Walmart worker

[Stitchahula]

I was watching the news this morning and heard about the man that was killed opening a door to let people in to shop. I was sickened that people were complaining that they were asked to leave the store and they had been waiting hours to shop. It just seems so wrong to put the price of a cheaper item higher than a persons life. I saw so many people driving so badly yesterday it was scarey. I ended up seeing 3 different accidents. When my sis (payroll princess) and I were driving back from edaville railroad with my 2 sons last night we were on a major highway when everyone was slamming on their brakes because someone stopped in the middle lane. They drove past their exit and instead of going up to the next exit and turning around they put everyone elses life at risk so they could back up on the highway to take their exit. I'm just hoping this isn't how this whole holiday season is going to go. I was also wondering if maybe if you get a minute say a little prayer for that poor mans family. I'm sure they never thought he would be killed just opening a door at work.

[Sunshine1010]

The man was 34 years old....hired from a temp agency to be security. Apparently, a few people 'slipped by' and the security team got in their 'position' to block the entrance. That's when the flood of people came in and trampled him.

Many other employees were 'run over' also, but this individual actually died of it.

Yes, ...I heard people were saying the 'wrong' things when they were asked to leave.

I know this was an accident, and I pray that everyone who is involved can heal.

Especially the family of this man.....

[ElenitaB]

The local Long Island newspaper (Newsday) indicated that they had not opened the doors but rather that the crowd had pushed forward so much that the door frames had actually been bent. :( Very sad state of affairs when things like this happen. Yesterday, there was talk of criminal charges but the authorities were unable to identify any individuals in particular.

[pink]

Not only did this man get killed near the Walmart where I live but one I live even closer to there was another accident the same day. A 28 year old pregnant women was walking in Walmart and people kicked her to the ground and because of it she had a miscarriage. It's very sad.

I also heard on the news this morning about the man that was killed that when police told everyone to get out of the store customers yelled back "we've been standing in line for hours and I'm still going to shop". :(

[QTPie68]

Yes, it is very sad and dark day when cheap TV's are more important than the safety of humans...:mad:

[Disney Doll]

DH and I both spent many years in retail (DH is still there) and I'm not surprised at all. Many people have no idea what a really crazy black Friday morning is like and often times stores have inexperienced managers who are not prepared and not organized. There should never be a stampeding free for all to get inside and if that happens the store management and ultimately the company that put inexperienced managers in place should be held responsible. This is just one more story that reminds me why I do not shop at Wal-Mart. Thankfully I've never witnessed anything like what happened to that poor security guard.

Once a woman fainted in the check out line of DH's store and while he was tending to the woman on the ground another customer asked if he could have the cashier open another lane. He said he was too shocked to do much more than glare at the impatient customer. People never cease to amaze me.

[thrillme]

For a big city that I'm in it's usually not too bad. I hope those IDIOTS are ashamed of themselves. My prayers go out to that poor employee and his family. Everyone of those people that "stepped" over him should be slapped around too. If someone was on the ground I couldn't imagine not stopping to help them up. I don't care if TV's were a penny. I couldn't imagine letting someone get hurt. I'm hoping they do something to prosecute those people that pushed they're way in.

I just don't get it. NOTHING I saw in the paper was worth the time to get there at O'Dark-thirty and wait in the cold for. TV's go on sale all the time and they're still quite a bit to pay.

What really bugs me is I'm betting a grand percentage of these people were buying for "themselves" not for anyone else. This time of year I can't imagine getting ANYTHING for myself.

[VWL Mom]

What really bugs me is I'm betting a grand percentage of these people were buying for "themselves" not for anyone else. This time of year I can't imagine getting ANYTHING for myself.

I did go out a few years ago when Xbox 360 was new. There were a group of men in front of me that were all together. They were grabbing tickets for anything and everything and were going to sell it all on EBay. Since then, all my Black Friday shopping is done early morning in my pj's in front of my computer.

My prayers go out to the worker and his family.

