http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081128/ap_ … mart_death

I feel sorry for employees having to deal with throngs of people who only care about saving a couple of bucks.

I guess I must be old fashioned, and still think Holidays should be about family and friends... I say screw getting up in the morning to go shopping! Anyway, I hope everyone had their share of turkey, or tofurkey (I tried that a few weeks ago, it's really quite good

cheers,

-avatar!

that employee's family is going to get 8 figures from Walmart by the time the lawsuit is settled.

my little brother had to be at work at 4:30am this morning at best buy. At least he's in with the puter techs and not out on the sales floor.

the post office was surprisingly dead today.. good thing too,, we piled about 30 doll orders on their front counter this morning... give them something to do...

I was up at 4:00 a.m., and at the mall by 5:00.  I found a couple of nice shirts, but they weren't super-special Black Friday deals.  I kind of like shopping early in the morning, but then again, I just like shopping, period.

Didn't bother...No deals that were worth the trouble. Could've made a disaster video just watching people drive to and from work today though...Tailgating, cutting across four lanes, jumping across a strip, three accidents that slowed traffic to a halt, another jam-up for no reason (around 3:00 no less) and more tailgating for good measure (this one on a windy road, not going towards any shops...your guess is as good as mine on this one).

I'm interested in the fact that big screen TV's are coming down in price, but I can get one next year instead of scrambling now for one.

Well, killing a man is a totally reasonable course of action when that man is standing between you and The Incredible Hulk on sale for $9.

Snark aside, this is a frightening preview of the sort of behavior that I fear we can expect to see regularly after peak oil drives the prices of everyday goods into the stratosphere at the same time that persistent economic turmoil sends millions into a state of financial desperation.  If people are already shedding the constraints of civilized society for discounts on televisions and digital cameras, then I shudder to think of what will happen when they can no longer afford necessities.

all this can be solved by putting walmarts INSIDE the trailer parks,, and razorwire outside them...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/28/black. … pstoryview

OK, body count up to 3... how retarded can people get? I probably shouldn't ask...

I've been thinking about that as well. Its very depressing.

I went to my local mall today. It was packed but nothing out of the ordinary. Sad to say, I actually predicted there would be a (yearly) trampling...

http://thecaldorrainbow.blogspot.com/

The only time I left the house today was to get some excercise outside.  The majority of gifts I buy for people are either booze or gift cards, and neither of those need to be purchased in advance.

You're an awesome gifter, man.   I wish people just bought me booze and gift cards.

I suppose that this activity is comparable to the bull running in Spain.

Of course, it's unlikely that anyone actually decided to do something like that. My guess is that it went something like this: A few jerks at the back started pushing to get closer to the front. This led to a chain reaction--people started pushing back and/or falling into the people in front of them. This would have built up to a considerable degree of pressure on the people at the front of the line. When the doors opened, they were pushed in and fell over, landing on the guy inside, or accidentally stepped forward onto him in an effort to avoid being pushed over themselves.

In short, I suspect that it was not so much a matter of people casting off the bonds of civilization as of garden-variety jackholery amplified through a large crowd of tired and irritable people combined with a stroke of bad luck. There were probably similar scenarios playing out all over the country, but it only lead to tragedy in one place.

Goddamn, you'd think the authorities would've gotten smart by now, with all the problems going on these days, and put martial law into order...people just getting really damn anxious. Fuckers need armed guards at the doors...[half serious, half sarcasm]

My old man managed to snag a flat screen TV for some $1300 or so, no problem. I don't think he went in until 5AM or so, and he sure as hell didn't need to kill anybody, or worry about getting killed...

Me, I have my gift shopping done well in advance of Black Friday...if you ask me, the deals should begin earlier, rather than expecting everyone to cram in their shopping at the last minute. I say the retailers are just as much to blame as much as the customers.

I've been stockpiling for the apocalypse for some time now...

I didn't mean to suggest that these people had the specific intent to bowl over the employees who were standing in the way of their deals.  In fact, I explicitly labeled that a snarky comment.

But the rest of my post was in earnest.  I think you're losing sight of the big picture by focusing on the physics of the incident.  These people mobbed a store for bargains on non-essentials.  Notwithstanding that such incidents are commonplace on Black Friday, I would still characterize this sort of behavior as a rejection of the prescriptions of civilized society.

Do you really not consider this a casting off of the bonds of civilization?

Those two traits are hardly mutually exclusive; I don't think it's fair or accurate to characterize anyone wanting to save a couple of bucks as not having their hearts in the right place.

im doing all my shopping online again this year.. thats the only way to go...
memory foam mattresses for everyone!!

edit: www.pullipstyle.com too  (had to be done)

True, saving money is one thing, but getting up at the crack of dawn, or I should say camping the night before in front of a store, during the holiday, just so you can get a good deal... does that sound like someone has "their heart in the right place"? Is that really what Thanksgiving is about? NO, most certainly it is not.

