Reason #100 Not To Shop At Wal-Mart--You might get trampled

[dustinzgirl]

What the heck is wrong with people? Seriously. I know we all want great deals, but at what price is it worth saving a few bucks? People are freaking nutso.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/bu...29walmart.html

Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death






By ROBERT D. McFADDEN and ANGELA MACROPOULOS
Published: November 28, 2008
The throng of Wal-Mart shoppers had been building all night, filling sidewalks and stretching across a vast parking lot at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, N.Y. At 3:30 a.m., the Nassau County police had to be called in for crowd control, and an officer with a bullhorn pleaded for order.
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Tension grew as the 5 a.m. opening neared. Someone taped up a crude poster: “Blitz Line Starts Here.”
By 4:55, with no police officers in sight, the crowd of more than 2,000 had become a rabble, and could be held back no longer. Fists banged and shoulders pressed on the sliding-glass double doors, which bowed in with the weight of the assault. Six to 10 workers inside tried to push back, but it was hopeless.
Suddenly, witnesses and the police said, the doors shattered, and the shrieking mob surged through in a blind rush for holiday bargains. One worker, Jdimytai Damour, 34, was thrown back onto the black linoleum tiles and trampled in the stampede that streamed over and around him. Others who had stood alongside Mr. Damour trying to hold the doors were also hurled back and run over, witnesses said.
Some workers who saw what was happening fought their way through the surge to get to Mr. Damour, but he had been fatally injured, the police said. Emergency workers tried to revive Mr. Damour, a temporary worker hired for the holiday season, at the scene, but he was pronounced dead an hour later at Franklin Hospital Medical Center in Valley Stream.
Four other people, including a 28-year-old woman who was described as eight months pregnant, were treated at the hospital for minor injuries.
Detective Lt. Michael Fleming, who is in charge of the investigation for the Nassau police, said the store lacked adequate security. He called the scene “utter chaos” and said the “crowd was out of control.” As for those who had run over the victim, criminal charges were possible, the lieutenant said. “I’ve heard other people call this an accident, but it is not,” he said. “Certainly it was a foreseeable act.”
But even with videos from the store’s surveillance cameras and the accounts of witnesses, Lieutenant Fleming and other officials acknowledged that it would be difficult to identify those responsible, let alone to prove culpability.
Some shoppers who had seen the stampede said they were shocked. One of them, Kimberly Cribbs of Queens, said the crowd had acted like “savages.” Shoppers behaved badly even as the store was being cleared, she recalled.
“When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, ‘I’ve been on line since yesterday morning,’ ” Ms. Cribbs told The Associated Press. “They kept shopping.”
Wal-Mart security officials and the police cleared the store, swept up the shattered glass and locked the doors until 1 p.m., when it reopened to a steady stream of calmer shoppers who passed through the missing doors and battered door jambs, apparently unaware that anything had happened.
Ugly shopping scenes, a few involving injuries, have become commonplace during the bargain-hunting ritual known as Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. The nation’s largest retail group, the National Retail Federation, said it had never heard of a worker being killed on Black Friday.
Wal-Mart declined to provide details of the stampede, but said in a statement that it had tried to prepare by adding staff members. Still, it was unclear how many security workers it had at the Valley Stream store for the opening on Friday. The Green Acres Mall provides its own security to supplement the staffs of some large stores, but it did not appear that Wal-Mart was one of them.
A Wal-Mart spokesman, Dan Folgleman, called it a “tragic situation,” and said the victim had been hired from a temporary staffing agency and assigned to maintenance work. Wal-Mart, in a statement issued at its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., said: “The safety and security of our customers and associates is our top priority. Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families at this tragic time.”
Wal-Mart has successfully resisted unionization of its employees. New York State’s largest grocery union, Local 1500 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, called the death of Mr. Damour “avoidable” and demanded investigations.
“Where were the safety barriers?” said Bruce Both, the union president. “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.”
While other Wal-Mart stores dot the suburbs around the city, the outlet at Valley Stream, less than two miles from New York City’s southeastern border, draws customers from Queens, Brooklyn and the densely populated suburbs of Nassau County. And it was not the only store in the Green Acres Mall that attracted large crowds.
Witnesses said the crowd outside Wal-Mart began gathering at 9 p.m. on Thursday. The night was not bitterly cold, and the early mood was relaxed. By the early morning hours, the throngs had grown, and officers of the Fifth Precinct of the Nassau County Police Department, who patrol Valley Stream, were out in force, checking on crowds at the mall.
Mr. Damour, who lived in Queens, went into the store sometime during the night to stock shelves and perform maintenance work.
On Friday night, Mr. Damour’s father, Ogera Charles, 67, said his son had spent Thursday evening having Thanksgiving dinner at a half sister’s house in Queens before going directly to work. Mr. Charles said his son, known as Jimmy, was raised in Queens by his mother and worked at various stores in the area after graduating from high school.
Mr. Charles said he had not seen his son in three months, and heard about his death about 7 a.m. Friday, when a friend of Mr. Damour’s called him at home. He arrived at Franklin Hospital Medical Center an hour later to identify the body. Mr. Charles said he was angry that no one from Wal-Mart had contacted him or had explained how his son had died. Maria Damour, Mr. Damour’s mother, was in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, but was on her way back to the United States, Mr. Charles said.
About the time that Mr. Damour was killed, a shopper at a Wal-Mart in Farmingdale, 15 miles east of Valley Stream, said she was trampled by a crowd of overeager customers, the Suffolk County police reported. The woman sustained a cut on her leg, but finished her shopping before filing the police report, an officer said.
Anahad O’Connor contributed reporting.