[beksy]

I am one of those people that go out every black Friday but sometimes I don't even buy anything--it just seems like the start of the Christmas season for me. This year I went to our local Wal-Mart for the portable DVD player and it was crazy. :crowd: I took my mom with me (she is in a wheelchair but decided at the last minute that she really wanted to go so I took her) and I thought she was going to be trampled. We used one of those that the store provides and people were actually pushing the chair, stepping in front of it, or pushing around her to get where they were going. :shake: We ended up cutting through the clothes to get to the back of the store and I got the DVD player (my bf's Christmas present along with some of the cheap DVDs that were on sale!:trophy: I'm on a very limited budget and he doesn't even have a tv right now so this sale was really important to me but I can't imagine acting the way I saw some people act for a material item!). I was in shock when I saw this in the paper. Does anybody remember the reason we celebrate Christmas anymore? :babyroll: I enjoy opening presents as much as anybody but it has gotten so materialistic! I also enjoy sitting in front of the tree playing board games with my family and baking cookies with my sister while we dance to Christmas music. This really makes me stop and re-evaluate how I look at the season and approach it. Ok, I'm off my soapbox now! :soapbox: :santa:

[hokies4life]

I just don't get it. NOTHING I saw in the paper was worth the time to get there at O'Dark-thirty and wait in the cold for. TV's go on sale all the time and they're still quite a bit to pay.

What really bugs me is I'm betting a grand percentage of these people were buying for "themselves" not for anyone else. This time of year I can't imagine getting ANYTHING for myself.

I'm not sure if this point was having to do with people just wanting to shop for themselves while some one was injured, but I do have something to say about it. While I know its the holiday season, Black Friday shopping isn't just about buying presents for others at cheaper prices. When you've already finished all your Christmas shopping like DBF and I have, you go out on Black Friday to save a few dollars on things you need for the house and not things for other people. I don't see anything wrong with that.

:soapbox: I hope I haven't offended anyone, I just wanted to throw that out there. :soapbox:

[mjaclyn]

DH and I went out around 5am on Black Friday and it was crazy. We went to Toys R Us and Target and both stores were very croweded. I DO have to say that anyone I saw who accidentally bumped into someone else apologized for it. I don't think you can avoid bumping into people when the stores are ridiculously crowded but there is a HUGE difference between aggressive behavior and accidents. I heard this one woman who was bumped into say 'This is nothing! I was just at Wal-Mart and people were ramming carts into each other on purpose!'. I absolutely hate Wal-Mart and will never shop there - I don't care how cheap their flat screen TVs are.

[Stitchahula]

I'm glad I'm not the only one shocked by how people acted. It's supposed to be the beginning of the Christmas season but yet it seems like some people have forgotton what Christmas really means. What happened to Joy to the World and Peace on Earth part of the season. It just kind of made the beginning of the season really sad for me. It seems too that most of the time it's at Walmart that these problems are happening. My sister went to Walmart Friday morning and it was so bad she left and went to Target instead and it was much more organized.

[SteveL]

Some love to bash Walmart.
But really, how are they any worse than other retailer?

[Jasper]

GRRRRRRRRR!!!

These things just make my blood boil. Part of what drives me crazy with these things is that SOOO many people share responsibility - from the shoppers to the managers of the store who didn't plan well to the Wal-Mart company as a whole who put weak managers in their stores!

I don't normally go out on black Friday because I just can't deal well with the crowds but one year several years back my wife did convince me to go to Wal-Mart to get a couple of things with her on that morning. In the appliance aisle I watched two women who were fighting over a toaster while a couple of Wal-Mart employees just watched an laughed!! After that I have not only not gone shopping again on black Friday, but I also no longer shop at Wal-Mart unless there is no other choice. That means that in the last 4 years I have been in a Wal-Mart store one time! I know they don't care about losing my tiny amount of business but it makes me feel better to protest that company in the only way I have available to me!

[TinkerbellT421]

Its absolutely disgusting what the times and places have come down to. Thats just horrible. I was out on black friday and i just go for fun (yes I know Im wierd....) I would never do that to anyone! Do anything mean to anyone! I get disgusted whenever I see something like that when Im out doing it.

[DizneyRox]

I'm glad I'm not the only one shocked by how people acted.Unfortunately, I'm not shocked. Appauled, but not shocked. This type of me first mentality has gotten way out of hand; I don't think it will get any better anytime soon.

Welcome to the world! :thumbsup:

[tinksmom02]

Some love to bash Walmart.
But really, how are they any worse than other retailer?

