Worker Killed, Woman Miscarries in Wal-Mart Stampede

[4PointOh]

Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on in the world?

http://www.nypost.com/seven/11282008/news/regionalnews/man_killed__woman_miscarries_in_wal_mart_141313.ht m

[GozertheGozarian]

Only one death is a slow Black Friday.

[Solaris]

We don't do Black Friday shopping... and this is one reason why. At some stores, people turn into mad animals.

Jesus. It is NOT worth saving a few bucks, when you know it came at the cost of someone's life.

[NathanBethell]

Bobby, what's the source for the miscarriage? It's not in the article that you linked to.

[Sabrinaset]

This is the kind of stuff that happens when you don't have an sk716 in every Wal-Mart. You can be sure the ones over in Hot Springs didn't have THESE kinds of shenanegans going on!

[MacQuarrie]

I don't do Black Friday either. Frankly, there isn't any merchandise on Earth that's worth getting up at 4 AM for. We tend to not spend a lot on Christmas anyway.

[MartinRedmond]

That's why I hate crowds!!! :frown: People's IQ descends bellow bellow bellow the great bellow. You know most of the people trampling in must have been conscious they were killing him but w/e! Go with the flow!!! I'm sure they just kept shopping unbothered.

[Weetomuncher]

Being British, I've never experienced Black Friday shopping but last Thursday, Marks & Spencer had a 20% off day on clothing and gifts and I've never seen a store as busy before, even right before Christmas!

All I bought was a red and blue rugby shirt and my dad bought a pair of shoes.

Dozens of people were ahead of us in the line but we started talking to a nice old man who bought a some trousers and two women who were buying preschool toys.

The savings were pretty good as I got my shirt for £23.60 instead of£29.50 and my dad got £45.00 shoes for £36.00 so we saved £14.90.

The UK stores have been pushing big sales down our throats for weeks and I've saved a few pennies in the process. What Scotsman could resist that?

[JTPencils]

I'm actually surprised that even MORE incidents don't happen on Black Friday. People see sale signs, and go absolutely nuts. To ME.. it's just not worth it. To lessen it, these retailers should spread the sales out over the weekend. Yeah, it cuts into profits a bit.. but it would cut down on things like this happening, I think.

[K-DoG7p7]

People who go grazy during sales are DESTROYING THE ECONOMY!!
people who pay full price deserve MEDALS!

[Kalen O.]

I'm actually as disturbed by the comments on that article as the article itself. Anyone else read them? Holy shit, people.

[4PointOh]

Bobby, what's the source for the miscarriage? It's not in the article that you linked to.

It was in the article when I first posted it. It's even in the title of the URL. Maybe they removed it?

http://www.nypost.com/seven/11282008/news/regionalnews/man_killed__woman_miscarries_in_wal_mart_141313.ht m

[titanfan]

Pregnant Women should know better than to not be in Wal-Mart on Black Friday.

Wal-Mart, I've always felt is part of the cause for these incidents too. They inentionally create an atmosphere where you have to stand in line and run people over to get what you want. From what I understand, they tend to always understock their biggest deals, knowing it will create demand and cause people to basically rush to their store at X time, causing the hysteria....

[CutterMike]

...And this is just another reason why I'm a vocal supporter of "Buy Nothing Day (http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd)".

To be honest, I'm thinking that most of the adults on my Christmas list this year will get a subscription to "This Is True (http://www.thisistrue.com/)", a weekly e-newsletter of humorous and thought-provoking news-stories, published by Randy Cassingham -- the creator of the original "Get Out Of Hell Free (http://www.GOOHF.com/)" cards.

There's a free edition, and a $24/yr. "Premium Edition" with no ads. The regular version has 4 or 5 stories -- sourced and cited from legit media -- and the Premium has twice as many. Both versions include "Ten Years Ago in 'True'" stories, links to a "Bonzer Web Site of the Week" that Randy thinks everyone should know about, and an "Honorary Unsubscribe" -- the obituary of someone that most people have never heard of, but whose life has affected us all (to a greater or lesser extent). H.U.s have included Jack Kilby, the inventor of the integrated circuit, and Don LaFontaine, the "In a world where..." movie trailer voice-over guy.