[Drachir]

Yes - we Canadians watch these mad scenes on TV. Since we have our Thanksgiving in the second Monday of October we don't have this huge shoppind day right after. Also, although the holiday has its roots in US Thanksgiving it does not approach the same importance in Canada that it has in the US.

[Wybren]

It is sad to see that some people put getting a bargain higher that the cost of a life. I work in retail and even though our store has big sales, I have never seen so many people chomping at the bit to rush in. The biggest rush I have seen is perhaps 25 elderly ladies rushing in when we had a special on toilet paper and gold etched dinner plates and I don't believe that anyone was injured in that one. The day before a public holiday tends to be a mad day, and when there are a few in a row shops can get very busy because people go into a "need to stock up on bread/milk/vodka" before the holiday, but usually the day after are pretty much back to normal.

[mirinda]

I know holiday shopping is a big deal around here when things are on sale, but putting deals above someone's life is disgusting and heartless. Kind of goes against the whole "Spirit of Christmas" ideal too doesn't it? I don't care how long they'd been waiting in line, have a little respect for the person your mob insanity killed.

[dustinzgirl]

Originally Posted by Drachir

Yes - we Canadians watch these mad scenes on TV. Since we have our Thanksgiving in the second Monday of October we don't have this huge shoppind day right after. Also, although the holiday has its roots in US Thanksgiving it does not approach the same importance in Canada that it has in the US.

Thanksgiving is important to us. Its the day after that sucks.

[Wybren]

Are the savings that good? what is it that makes people camp out for these sales? I mean the company I work for has the same sales about every 6 weeks, so you know that if you miss out, in 6 weeks it will be back around, and often too you might get a similar type of sale the week after, like last week we had 40% of clothes, but this week it is buy one get one 70% off so if you get 2 similar prices things it works out almost the same anyway.

[Teresa Edgerton]

Most stores have very deep discounts on that day, and many of the ones that open early have sales that last only until, say, 9 a.m.

It's called Black Friday because that's when retail businesses erase the red ink in their ledgers and begin to record a profit for the year. This year, because of the economy, I think people were expecting the sales to be especially good because the retailers are desperate to make some money this holiday season.

