The Holiday Spirit - Stand In Line At Wal-Mart, Punch Someone

[matcom]

:eyes:

CNN keeps showing two guys throwing punches at a Wal-Mart in Florida over a computer. Now reporting police had to be called to a Wal-Mart in WA where the crowd outside got 'unruly'. Arrests have been made.

THAT'S THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT PEOPLE!

[NMDemDist2]

1. lol hubby and I were just discussing that fights at WalMart on Black Fri.

are now the new holiday tradition

the same thing happened last year IIRC

I'll go search and see if I can find the news story from 2004

here ya go....

Fight Breaks Out During Walmart Shopping Frenzy
Crowds Line Up Around Building For Deals
HOLIDAYS

Electronic bargains drew a crowd of early-morning shoppers to the Wal-Mart store in Germantown, Md., and a fight broke out in the ensuing mayhem. Police were called to handle the dispute. "Elbows started going and one thing led to another," said one man who witnessed the encounter. No one was arrested in the incident.

The big sellers at Wal-Mart were 20-inch flat screen TV's for $99 and DVD players for $29.

It was first come, first served, so shoppers raced to the shelves and loaded up. Aisles were clogged with people and carts. Many of the hot electronic deals that drew customers to the store early, sold out by midmorning. For some shoppers, pre-dawn shopping is an annual tradition. For others, it's a lark.

"The comic relief to tell you the truth. We just want the adventure of it," said one shopper. "Have you been in there? Down by the TV's they're crazy."

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving is traditionally the biggest shopping day of the season. It is the unofficial kickoff of the holiday buying season.

Retail experts are looking for one of the best holiday shopping seasons in several years. The International Council of Shopping Centers say most analysts expect retail sales to rise 4 percent from last year. That would be the biggest increase since 1999.

Copyright 2004 by nbc4.com.

http://www.nbc4.com/news/2669560/detail.html

and this gem from 2003

2003-11-30
Orange City, FL. Wal-Mart Shoppers Trample Woman Over "Stupid DVD".

Black Friday is an important day for retailers. That's the day after Thanksgiving, when most retailers start to show a profit, ending months of red ink. It's an important day for Wal-Mart also. The oversized retailer's stores all across the country produced record sales levels on Black Friday, more than $1.5 billion in sales on one day--more than most small retailers see in a year. In Winchester, Virginia, the manager of the Wal-Mart supercenter told the Winchester Star that the day after Thanksgiving is important to Wal-Mart stores because each Wal-Mart is supposed to have a 10 percent increase in sales each day of the year compared to the year before. But it wasn't just sales levels that made the national news on Black Friday. The most emblematic story about shopping came from the small community of Orange City, Florida, where Wal-Mart shoppers scrambling for everyday low prices on a DVD player knocked a woman unconscious, and in so doing, profiled our reputation as a nation of "shop till you drop" fanatics. A woman named Patricia VanLester was first in line to get a $29 DVD player, but the 41 year old ended up in the hospital instead, when a crowd described by the Associated Press as "frenzied", knocked her to the ground. "They walked over her like a herd of elephants," the woman's sister was quoted as saying. "I told them, 'Stop stepping on my sister. She's on the ground.'" The sister went on to say that very little help was offered to VanLester while she was down. "All they cared about was a stupid DVD player," she said. When paramedics arrived, they found the injured shopper unconscious, lying on top of a cheap DVD player. The woman was flown to a hospital in Daytona Beach, where doctors told the media VanLester had suffered a seizure after she was knocked down. "Patty doesn't remember anything,: her sister said. "She still can't believe it all happened." A spokesperson for the retailer she she had never heard of such a fight for a sale item. "We are very disappointed this happened," the spokesperson said. "We want her to come back as a shopper." Wal-Mart offered to put a DVD player on hold for her.

http://www.sprawl-busters.com/search.php?readstory=1298

[Nobody]

12. They'll put a DVD player on hold for her?

No, they'll pay her hospital bills. If someone gets hurt in my home, I'm legally responsible, so should Wal Mart be. Wal Mart should bot be exempt from a law that every homeowner in the country has to obey.

If they don't offer to pay her hospital bills, she should sue.

I never set foot in retail stores on the Friday after Thanksgiving. And I am not interested in their whining about how little they made from the throngs of people crowding the stores.

This year, the only thing I'm buying for Xmas is the plane ticket to visit relatives.

[TahitiNut]

47. "Wal-Mart offered to put a DVD player on hold for her."

That really does say it all. :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[soup]

17. Didn't someone end up hurt badly in the stampede

for a cheap DVD player last year?

Remember the original Cabbage Patch dolls? People went NUTZ over them. Then there was the dancing? or singing? Elmo doll.