I can't speak for anyone else, but I despise Wal-Mart. Every time I'm there the store is filthy, the merch is hapharardly thrown all over the place, and the employees are...disgruntled, to say the least. I find that the customers are not as pleasant, either.

Personally, I love Target.

A new Wal-mart is opening near us sometime in the future, I'll be interested to see how the new one fares.

To get back to the OP, I felt so bad when I heard about this man. I'll be thinking of his family...

[dnickels]

Such a sad situation. Was he literally trampled or was it a fluke thing (i.e. knocked down and hit his head or something)?

I'm about as non-materialistic as they get, and black Friday has always amazed me because virtually everything bought on that day is a WANT and not a NEED.

[IloveDisney71]

I've been to Wal-marts and Targets in our area and have seen this type of behavior at both places. I don't get the pushing and shoving that goes on, especially this year. The deals weren't that impressive but even if they were it would NOT excuse this type of behavior. I think something needs to be done to prevent this sort of behavior. I have no solutions for this but I'm sure somebody out there could figure out a safer alternative to the mad dashes that are always shown on t.v.:(

[Sunshine1010]

I remember hearing/seeing about this type of behavior when the Cabbage Patch Dolls were popular.

Does anyone else remember this?

[Disney Doll]

Some love to bash Walmart.
But really, how are they any worse than other retailer?

Poorly managed stores make these black Friday incidents even more dangerous for all invloved. There is a right and a wrong way to handle black Friday crowds. Wal-Mart should have better prepared their managers on how to handle large crowds. Opening the front door and letting the crowds stampede through the store to get to the merchandise they want is clearly irresponsible. The best way to handle a crowd like this is to hand out tickets while people are still in line outside. First in line = first to get a ticket. Once tickets are gone there is no need to fight. Things are handled fairly on a first come first served basis not on the basis of who can elbow their way to the merchandise first. I have worked numerous black Friday events at major retailers (not Wal-Mart) and things always went pretty smoothly with the ticket process. In fact we usually got compliments from customers who appreciated the organization. My problem with Wal-Mart is that they cannot recruit and retain high quality experienced managers because they do not treat their workers properly.

[Stich8818]

Condolances to this man's family, the guy was most likely doing this for the extra money to help pay for the gifts that those people who trampled him were in a hurry to get too.

Story something simular as in the fact of people worried about themselves. I worked at a drug/retail/pharmacy store that at the service desk you could pay utlitiy bills. Well we had a gentleman that passed out and I think he was having a heart attack. Well the customer was laying there you know almost dying..there was paramedics and what not there helping this man. Well this other customer goes to walk up to the window steps over the almost dying man to pay his bill. Now I understand that you gotta do what you gotta do. But I mean have a little respect and pay your bill some other time. There were some customers seen what was going on and turned the other way. And the kicker was that the guy who paid his bill was aregualr customer and lived less then a block away.

[jillluvsdisney]

I cannot begin to understand the pack mentality of those shoppers. I hope the police can identify and prosecute as many people as possible. Wal mart should just give the dead man's family a blank check. Store's encourage this behavior by opening earlier and earlier, having sale prices that only last an hour or two and people knowing that certain hot ticket items are going to be in limited supply. It's disgusting. If anyone reading this is offended, don't take it personally. I'm all for getting a bargain but not if it means acting like an animal to get it.

[pixiesmimi]

Our Wal-Mart is open 24 hours a day and last year I thought they would close about midnight and reopen in time for the sale. I was wrong. They stayed open and when I got there about 30 min. before the sale was supposed to start, there were already a lot of people there and standing around the displays where the computers and TVs were waiting for them to be unwrapped when the sale started. This kept it from being a mad rush to get in. But our manager here is a very good one and back in electronics where the DVD players were, they had chairs set up in the aisle and first come got the chairs. Then when the sale started, they brought the DVD players out one at a time and gave to the first in line on down. When they were gone, they were gone and there were only enough chairs for how many they had in stock. So when we got there and saw the chairs filled, we just walked on to other things. It was pretty organized throughout the store. But I was a little upset because our manager told me that they only got two or three of things they had advertised. Why bother to advertise them if that is all you are going to get? The corp. distributes them as they see fit. The other thing that makes me mad is that when there is a big sale on something like cameras, if the store gets them in before the sale date, they put them out and sell them. I usually wait until the day the sale is supposed to start and they are usually gone by that time. I fussed at the manager about this and don't rush over there any more. We also didn't go out early this year for BF because we figured it would all be gone anyway. I don't think we have ever been able to get anything advertised that is a highly sought after product. I can usually find it somewhere else or on line later.

