Shameful.
Disgusting.
Sad.
Sick.
I don’t know. What words can accurately describe how I feel after hearing the news today.
If you didn’t hear, a 34 year old man who worked at Walmart was trampled to death early this morning. Minutes before the doors officially opened anxious shoppers rushed through the doors of Walmart in Valley Stream, NY. In doing so a worker was knocked down and trampled to death. (And if that doesn’t turn your stomach an eight month pregnant woman was rushed to a local hospital for observation.)
I’ve heard of things like this happening in years prior but never so close to home. I know where that store is and have family that lives nearby.
Imagine working part time to make some money. Instead of perhaps some extra for presents the family gets a phone to find their family member has died. He wasn’t a cop or a firefighter where you know in the back of your mind that a call like this could happen. He was working at a department store.
I read that the store called in police early in the morning when they saw that the crowd was getting rowdy and they weren’t sure they could handle it. Police arrived but were later called away to other stores with similar crowd issues.
Unbelievable.
We have become animals. Except animals don’t fight for TV’s or DVD players. If this happened in a third world nation and they were rushing for food scraps I could understand the rationale.
But for stuff?!? I doubt anyone who entered the store that morning truly needed anything they were out to buy.
Scary.
What drives people to act like this? I think it’s a cop out to blame the current economy. Certainly there is a fundamental issue of morality. Greed. Selfishness.
Ughh.
On this black Friday it was more important to find a great bargain than it was to respect life. The optimist in me thinks this will be a wake up call but the cynic is saying it’s just a sensational story for the news to digest for a few days, forgotten until next year’s incident.
What does it take for us to realize that stuff is not worth life?!? People, don’t let things control your life!! For many it means it means unmanageable debt. At it’s extreme it reduces us to viscious animals.
The news today is even worse when you see the tragedy in Mumbai. My deepest condolences go out to the families affected by that horror.
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It breaks my heart to think that things are that much more important than people. That’s part of the reason why I boycott this whole notion of black friday.
Susan/Together WE Flourish’s last blog post..My Thoughts Before a Day of Thanksgiving
You said it well…I thought with the economy’s troubles people would turn inward, but it appears they’ve become hoarders.
This is, indeed, rather disturbing. While the economy probably has something to do with it (I’ve *got* to get this, or I won’t be able to afford it), I agree that greed is a factor as well. After all, we hear of incidents of injury and death EVERY year on Black Friday. So it’s not just the economy. In general, we’ve devolved to a primal level when it comes to getting deals — no matter the current state of the economy. It’s sad.
Miranda’s last blog post..Black Friday and Consumer Spending
Excuse me, what was on sale? How many percent was the stuff reduced? Surely a bargain. Just walk on top of people who sell the stuff.
This world is really becoming insane. I do not want to go back to stone age but it was not so long ago that men went to work on the fields for a day and in the evening made wooden toys for their kids. Was that lousy quality of life compared to our rat race?
The shoppers act like Black Friday is the only day where they can find bargains.
Marketing by retailers is supporting this ruckus.
Deals are all over the place.
Simon Z’s last blog post..Don’t Be A Sucker For Black Friday
It’s all crazy. I swear I always hear about something happening at a Walmart more than anywhere else. Seems there’s something wrong with the way they prepare for the day that leaves so many open to injury and worse. I don’t get how so many stores count on Black Friday? Many if stores lowered their profits the entire year they wouldn’t have to desperately put things on sale for one weekend?!?
Shameful.
Disgusting.
Sad.
Sick.
I couldn’t have said it better myself -
Nothing ‘on sale’ is worth killing a man and destroying his family …
Yes, people are greedy, but Wal Mart and the other stores set up this situation by making the black Friday event a race buy a short supply of big ticket goodies. It would have been much simpler to have lots of specials in quantities that would last all day and to put the sale of big ticket loss leaders on a “door prize” basis … you know, call someone’s number as an offer to let them buy. That would keep crowds spread out over the day and prevent disasters that come about for reenacting the running of the bulls at Barcelona.
Wal Mart should be sued for a very large amount for putting its employees’ lives in danger with its criminally stupid invitation to mayhem for a black Friday sale.
@ Willobie - I agree that Walmart should have done more to make the sale run smoother. They should know how many people come out to Black Friday and prepare before to make sure it stays organized. Can there be any excuse why people were able to tear through the doors?!?
So sad this guy had to die over this crap.
That guys family should own Wal-Mart and those who trampled should be tried. Made me so mad to see this.
PT’s last blog post..Giving Thanks
unspeakable. I have no words.
Dee Langdon - BloggerNewbie’s last blog post..The Lost Art of Personal Responsibility
This is unimaginable. I cannot believe that we would be forced to fight over items at a store. This has become absolutely ridiculous. I am disappointed in how this whole process has been laid out. I’m a little disappointed that people would do something like this.
I used to partake in Black friday, but now I have realized that it is just not worth the fight or hassle to go through this.
Finance Frenzie’s last blog post..I’m to Blame for the Financial Crisis
I don’t think Black Friday itself is to blame. I think Walmart didn’t prepare well enough for the amount of customers that came.
It’s terrible that black friday has become the American version of the running of the bulls. It’s awful how someone can die because someone else wants to buy a discounted TV.
I read all of the above comments and it seems that all of these kind of problems could be easily taken care of by losing the black friday status. It isn’t going to cost the retailer any money, which in all reality is the true reason for having them. Have the same products available at the store at your regular store hours, the deal is a deal, you are still going to sell the same product because it is a good deal. These crazy people that go out and wait in line, sometimes 24 hours in advance, wouldn’t have to go out so early, and a young man might still be alive. Did all of those people in that line get prosecuted for murdering that man? I havn’t heard anything about that???? A lot of people should be in prayer over commiting such a rediculous act against his fellow man and taking from his family such a precious life. I do pray for the family, and if you havn’t received an apology from anyone I sincerely wish you peace during this time of loss.
toward another comment “i don’t think walmart prepared for the amount of people that came out”. I don’t believe walmart should have to prepare for people coming outto a sale, in respect to having bodyguards and police officers Your letting these people off with a slap on the hands for saying that. “THEY KILLED SOMEONE” Walmart is not at fault. We will continue to see black friday, one suggestion would be to actually have a line…..first one there gets in, but form a line, police officers could let the first ten in, then say 20 more a minute later, and on and on. Just like the children in school, a set rules could be posted……1.YOU MUST BE IN LINE 2. A police officer will let you through the door when it is your turn in line at his specified time. 3 NO RUNNING SLAPPING THROWING FIGHTING ….you know what i mean……You must agree its like having say five three year olds fighting over the same toy…..again….we are teaching our children how to behave and they act just like parents….and it does get passed down generation to generation….we see it every day …
@ Craig - At least those running the bulls know the danger beforehand!
@ Bill - The thing that gets people crazy is they have sales for just a few hours or only a limited amount of items. Folks get in a frenzy to get their hands on items first.
I think Walmart holds a lot of blame in this. They know the volume of people that come in every year. I’m not sure what Walmart does but I’ve heard of other stores giving out bracelets or numbers to the first people and only they can get in. What kind of mess is t when the customers can rush in before the store opened?!? Walmart needs better organization. I agree that maybe they should only let in a certain amount of people at a time. This isn’t to say that the people aren’t to blame either. It’s disgusting that they reverted to animals just to buy some things at a lower price. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those people were on line to pay when the ambulance was taking the man away. Sick!
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