Currently I'm getting the free edition, myself -- and ONE of my family who WON'T be getting a sub is getting a gift that I saw in TiT's ads -- Hmmm... I think I know why Randy never abbreviates his newsletter's title! -- so I may keep it that way for a while, but the others will get a gift that shows up once a week, raises a smile and/or a thought, and uses relatively little in the way of toxic chemicals, underpaid third-world sweatshop labor, or natural resources.

...And saves me having to deal with as much insane humanity.

Hey... I used to WORK retail! I done PAID my dues!!!

[sk716]

This is the kind of stuff that happens when you don't have an sk716 in every Wal-Mart. You can be sure the ones over in Hot Springs didn't have THESE kinds of shenanegans going on!

Well, nobody died.

One of our department managers got knocked to the floor in the initial stamped and was stuck curled up in that corner for about a half hour before anybody could get her out. It was just lucky that she got knocked into a corner instead of in the middle of the floor. We had police officers back there too and even they couldn't get that lot to calm down any.

On the upside, some lady was back in the same area screaming and cussing at the associates and after the associates and managers repeatedly asked her to calm down and her just getting louder and more obnoxious another customer turned around and popped her in the mouth.

It was just nasty all around, people were literally fighting over towels.

[escapegoat]

I'm starting to enjoy the virtues of ordering stuff on-line... plenty of good deals there, no line-ups, and no fears of being trampled to death!

[MartinRedmond]

2 words: Rubber Bullets

[sk716]

Pregnant Women should know better than to not be in Wal-Mart on Black Friday.

Wal-Mart, I've always felt is part of the cause for these incidents too. They inentionally create an atmosphere where you have to stand in line and run people over to get what you want. From what I understand, they tend to always understock their biggest deals, knowing it will create demand and cause people to basically rush to their store at X time, causing the hysteria....

Not true. We're typically well stocked on the sale merchandise. I had only run out of about four items in toys by 8am. I'll still have about half of my Black Friday items in stock in the morning. There won't be a lot of it left but there will be some.

[Charles RB]

It was just nasty all around, people were literally fighting over towels.

How much of a discount can there possibly be that makes this worthwhile? It's a fucking towel, they're CHEAP ALREADY.

[bfrank]

Well, nobody died.

One of our department managers got knocked to the floor in the initial stamped and was stuck curled up in that corner for about a half hour before anybody could get her out. It was just lucky that she got knocked into a corner instead of in the middle of the floor. We had police officers back there too and even they couldn't get that lot to calm down any.

On the upside, some lady was back in the same area screaming and cussing at the associates and after the associates and managers repeatedly asked her to calm down and her just getting louder and more obnoxious another customer turned around and popped her in the mouth.

It was just nasty all around, people were literally fighting over towels.


This is why I don't go to Wal-Mart.....

[Michael P]

...And this is just another reason why I'm a vocal supporter of "Buy Nothing Day (http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd)".


I'm not. There's something just too precious about turning not wanting to deal with a big crowd of assholes into a political statement. It's not a political statement, and it doesn't single you out as more socially aware. Everybody hates dealing with big crowds of assholes; there's no boy scout medal for issuing a proclamation about it. Welcome to the club; it's called "everyone," and we meet at the bar.

[cedardryad]

A co worker asked me what I'm giving my daughter for Xmas this year, I said a hug and kiss. With the closing of my floor in January I don't know if I'll even have a job. So I'm trying to save where I can. Besides I always thought of the holidays as a time for family, even as a kid I didn't like the whole commercialism of it.

[MartinRedmond]

How much of a discount can there possibly be that makes this worthwhile? It's a fucking towel, they're CHEAP ALREADY.

YOU don't UNDERSTAND! I NEED THAT TOWEL CHEAP!!!!! >:(

[DungeonmasterJim]

I was part of the Wal-Mart crush today at 5am in my area. I went to the Chicopee, MA store.