[gueli]

1- My sympathy for the family and friends.

2- my disgust at the crowd.
Although this particular wall mart is in the same area as the once infamous movie theatre where gunshots from the audience were once a common thing.

3- Although I do not generally like wallmart, their buisness plan -to sell low, pay their workers the minimum, and maximize profits- is one of the thing that works for many families.
With that said- the idea of flinging open their doors- and letting the free-for-all start- only encourages bad behavior.
I have a friend who once worked for best buy (he has gone on to bigger & better it jobs)- who said that they would hand out tickets to those in line so that it would not become a free for all. Logiacally that should be the way that it should be done.
In the end- I hope that wall mart gets the hint, although a sledgehammer of a lawsuit should take care of that.
Shame on those who could care less about this poor young man.
:(

[Stich8818]

I did read a report this morning that the man's family is suing Wal-Mart. How much I dont know..

[Stitchahula]

I don't blame his family for suing Walmart. I'm really surprised that nothing like that has happened at the running of brides. For those of you don't know what that is Filene's basement offer bridal gowns at really low prices once a year. They show it on the news and I'm always shocked at how crazy it is. I think the worst part of this is I haven't heard any reports of anyone stopping to try to help this poor man.

[dmosher]

This is no doubt one of those areas where I start talking and get blasted for my opinion, but here it goes.

First to address wal-mart in general. Anyone who says, wal-mart is not that bad or any worse than any other retailer/employer/company, truly has either not done their research or is so wrapped up in getting a "so called" good deal that they are willing to overlook their evil practices. Don't believe me, think they are still a decent company? Drop me a message and I can send you hundreds, literally hundreds of news and legal stories/links regarding their unfair labour practices and treatment of women and minorities, miss-use of company funds, open hiring of illegal immigrants at lower rated/discounted wages in the US alone.

Ok that rant aside and my obvious distaste for the company aside as well, I still think suing the company is ridiculous. Maybe the store was at fault for not preparing for the on-surge of insanity, but seriously... you can sue for that? We as a society have become so $$ hungry that we can't even see who is at fault here. The sad p[art is when tragedy strikes we NEED someone to blame and if we can't find anyone, then we have to sue anyone in the vicinity that we feel is subject to it. So let's see, my father is killed at wal-mart because other people are money hungry jerks... so ... since I can't track down any of those people I will sue... wal-mart, the city, the police department, etc. Seriously, that's what these people are doing.. suing the city and the police dept. (look it up, they are trying to do it). When does this insanity stop?
Sorry I hate going off like this, but seriously, enough is enough! This sort of thing is the very reason I moved to the other side of the planet.
:pipes:
D

(P.S.: If you would like to see any and or all of my source material it is open and available to all).

[RenDuran]

This is no doubt one of those areas where I start talking and get blasted for my opinion, but here it goes.

First to address wal-mart in general. Anyone who says, wal-mart is not that bad or any worse than any other retailer/employer/company, truly has either not done their research or is so wrapped up in getting a "so called" good deal that they are willing to overlook their evil practices. Don't believe me, think they are still a decent company? Drop me a message and I can send you hundreds, literally hundreds of news and legal stories/links regarding their unfair labour practices and treatment of women and minorities, miss-use of company funds, open hiring of illegal immigrants at lower rated/discounted wages in the US alone.

You barely broke the surface on the reasons to hate Walmart! I usually feel so alone when I talk about my disdain for that store!

[ElenitaB]

So let's see, my father is killed at wal-mart because other people are money hungry jerks... so ... since I can't track down any of those people I will sue... wal-mart, the city, the police department, etc. Seriously, that's what these people are doing.. suing the city and the police dept. (look it up, they are trying to do it). When does this insanity stop?

I'm not sure of the details of the suit against WalMart in particular (and the doors were not flung open but pushed open from news reports), but as for the suit against the police: they were called, saw that there was a serious issue with crowd management and left. That is apparently why they are being sued.