It Happened Again: The Annual Black Friday Trampling (1 Viewer)

[Malcolm R]

People are fundamentally rude and stupid. Walmart needs to realize this and have adequate control for the crowds they whip into a frenzy with their endless advertisements of cheap stuff that they don't back up with adequate stock.

I'm generally neutral or supportive of Walmart, but their Black Friday behavior is irresponsible, IMO, and I hope they pay the price legally and financially.

 

[Eric_L]

I'm sorry to say this is a sad testament to the hijacking of Christmas - a season once about hope, redemption, charity and generosity.
Consumerism, materialism, greed and selfishness have pushed out those things that Christmas once reinforced.

Those who sought to marginalize values in our society have succeeded in too many corners of our nation, even on one of the Holiest times of year for a large majority of Americans - and we let them. Now we reap what has been sewn and it will continue to get worse so long as good men stand idle.

I fear things won't get better until Americans learn to embrace spiritual values at least as much as we embrace our indulgences - be they Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Confucianism or whatever; People need to learn to believe in something bigger than themselves; to have faith in something greater; and to take pleasure from serving others.

People also need to be reintroduced to the concept of shame. Shame for exhibiting rudeness, entitlement, arrogance, and belligerence. Selfishness has become the new religion for far too many people and we are all guilty of tolerating it. Nobody is perfect - but too many people have been allowed to take pride in what rightfully is the realm of shameful behavior.

Nobody expects poeple to be perfect - but it is OK to expect that we continue to strive for perfection.

 

[drobbins]

Good post Eric.
I wonder if those bargain hunters were looking for gifts, or deals for them selves. I think I would have trouble watching a TV, or what ever, knowing that I had tripped/stepped on someone in a rush to get it and then find out someone had died.

 

[MarkHastings]

It most likely a lot has to do with people getting gifts for themselves. I believe that's probably where most of the craziness comes into play.

And as far as what Eric was saying, I too wish:
A) People wouldn't care so much about trying to get a particular gift for someone; especially a child. It's a shame that a child can put so much pressure on an adult (about a toy) that they go crazy trying to get it.

B) People wouldn't focus so much on the gift as they do the thought.


For example: I know someone who is always showing off her expensive gifts (especially at Chirstmas time) that her husband gave her and saying things like "He loves me so much". It makes me cringe thinking that guys can easily buy off love and affection. I tell her all the time "Why not limit the gift giving to under $30 and make him work harder at getting you a gift that will make you feel just as excited."

It's easy to make someone that happy when you spend $500-$1,000 - but when you're limited to under $30, it's harder. It makes you think more about the gift and to me, the less you spend (and make someone happy) the more meaningful the love is.

That's why try not to participat in BF; I don't usually go for the 'typical' gifts; that usually means going to your non-typical stores.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I think this is why I was so adamant about not blaming Walmart. The more personal responsibility is abdicated, the less civil people will become. If there was still the expectation of significant consequences, I think people would be more mindful of their behavior.

 

[Clinton McClure]

It's not all Wal~Mart's fault. There are plenty of other stores at which fights break out and people act like complete asses on Black Friday. Wal~Mart just happens to be an easy target. I'm all for doing away with Black Friday.

[rant]Face it, people are no damn good. Society is going to hell and there is no longer such a thing as common courtesy. When was the last time you were out and saw a man open a door or pull out a chair for a woman? Have you ever seen men stand or remove their hats when a woman enters the room or, better yet, remove their hats while indoors period? Those days are long gone and now it's every man for himself and fuck your neighbor before he can fuck you. In general, people today are rude, selfish and indifferent compared to years ago when you knew your neighbors, present company excepted.[/rant]

 

[gene c]

Good rant. I feel better just reading it. Too bad it's mostly accurate :frowning: .

 

[MarkHastings]

Yeah, stores have big sales (incident free) all the time, so how can blame really be placed with the store? Why do these things happen on Black Friday? Is it the excitement of starting the holiday shopping? Is it that most people have that day off? Is it that people spent the day before (i.e. Thanksgiving) with their family and the stress has them ready to snap?

I too would be all for getting rid of BF, but if you get rid of it, then what about other sales during the year? Should we ban any store from having a sale during the holiday season? Or do we make a law limiting how low a sale is allowed to be during the holiday season?

 

[Eric_L]

How much does the typical male have to spend on her to get some lovin? Does she even know that's how she sounds?

 

[Malcolm R]

I would like to see a consumer protection law that says retailers must have adequate stock to satisfy full demand during the duration of the advertised sale (generally 5-11am during BF kickoff), or you issue rainchecks after you sell out.

Then there's no need for anyone to camp out at 3am in line, or to push/shove/trample to get the sale items. Everyone that wants the item would be guaranteed to get the item or a raincheck. You would still have to visit the store during the sale period, so it would still bring the people out to shop, but would remove the incendiary and cutthroat aspects that lead to mob behavior and violence/injury/death.