I had to work until 7am Thanksgiving morning and crashed at 8:30 that night so I was awake at 3am after 6 hours of sleep. I wanted to go shopping but didn't care that much if I missed but I decided to go since I felt fairly rested and I knew I would be awake. I got to the store about 4:15 am and the crowd eventually entwinded arcoss the whole front of the store to the main road. It wouldn't surprise me if it was over 500 people or more waiting. What sucked was the late arrivals. Instead of going to the end of the line they waited across from the line. When the door opened they rushed forward in a huge mass and the two cops there could barely stop them. Probably half of the crowd or more surged into the store before the cops restored some order. This dispite that the store had put a long row of carriages to act as a border to keep the intended line of people separate from the street and people cutting in line.

Once inside people were everywhere. The store was heavily packed in most of the main area and this was a super center and I think the biggest Wal-Mart of three different ones I've been in. I was hit by a carriage and no apology offered but I think the cause was because of congestion rather than malice. I'm a little thin - 170 lbs at 5'9 and had no carriage but even so it was tough slipping by people. Lots of people were rude but others were nice or at least accomodating. The accomodating ones were waiting to check out and I asked to slip through and every did without a word. But often times it was so jammed packed that I had to wait several seconds before I could proceed.None of this came as a surprise to me as I have worked 10 consecutive Christmas seasons and Black Fridays from my days at Toys R Us. I was actually energized and pleasant by the crowd. All the workers I interacted were polite and did their best to answer my questions. I was able to get one of the two items I wanted. The store had 4 of the flier item of an 8 gig mp3 player for $49.99 which sucked because it was sold out. But I did get the main item I wanted which was a Blu-Ray played for $128. Original price that I saw was $280 on the box and $228 on the display. So I was happy to get it. I also found a area that wasn't overwhelmed to cash out at - the tire area. The only thing that held me up was the employee with the key thing to remove the security bands had walked off helping others and I had to track her down.

I ended up spending about 40 minutes out in the cold. I got to test my new winter coat and it did pretty well. Had I put on my hood I probably wouldn't have been cold at all. And I had my little mp3 player with so I listened to good music as I waited. So because of all the factors it was okay for me and not a bad shopping experience.

DM Jim

[Lester C.]

There is no excuse for people acting like animals. Part of the problem though is that stores are only offering huge sames on SOME of the items. For example if they have one hundred tvs of brand x only five people get the sale price while everyone else has to pay the regular price for the other 95 tvs. This leads to a stampede mentality because people want to be one of the first five customers who get the deal rather than the other 95 who have to pay the full price for the same product.

[JohnPopa]

Everyon knew something like this would happen someday and no one cared. Stores kept making the 'Black Friday' experience more and more ridiculous -- earlier and earlier hours, bigger and more insane discounts. This was inevitable and no one cared. Next year will almost certainly be exactly the same but as long as no one, you know, DIES, it'll be all fine and dandy.

[Tracer Bullet]

Horrible. I'm glad I don't work in retail.

[Lester C.]

Horrible. I'm glad I don't work in retail.

My brief stint in retail saw me develop an INTENSE hatred for all of humanity. Yea only one person out of say 50 is a mean asshole that doesn't give a shit about hurting your feelings as long as they get what they want but when you are dealing with thousands of people you get to deal with dozens of these scum bags who really do their best to ruin your day. And the fact that they always get what they want makes it that much worse.

And that's the external customers. You would not believe how vicious the internal politics of retail are or how underpaid and under treated the staff of most stores are. Worst time of my professional life let me tell you.

[stealthwise]

That is fucking disgusting.

I was in Wal-Mart today (up in Canada) and there were no crazy sales like that and no crazy people like that.

And titanfan, my wife was with me and she's pregnant right now, so you might want to STFU. Who knows why she was there in the first place. Certainly she wouldn't have gone if she thought there was the slightest chance that she would lose her baby.

[LtMarvel]

The Wal*Mart I was at was one that was open 24/7, so the crowd was already packed in the store when the sale started. In fact, if you were next to the "blitz" item (like I was for the bikes) people handed items to people who couldn't quite get to the display.