-avatar!

I always say theres nothing like waking up at the crack of dawn in the end of autumn... as long as dawn and autumn are okay with the whole idea...

Maybe, but I'm sure most families would infinitely rather have their loved one than money, even a lot of it. Also, people are indeed pointing fingers at Walmart (and who can blame them, the company is pretty shitty by many standards...)

http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/ says:

November 29th, 2008
Union says Wal-Mart death avoidable
Posted: 04:50 PM ET

LONG ISLAND, N.Y. (CNN) — The death of a temporary Wal-Mart worker trampled by customers on the frantic Black Friday shopping day could have been avoided, the union that represents retail workers said Saturday.

Jdimytai Damour, 34, was crushed as he and other employees attempted to unlock the doors of a Long Island, New York, store at 5 a.m. Friday, police said.

“This incident was avoidable,” said Brice Both, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, the state of New York’s largest grocery worker’s union. “Where were the safety barriers? Where was security? How did store management not see dangerous numbers of customers barreling down on the store in such an unsafe manner?

“This is not just tragic; it rises to a level of blatant irresponsibility by Wal-Mart,” he said.

Wal-Mart spokesman Dave Tovar said Saturday the company had no response to the union’s comments, referring CNN to a written statement the retailer released Friday.

The statement said the store added additional internal security, brought in outside security, erected barricades and worked with Nassau County police in anticipation of heavy crowds.

not that im defending walmart's employee relations, but unions will take anyone's side if it helps pumps up their cause.

I remember a lot of the DHL couriers who always used to talk down to us fedex guys cause they made a lot more per hour and were union... well every single one of those guys will be asking santa for for unemployment when DHL discontinues all domestic US service Dec 10th.

Black Friday happens after Thanksgiving, not during.

Someone who goes to extremes for a good deal doesn't mean they don't care for their loved ones--again, it's not mutually exclusive. Maybe they're fixing to get that hot item their spouse or child wants at a great price (which I see as means to afford more gifts). Maybe those people do that with family and loved ones. I do. It's a great time, and the best part is usually the breakfast afterward--when are we ever up early enough for breakfast, let alone all together at the same time?

There are some nuts in the mix, to be sure, but to assume everyone is a greedy skinflint is a tad disingenuous.

No, I don't assume that everyone is a "greedy skinflint". I think you're reading far too much into what I said. You're right, Black Friday happens after Thanksgiving, BUT it's during the Thanksgiving Holiday (Thursday AND Friday for most people). You're of course welcome to spend it however you want, clearly for millions of Americans going out shopping to get deals is something they relish. I will never understand that, and to me that's not the purpose of the Holiday, but to each their own. So long as things remain civilized... and clearly in this case there was a big SNAFU with people trampling and killing someone.

-avatar!

I don't think anyone has ever said or thought "the purpose of the Thanksgiving holiday is to get hot deals." I disagree that people who attempt to save up to several hundred dollars the day after Thanksgiving somehow desecrate the holiday, but as you said, to each his own. At least we can agree that those who are too preoccupied with shopping to acknowledge a man has been trampled to death is uncivilized to say the least!

Well, I'm sure we all learned a lesson today:

Never stand in front of a crowd of unsavory bargain-hunters.

Seriously, fuckers need to figure out how to unlock doors remotely; that kind of technology HAS to already be available...that'd save everyone a shitload of problems right there...

Considering that spiders can be controlled with glue, it is reasonable to assume that humans could as well, provided it was thick enough. The first people to get stuck would very likely die, as their bodies would be used by others as bridges. So it'd have to be really wide, at least 20 feet. That would cause others to hesitate, knowing they would be used as a bridge.

I should also note that some of the gift cards I give are for places that only sell booze. ;-)

On the whole black friday trampling thing... this is why Best Buy gives out tickets in advance.  No ticket = no right to purchase hot deal.  So no trampling.  Not that I'd ever wait at 4am for anything other than a system launch (I wish I could say I've never done that), but the ticket system is a much better way to go.

The only thing I've ever waited up for or have gone out for was for the PS2 launch. I was away at college and the dude that lived in the next room was absolutely insane. He came in to my room and yelled out, "DUDE DO YOU WANT TO GO TO WALMART AND WAIT UP ALL NIGHT FOR A PLAYSTATION 2?", and I said why yes, yes I do. So I spent about ten hours in front of Walmart out in Springfield, MA with a foldy chair and a bag of potato chips. And I bought the hell out of that PS2 with the ticket they gave me. No trampling.

EDIT: The original post/story reminds me of this article from the PS3 launch. Seriously, what the hell is wrong with people?