) of one! But here’s the thing, Wal-Mart needs to get itself together and regroup and have continuity across the board. Why do I say that? Because not all Wal-Marts do business the same way!
I am a Black Friday junkie. As long as I am physically able, I will shop the day after Thanksgiving. I just like all of that mayhem for one day a year. And I did it this year in Biloxi, MS. Now, living in the Midwest all of my life, I have shopped at Wal-Mart on black Friday in Richmond, IN, Columbus, OH, and St. Louis, MO. (probably others I have forgotten) My experience this year in Biloxi, MS was, by far, the best ever! It was all calm and peaceful. Yes, there were lines inside the store. Yes, there were two to three employees perched at each and every skid with the merchandise hidden under a tarp. Yes, when the 5 o’clock hour hit and the unveiling took place people were anxious but… and this is a big but, there was no nonsense!!!
There was no running. (oh, except me when I ran for a blu-ray players several minutes into the shopping and I thought they might be gone, but they weren’t), There was no snatching from one another. There was no fighting. There was no cussing and fussing. There was nothing but a big conglomeration of people shopping. Everybody was nice and well behaved that I encountered. Maybe this was just the mannerisms of Mississippians, or maybe it was the way this particular Wal-Mart obviously took great lengths to organize it in a way for them to have control over the masses. My point is: it can be done.
Order and control can be a part of Black Friday. They need to close that NY Wal-Mart and hire a new manager that can stop something like this from happening again. I always go right to the top. IF YOU MAKE THE BIG BUCKS, EARN THEM!!! That manager should be thrown under all the buses and new employees need to be hired. And the security…P-A-L-E-A-S-E fire them!
I feel for innocent people responsible for her death, and yes, I believe they were no guiltier than the woman who ended up loosing her life. Let’s be honest, she was probably doing exactly the same thing the others were doing, she just somehow ended up under it all. I’m sure many of them that did trampled her, had no idea she was even down there until their feet hit her and maybe still not then. IT WAS WAL-MART’S RESPONSIBILITY TO BE IN CONTROL OF THEIR SALE/FACILITY/BUSINESS! They are going to take credit for all the good things and sales figures that came out of that day’s business, they need to take full and total responsibility for all the bad things too! It is so sad and, you’re right Tom, all for a “cheap” deal!
Shame, shame, shame on Wal-Mart and their ineptness at an annual event where they know how it is done and what can and did happen without proper management.
December 1st, 2008 at 8:10 am
If I’m not mistaken, this happened over a $40 discount! This is one reason why I don’t go shopping on this day – people don’t know how to act.
Kim Sawyers last blog post..You May Get What You Pay For Tomorrow
December 1st, 2008 at 8:18 am
Kathy,
I looked up another article and it was a male who got killed – Jdimytai Damour of Jamaica, Queens. I think the woman you are talking about got injured and reportedly had a miscarriage. According to some articles, she is doing fine. Regardless, this was just wrong on so many levels.
Tom Sawyers last blog post..You May Get What You Pay For Tomorrow
December 1st, 2008 at 10:44 am
Tom: oh, I didn’t know for sure. My niece Kelsey told me it was a woman with child.
Kim: lol.
Blame it on the stupid institution for not regulating! Wal-mart!
December 1st, 2008 at 4:50 pm
He was only 34 years old. Had a whole life ahead of him. So very sad.
November 28th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Once again the Panasonic hdtv is one of the hottest gifts this Christmas, they’re selling out fast. I found mine at http://astore.amazon.com/50-inch-lg-hdtv-for-sale-20
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