[CutterMike]

...And this is just another reason why I'm a vocal supporter of "Buy Nothing Day (http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd)".I'm not. There's something just too precious about turning not wanting to deal with a big crowd of assholes into a political statement. It's not a political statement, and it doesn't single you out as more socially aware. Everybody hates dealing with big crowds of assholes; there's no boy scout medal for issuing a proclamation about it. Welcome to the club; it's called "everyone," and we meet at the bar.
Well, as I said, it's "just another reason" why I support their goals and am actually trying to consume a bit less.

Some members of my family knit and crochet and do other crafty things, which I don't, so I try to shop at local craft fairs as much as possible, or come up with other gift ideas that cost a bit less karmically.

And, no; I DON'T actually expect enough people will ever go along with Buy Nothing Day to actually put a dent into Corporate America™'s penchant for these cynically calculated wallet-vacuumings. But if not going there and not doing that and recommending to others that THEY might want to try giving it a pass are the only ways that I have to express my displeasure with them, then that's what I do.

[IamnotNormal]

My prayers and heart go out this Lady! Remeber this the season to love not hate with all going on in the world. This time of year we really need to remeber to love and show compassion to each other!

[Charles RB]

It occurs to me that these sort of rabid crowds are the perfect targets for a terrorist attack, and should be obvious to any cell.

So on the bright side, every Black Friday shows that the terrorist threat in America is wildly overrated.

[Sabrinaset]

It occurs to me that these sort of rabid crowds are the perfect targets for a terrorist attack, and should be obvious to any cell.

So on the bright side, every Black Friday shows that the terrorist threat in America is wildly overrated.

The PERFECT place for terrorists to attack? Disneyland. I mean, think about it ... all those people, and only one real exit. Okay, there are others, but most of the guests there don't know about them.

[TomStillwell]

The PERFECT place for terrorists to attack? Disneyland. I mean, think about it ... all those people, and only one real exit. Okay, there are others, but most of the guests there don't know about them.

Disneyland has good security though for exactly that reason. They treat it as a target.

The softest targets in America? Any indoor mall on a busy day. A coordinated attack on malls all over the United States on a day like today would be devastating.

Think of that Wall-Mart horde trampling someone over cheap X-Boxes. Now imagine that same crowd with the motivating factor being masked gunmen. Dozens would have died without a shot fired.

In 2003 a tightly packed night club here in Chicago had a small fire and 21 people died and another 50 were injured. Not from the fire. From the crowd that trampled one another in an effort to get out through the one emergency exit.

That inconsiderate guy who bumps into you in the mall? That guy will run you over to save his life without a second thought.

[Charles RB]

Isn't it worrying we're good at thinking up terrorist attacks?

[Shades0077]

It was just nasty all around, people were literally fighting over towels.

Well, you should always know where your towel is.

[Tracer Bullet]

Back in '99 there was a plan to attack US citizens during the holiday season but it was squashed.

[Suzanne]

I never understood the appeal of stampeding like wild animals to buy the same dumb shit that's available throughout the year. I hope those responsible for the Wal-Mart guy's death get a nice murder charge for Christmas.

[Tracer Bullet]

They were stampeding for discounts. It was all about saving money and getting good deals, at the expense of lives apparently. I don't think anyone will be charged.

[Suzanne]

They should be charged. Or beaten with rubber pipes at the very least :evilangry:

[DavidAllred]

We don't do Black Friday shopping... and this is one reason why. At some stores, people turn into mad animals.

Jesus. It is NOT worth saving a few bucks, when you know it came at the cost of someone's life.



Not to mention the exploitation that takes place before the items even reach the store shelves:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWnTuVXvTy0

[DavidAllred]

I don't know if anyone posted this but there's a facebook group started demanding justice for the slain worker:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1030747413&ref=profile#/group.php?gid=36656099818&ref=mf

[Sound Silence]

I never understood the appeal of stampeding like wild animals to buy the same dumb shit that's available throughout the year. I hope those responsible for the Wal-Mart guy's death get a nice murder charge for Christmas.

