Black Friday indeed

sulong

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Walmart Worker Dies When Shoppers Break Down Doors

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,458744,00.html


Black Friday took a grim turn when a Walmart employee in New York died after bargain hunters broke down the doors to the store.
The 34-year-old male employee was pronounced dead one hour after shoppers broke down the doors to the shopping center in Valley Stream, N.Y., and knocked him down at around 5 a.m. Friday, police said.
A 28-year-old pregnant woman was also taken in for observation and three other shoppers suffered minor injuries during the incident, police said.

Isn't this whole marketing blitz the day after Thanksgiving a little like yelling "FIRE!" inside a crowded movie house?
 

HeronW

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Never shopped on the Friday after T-day, the whole mass of lemmings rushing to the cliffs of credit insolvancy is stupid.
 

Cranky

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I find this sort of thing absolutely disgusting. Getting a good deal on some "thing" is not worth trampling people over, and yet it happens year after year, sale after sale.

I'm doing as much of my shopping online as I can, and I'm grateful for it.

Absolutely disgusting. That poor man. :(
 

Fenika

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Not only is that tragic, but 5am? Walmart? Seriously?
 

Alpha Echo

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I saw that same article. You know what gets me? Black Friday is not the only day that stores give out amazing discounts. I used to work for Kohls, and they have the same sales every Wednesday and every weekend, and closer to Christmas, every single day. Plus, after Thanksgiving, they open their door earlier and close them later. We used to be there until 3am or later cleaning up after the mess the greedy customers made.

Besides, now they have all the same sales online.

I'm going to the mall today to buy a sweater for myself. :D I hope they have my size left by the time I go there.

Vultures.
 

Clair Dickson

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Well, obviously, these are people who understand the true meaning of Christmas-- viciousness, overspending, and selfishness.

This is the first time in 11 years that I have not worked Thanksgiving and the day after in retail. That was a horrid, horrid experience every year. Especially when there were TVs or iPods and such. People would get very mean and start yelling at everyone. My favorite were the ones who went off because we wouldn't allow them to violate the terms of our sales (as stated in the papers) because our terms were inconvenient.

And sadly, you know that most of the high-ticket, high depend items-- the TVs and DVD players and laptops-- are not being bought for other people. Year after year, that's what customers told me. They come for most of the big, trample-worthy sales for themselves. Maybe the spouse. Sometimes the spoiled kids. But rarely to do their Christmas shopping early. These are more often the "I deserve it for putting up with teh holidays" gifts.

BTW, I'm actually much more cheerful about the holidays now that I'm not in retail. Can you tell?
 

Revelationz

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Killing someone for a discount.... Yep, America is going to be okay.

You have to give us credit, though. We've gotten to the point that even in a collapsing economy we can still buy frivilous shit and live like we're still booming.
 

William Haskins

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indeed.

historical motivations for stomping upon people's faces:

- cheap chinese goods
- rock music
- sports
- god
 

Christine N.

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Well, the crowd here at Target today (I arrived at 5:45 am, they opened at 6), was not bad. Yes, the line to get in was long, but they were orderly. Everyone got a cart, no fighting.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how POLITE people were to one another. People said 'excuse me', and 'oh, you can go first, please.' There were a lot of people, but it wasn't an unpleasant experience. I checked out quickly, and I even used actual money, not credit.

Of course, there were no Wii's,which is the only thing my husband wants and I want to give to him (since we all can use it; the Sony ebook reader is now in-stores, but at $300, I can't be that selfish), but the nice electronics man said to come back on Sunday, they're expecting some then. Hopefully I can get my hands on one, but if not, it won't be the end of the world.

I hate that people act like those maniacs at Wal-Mart.
 

blacbird

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indeed.

historical motivations for stomping upon people's faces:

- cheap chinese goods
- rock music
- sports
- god

I lived in England from 1988-1990. I came home after a drive one Sunday to turn on the telly, and witness the immediate aftermath of the Hillsborough tragedy, when 99 people died in a crowd crush during a soccer match. The insanity human beings can achieve in crowd situations is simply beyond comprehension.

caw
 

tlblack

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That's so sad and is why I avoid those "fire" sales like the plague. I always dreaded working on Black Friday too. People running over other people to get their hands on the sale items, and have seen people fighting over things too. It's so not worth the savings to get in the middle of all that craziness. After working through holiday sales for years, I started buying gifts all through the year as things went on sale, and storing it until Christmas just so I don't have to shop the stores this time of the year.
 

maestrowork

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Well, obviously, these are people who understand the true meaning of Christmas-- viciousness, overspending, and selfishness.

I have seen and met the most vicious, selfish, and nasty people at shopping areas during the holidays. Twice I almost got run over by a car or crashed into and I was left wondering, "What kind of Christmas spirit these people feeling? Jesus would be shaking his knees watching these people shove and claw their ways through with their shopping carts."

I now do all my holiday shopping online.
 

Don

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Agorism FTW!
Somebody asked in another thread who believes celebrity endorsements. I think most of the crowds at the stores today are true believers. :D
 

sulong

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Its looking like the pregnant girl lost her baby.

Ahh, risking life and limb to go shopping just seems wrong.
 

Disa

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And the greed of America spreads cheerfully throughout the world.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the victims. The whole thing is sickening and pointless.
 

benbradley

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Not only is that tragic, but 5am? Walmart? Seriously?
It seems like in recent years, many such retailers with "early-morning specials" opened as early as MIDNIGHT. It may be a bad sign of the economy that they opened so 'late' in the morning this year.
Well, obviously, these are people who understand the true meaning of Christmas-- viciousness, overspending, and selfishness.
Oh, not at all! Look at what they're going through to insure they give their loved ones only the best and most popular material items this Christmas. It's all about buying gifts for your loved ones to show them your love. The TV said it, I believe it, that settles it.
Got a word for you:

Amazon.

But then I never buy anything today anyways.
Amazon costing too much to satisfy your reading appetite? Got a couple words for you: My blog. Not the latest entry, but you should be able to find the one I mean.
Well, the crowd here at Target today (I arrived at 5:45 am, they opened at 6), was not bad. Yes, the line to get in was long, but they were orderly. Everyone got a cart, no fighting.
That's why they call it TarGET ("tarJAY"), in the retail arena it's rather high-fallutin' and not quite The Low Price Leader.

On the other hand, I HAVE heard many stories of "better-off" people being snooty and rude to each other.

I heard about big crowds at the Wal-Marts this morning, but this afternoon the traffic helicopter that keeps track of these things said that by midmorning and the afternoons many mall parking lots were as much as HALF EMPTY, when on previous Black Fridays they've been overcrowded or at the "best times" to find a space, 90 percent full. The might-be buzzword of the day for retailers is "Blue Friday."
 

Fraulein

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If I were to tell you, then that would be cheating
**lots of babble**

I had to work this morning. It was truly a black Friday for me. I could hardly walk, because my lymph nodes have been fighting some kind of infection for nearly a week. My groin area hurts the worst, hence the problem with walking.

My boss was talking some kind of spiel at work like 'no one is going to relieve you in a year whenever you're out on your own'. Blah, blah, blah... I told him that I wasn't hearing it today. :D He has a point, but he also makes 4 times as much as I do slaving it up in retail. I'm just slaving it up for peanuts, which makes me that much more disgruntled whenever I feel bad --> which always adds a little extra misery to a black day.

So... after I got off of work (a couple of hours early thankfully), the traffic was miserable. I had to go around the interstate to get home. It was a long drive, especially in a medicated, exhausted state.


I might request off next year. It would have been nice to stay home. :)