Wonder how things are going at Best Buy this morning? Someone who works there said they were already lining up yesterday afternoon for some laptop deal. He had to go in this morning to help open, and the plan there was a sort of voucher system for the quantity of whatever doorbuster items they had. A 1/2 hour before they open the doors, these 'vouchers' would be handed out down the line for whatever item it was until they ran out. So, if they had 20 and you were 21st in line for it, or a last-minute stampeder, no go. They were hoping to avoid some of the insanity.

Tis the season...

On Edit: Saw your edit - it was 2003 that the woman was trampled. My how time flies.

[xchrom]

44. why do you hate us for our wal-marts?

[TallahasseeGrannie]

2. And some people don't believe in HELL!

[LizW]

3. The retailers are tapping into something people are feeling

They pretend it's all happy, happy, holiday joy of shopping, but there's something darker lurking under there.

Limited quantities of cheap goods! Better get yours before they're all gone! Join the frenzy! Push! Shove! Run! Punch if you have to!

Creepy. :scared:

[Cassandra]

5. They've actually made it worse lately...

by limiting the "deals" to certain hours of the morning, so that you are nearly forced to push and shove to get them. Personally, I avoid stores today.

[Bozita]

7. and "discounts" of up to $500 for those fortunate few

It won't be long before we see some reckless endangerment lawsuits.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

54. Tolstoy...

in "War and Peace" spoke about the Russians holding their tea-parties and balls while Napoleon advanced towards them. The war was discussed among themselves, but in a general, distant way, as if it was going to have no effect on THEM.

[shenmue]

4. Oh crimony

That's a good way to spend your holidays...beating people up...

I remember with fondness the annual singing of the traditional carol, "Thou shalt kick people's @%# when trying to buy stuff."

What about "Sell all you have and come follow me"? Or "love your neighbor as you love yourself"?

Oh, I forgot, that's for sissies.

:cry:

[tlsmith1963]

6. I Won't Shop at Wal-Mart Anymore

Destroyers of the middle class, exploiters of the poor, employers of sweatshop workers.:thumbsdown:

Tammy

[no_hypocrisy]

8. The Black Friday (aptly named) syndrome is part of the problem.

The larger problem (IMHO) is the misplaced emphasis on using the Christmas season to save the American economy at the end of every year. I started seeing sporadic "Buy Christmas" ads on TV the week before Halloween. I wouldn't be surprised to see them start the day after Labor Day next year. And the quality and quantity of gifts is vulgar. Getting a flat screen TV and other "show-off" gifts that one really can't afford in the first place is losing sight of the humility of the message of Christmas. (Yes, I'm a freethinker/atheist/humanist, but I like the humanity behind the holiday.) One nice gift per person that isn't grotesquely expensive and over-the-top should do the trick. But there's the "Affluenza" Syndrome (see PBS series) that compels the American consumer into feeling inadequate if s/he doesn't get that big ticket item under the Xmas tree. I think the consumer aspect has all but taken over the holiday.

[NMDemDist2]

11. my biggest gift this year is a carousel horse that I bought at the thrift

store and am re-painting and decorating for my step mother

she'll appreciate my time and effort more than a geegaw from the electronics store

how many TVs does one person need?

[no_hypocrisy]

22. Agreed. My gifts are well considered and yes, often from consignment

shops, garage sales, used book stores, etc. They are unique, in good shape, and meaningful. And I buy them all year round, not within a six-week period. And how about the old-fashioned idea of just giving yourself by making a gift (knitting, baking, art)?

[Nickster]

38. Oh wow, my wife would go nuts for one of those. Is it the full size one?

Like theme park size? There was one at our antique/thrift store for the longest time, but it was too expensive. Wife still whimpers when we go back and the horse is no longer there because it got bought up. That sounds like a really cool xmas gift especially with the extra thought and work you're putting into it.

[NMDemDist2]

42. not full size, it's gonna hold her french door open in her sun room

he probably stands about 2.5 feet tall, about the same long...he's wooden and made from 2x8s and 1x4s but nicely

I'll post pics in the DIY group in a couple weeks

right now he's blue and pink, very "country"

he'll be white and gold and very elegant when I'm done :bounce:

[Nickster]

46. That's still a pretty nice size. Actually a much better size for home

display.

[NMDemDist2]

49. yes, he was a SCORE at the thrift store. I had gone to try and find an old

child's plastic rocking horse to re-work but found this "craft" one instead. I figure although I payed more than I planned on the horse, it will be a wash as I won't have to spend as much re-doing it into a carousel horse since the main pieces are already there.