Yeah, but how do you figure out who was responsible? One drop cannot be responsible for a flood, and if you want to accuse every drops, well, that's a lot of drops to identify.

[kingdom2000]

I have been doing black friday for years and never seen a stampede. People in a hurry sure, but so mindless they can step on a man, not know it and break a door at the same time? Not even close.

Of course maybe they make the people and the managers smarter then those in New York where lines are maintained, people enter in an ordered and managed manner (by store employees letting only chunks in) and most importantly the best "doorbuster" deals are handed out early in the form of coupons to those in the line.

You got the coupon, you got the deal. No coupon, no deal so no reason to be in quite a hurry. Expectations are set early so people don't go apeshit. I bet you money that part of the reason that employee died is because the manager a) wouldn't commit personnel for crowd control and b) wouldn't take neccessary and common steps to manage crowd expectations on deals. First come first serve is the worse thing you can do for BF deals because of the very behavior that killed that poor man.

Personally I don't see how you can trample someone and a) not know it and b) not stop and help after doing it. Those people are just absolutely vile savages barely above animals and only illustrates why New York has the horrible reputation it has.

[KevinTBrown]

Well, they're going to at least try to find those who trampled the poor man: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081129/ap_on_re_us/wal_mart_death. Though I don't see them having much success....

Especially when you read this:

Kimberly Cribbs, who witnessed the stampede, said shoppers were acting like "savages."

"When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling `I've been on line since yesterday morning,'" she said. "They kept shopping."

[Michael P]

I don't know if anyone posted this but there's a facebook group started demanding justice for the slain worker:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1030747413&ref=profile#/group.php?gid=36656099818&ref=mf

Well, that will surely accomplish something.

[cedardryad]

My brief stint in retail saw me develop an INTENSE hatred for all of humanity. Yea only one person out of say 50 is a mean asshole that doesn't give a shit about hurting your feelings as long as they get what they want but when you are dealing with thousands of people you get to deal with dozens of these scum bags who really do their best to ruin your day. And the fact that they always get what they want makes it that much worse.

And that's the external customers. You would not believe how vicious the internal politics of retail are or how underpaid and under treated the staff of most stores are. Worst time of my professional life let me tell you.

Agreed 100%. I worked retail for 7 years and I hated people before, imagine what happened afterwards.

[section 8]

I personally like Black Friday shopping, it's almost like playing football again.

Granted people get ghetto, but the deaths in new york are a new low.

[Suzanne]

Yeah, but how do you figure out who was responsible? One drop cannot be responsible for a flood, and if you want to accuse every drops, well, that's a lot of drops to identify.Maybe they can use security videos. Someone's gotta pay for this.

[Lester C.]

Maybe they can use security videos. Someone's gotta pay for this.



Even if they get the people who did this what do you charge them with. Murder needs intent and the best you can hope for in a case like this is manslaughter.

[Hybrid2]

Even if they get the people who did this what do you charge them with. Murder needs intent and the best you can hope for in a case like this is manslaughter.

Still better then nothing.

[Venom Melendez]

Only one death is a slow Black Friday.



Yeah, last year 3 people got killed over a PS3.

This is why i do my Holiday shopping early.

[mr.brighteyes]

Well, you should always know where your towel is. I want to make a horribly racist joke but I won't.

[4PointOh]

Only one death is a slow Black Friday.

How about three?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/28/socal-toys-r-us-shooting_n_147032.html

[Cam63]

Well, nobody died.

One of our department managers got knocked to the floor in the initial stamped and was stuck curled up in that corner for about a half hour before anybody could get her out. It was just lucky that she got knocked into a corner instead of in the middle of the floor. We had police officers back there too and even they couldn't get that lot to calm down any.

On the upside, some lady was back in the same area screaming and cussing at the associates and after the associates and managers repeatedly asked her to calm down and her just getting louder and more obnoxious another customer turned around and popped her in the mouth.

It was just nasty all around, people were literally fighting over towels.

Your workplace needs a panic room.