When I worked in retail, I always found that the bargain hunters were the most demanding and often the most unpleasant of all our customers.

Anyway I always feel like a dark cloud hangs over Wal-Mart. I don't like to go there unless I can't find what I am looking for anywhere else, and even then I feel a little guilty.

[Wybren]

Ah I see. But you are right Teresa, I have noticed the same amoung customers, usually they have the mentality of " If I shout loudest and intimidate the staff enough then they will give me what I want to get me to shut up"

Wal-Mart is a bad word here, There was some rumour that they were going to come here and people went Yeah when hell freezes over. But apparently our tax set up is different to how you have your tax set up so they cant do what they do over there so they wouldn't come here anyway.

[dustinzgirl]

Originally Posted by Wybren

Are the savings that good? what is it that makes people camp out for these sales? I mean the company I work for has the same sales about every 6 weeks, so you know that if you miss out, in 6 weeks it will be back around, and often too you might get a similar type of sale the week after, like last week we had 40% of clothes, but this week it is buy one get one 70% off so if you get 2 similar prices things it works out almost the same anyway.

Buy 1 get 1 free video games
8 GB Mp and Video player 49$
Buy 1 get 1 free socks, underwear, board games, legos, hasbro, ect ect
I think some stores around here had ps3's and 360's on sale 50-75 $ off.
32 inch HDTV Flat 300$.

Yeah, it can be pretty good. You have to be at the store very early though.

I was going to go Black Friday shopping. I don't like it. I drove into town, went to one store, didn't buy anything, and then went to the music shop to put my son's electric guitar on layaway (thank god his grandma is paying for most of it or he wouldn't be getting it) and drove home. It took me 15 minutes to get out of the parking lot. What is interesting about that is that we live in a pretty nice area. Any other day, someone would have stopped to let me though. Friday, nobody had any courtesy at all.

[Wybren]

Yeah they are decent bargains, but for me it is not worth the hassle of lining up like that. You gotta weigh up what your time is worth and if it is worth the discomfort of putting yourself through all that. We have boxing day sales but they aren't anywhere near like that, and the best you get there is your christmas decorations for bargain prices.

[Ursa major]

Originally Posted by dustinzgirl

Buy 1 get 1 free socks....

That'll never catch on, you know....


Sorry to make a joke when something so mindless has led to the death of poor Mr Damour. It would be a shame if no-one is prosecuted for anything to do with this.

[Wybren]

I hope that at the very least the store is prosecuted for not having adequate security measures in place. It is a clear example of a company putting proffit over and above everything else.

[Drachir]

Originally Posted by dustinzgirl

Thanksgiving is important to us. Its the day after that sucks.

Yes - I know that it is. I saw the John Candy and Steve Martin movie. I suspect it is because Thanksgiving in Canada is not a time when families feel that they absolutely have to be together. We tend to use Christmas for that. And since early October is still a long way from Xmas there is no need for a mad shopping spree the day after.

[Drachir]

Originally Posted by Wybren

I hope that at the very least the store is prosecuted for not having adequate security measures in place. It is a clear example of a company putting proffit over and above everything else.

Ah - prosecuted? This is going to be a multimillion dollar lawsuit US style. Walmart will pay for its lack of security.

[pyan]

What happened to the police, then? Surely they're as much to blame for it as Wal-Mart are? If they were on public property, is it the store's responsibility?

Originally Posted by Dusty

At 3:30 a.m., the Nassau County police had to be called in for crowd control, and an officer with a bullhorn pleaded for order.

Tension grew as the 5 a.m. opening neared. Someone taped up a crude poster: “Blitz Line Starts Here.”
By 4:55, with no police officers in sight, the crowd of more than 2,000 had become a rabble, and could be held back no longer.

Seems odd they had to restore order, yet didn't leave someone to keep an eye on the crowd...