 

[TravisR]

So you blame the stores for people's actions? I agree with your (and others) pessimistic and miserable view of humanity but even the worst people know better than to do something that will injure someone. Blaming the stores for not having enough or saying that they should provide rain checks is just another excuse for them to not act in a reasonable way.

 

[Carl Miller]

Totally understood Adam. It's just too easy to disavow oneself of personal resonsibility in our society today.

It's a shame things have come to this point, and if I had to weight it, I'd place more blame on the people rather than the corporation.

But it really irks me that some poor guy lost his life, and I can't hold Wal-Mart completely blameless. It just doesn't sit right with me.

 

[Zack Gibbs]

I can understand that and there's undoubtedly personal responsibility at play, but that doesn't mean the retailers didn't play their part.

When it comes down to it we can either wag our fingers at the masses and say "shame on you," and then watch as more people die next year, or we can do something practical and make the retailers take better measures to ensure the public's safety.

 

[MarkHastings]

But a lot of the deals on Black Friday are 'end of year' stock that must be sold out to make room for new models. That's why a lot of stuff (mainly electronics) is so damn cheap. The store wants to get rid of it fast and usually BF (combined with the early opening/short time period of the sale) is the best way to get rid of it. That's why they hype things up. If not for BF, the stuff would just sit on the shelves longer and if they didn't sell, I'm sure some of that loss would be passed on to the new stock.

I remember going to Circuit City last year (with my dad) to get him an Aquos TV. It was the previous years model and they were practially giving it away. We got to the store later in the day and the guy said they sold out within hours. I bet they would never have sold those TV's so quickly if it weren't for the hype of BF.

So it's a real Catch-22 because any kind of consumer protection plan is pointless. You can't guarantee stock on items that are no longer available and you can't make more of said item because then there would be no need for the store to price it "to go".

 

[WillG]

I guess it's not a surprise because they have pretty much done everything, but years ago, The Simpsons parodied this, pretty much, exact same situation. It was in the "Funzo" episode. The whole town was outside the doors before the local Wal Mart type store opened. I think Lenny said something like "Well I'm not waiting for the store to open" and then smashes his way in with everyone else. Cut to two toy executives watching happily and one says, I'd feel a better if we saw some trampling, then cut to Moe being trampled on. Sad thing that that's not even satire anymore.

As for blame? I think both parties share it. Let's face it, there are certain people out there (And I am NOT refering to any paticular race or class of people) that are just dumb animals in many cases. Unfortunately, these kinds of things attract this kind of mentality. And for Wal Mart (and it's not just Wal Mart, it could be any type of store that does Black Friday) it's like putting dead animals all around and opening the door to Jackals. And the people in this mob may as well be those jackals because there aren't people there concerned for safety and basic manners at all. And it's how these things happen. There should be more security and crowd control.

 

[Lucia Duran]

When did we as human beings suddenly become NOT responsible for our own actions? I don't care if Walmart or whatever store it is advertises sales for low prices, we as humans make the choice to enter into those ridiculous situations that become dangerous and wild.

The people who trampled this poor guy are the ones to blame. If not for their actions of pushing and trying to get ahead of the line to get that wii or whatever it was they wanted to so badly, this guy would still be alive.

People need to learn to take responsibility and own up to their own stupidity instead of blaming it on every store our company or outlet.

 

[Malcolm R]

You can blame the people all you want, but it's the mega-retailers that create these artificial situations that appeal to the basest competitive instincts of the human race...then pretend to be shocked when they respond accordingly. Humans are intensely competitive and, when their eyes are on the prize, most don't care who they have to shove or step on to "win." You can see this at sporting events, in the workplace, and in the retail stores.

As for the "end of year stock" idea, I can't believe that a $398 LCD television, or most of the other big BF deals, wouldn't fly out of the store at any time of the year. There is no need to whip the masses into hysteria to liquidate minimal stock of 5 television sets per store. They'd probably be gone within 24 hours even as an unadvertised "manager's special" or general "clearance".

 

[Todd Hochard]

How do the people who were at the front of the line, and delivered the fatal blows, stop the slow, yet unrelenting, forward movement of a crowd of 100s of people?

"The crowd," collectively, seems responsible here. 2nd degree murder charges for everyone in line?

I, too, see a shared responsibility here.

 

[MarkHastings]

There were PLENTY and PLENTY of shoppers who did act responsible on Black Friday, so assuming that most people would act like this is unfair.

We need to remember that the mob broke the door down which is not only irresponsible, but illegal. It's very unfair to blame the stores for creating situations that lead to illegal activities because it's the shoppers that decide whether or not to be civilized or act in an illegal manner. Like I said before, there were plenty of other shoppers that day that acted legally.

 

[TravisR]

I made the same analogy earlier but I love Star Wars. If Lucasfilm releases a DVD that will be limited to a few copies per stores, does the blame fall on LFL if I trample a person to get it? Or what if I didn't get one, can I rob the guy in the parking lot because I'm apparently no longer responsible for my own actions because LFL didn't make enough for everyone?