I had a friend who would buy those plastic children's horses and redo them. they have a more traditional horse shape to start, you just drill through the body for a pole and decorate. it's actually a pretty fun project... maybe you and your wife can do one? you'd be a HERO! lol

[Nickster]

53. Actually, that's not a bad idea. Thanks for the idea.

[NMDemDist2]

60. be sure to send me pictures! LOL n/t

[johnfunk]

37. I think you mean "Black Friday FReeptrash" syndrome

Face the fact: Wal-Mart tends to draw a seemy, moral-relativist clientele. 'Nuff said...

[KharmaTrain]

9. Worst. Shopping. Day. Ever.

Besides the obnoxious hordes and either unattentive or over-zealous sales people, I can decide when, where and how much of my money to spend, thank-you!

What a manufactured piece of tripe. The corporations want/need people to flood into their outsourcing centers...called "retail stores" and attempt to wipe out 11 months of corporate greed and mismangement in three weeks. Oh, and be sure and bring that charge card with ya...we'll even extend that credit limit another $1500 this year cause we know you "deserve it" :sarcasm:

I really have no barometer on this holiday season. Logic would say people don't have the money they had last year or two or five years ago and are more selective in their spending. Logic would also say these new draconian bankruptcy laws would scare anyone from digging themselves into a hole in such an uncertain time. But then logic goes out the window when it's corporate profits and greed.

[cwydro]

10. it never ceases

to amaze me...that people can be so caught up in "things".

[Fritz67]

13. I never worked for Wal-mart...

...but I spent eight years working for one of their competitors and while there were no fights, it got pretty ugly. One year the company put TV's on sale for an absurd low price the morning after Thanksgiving--the early risers were on those like sharks on chum. One guy sat and timed it--it took all of ten minutes for ten skids to be picked clean.

The store started setting up the Christmas stuff in September, about the same time they set up the Halloween stuff. Me, I never thought Dracula and Santa Claus mixed well.

[mrcheerful]

14. And its the biggest joke because everyone knows that everything

goes on sell after the new year and thats when you get the best buys without the hassles. Stupid people just don't get it.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

61. My boys get cash... and we all go shopping together after Christmas...

We started doing this about 5 years ago, and now they insist on it. Greedy boys..lol. They get twice as much stuff, and exactly what they want.

[mrcheerful]

15. sorry dupe

[lonestarnot]

16. A NATION AT WAR!

[TomClash]

18. What would Jesus do?

Duck, I suppose.

[matcom]

19. he'd kick a little old lady in her Taco for that $300 laptop

bank it

[lonestarnot]

26. OMG not in her taco! Ouch!

[LaurenG]

51. lol nt

[atfqn]

31. Indeed

Jesus saves and makes no payments till 2008.

[johnfunk]

39. Amen, ATFQN!

Who Would Jaaaay-zus Kick?

[La Coliniere]

20. Does this kind of thing go on in other countries?

America, shining example of freedom to the world. Shining example of how to be greedy, aggressive, obnoxious, imbecilic consumers. "They hate us for our freedoms!"

[robbedvoter]

27. No, silly. They aren't as civilized as us! They don't understand the

meaning of Christmas as deeply as we do...In other words - they're unworthy furriners.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

62. yes... for things like

Rice, Water, Blankets.

[matcom]

21. UPDATE! Stampede At Michigan Wal-Mart

2 taken to the hospital :eyes:

just on MSNBC

[soup]

28. Just turned on CNN and saw the scuffle at the Walmart in FL.

and their banner along the bottom of the screen pointed out that I'd made a blatant spelling error in an earlier post.

Tis the Season... needs to be corrected to read "Ti$ the $ea$on". *sigh*

[Bozita]

33. That was in Grand Rapids. Two were trampled at opening time.

Just heard on WWJ newsradio, 950am in Detroit.

Also had trouble at Walmart in Taylor. Cops were called. Nobody arrested.

[PDittie]

23. Fighting for Freedom

everywhere the Sheeple must.

[mhr]

45. And The Irony Is They're Fighting Over Communist Made Goods!

eom

[robbedvoter]

24. You'd think starting Christmas shopping hysteria before Halloween

would alleviate the sickness of this day. But this unfortunately shows hoe easily suggestible masses are: Day after Thanksgiving YOU SHALL SHOP TILL YOU DROP!
YOUR PRIMARY CANDIDATE IS_________ (Ferrer, Kerry, Hillary).

[redwitch]

25. It's tragic and hilarious at the same time

I woke up really early this morning after a bad dream. Hubby registered surprise to se me at 5 am, then he said, "Oh, I know you're going to WalMArt. The riots should be over by the time you get there". Such a comedian. I wouldn't shop there anyway but definitely not today.
Peace on Earth everyone.

[GrumpyGreg]

29. Hysterical,isn't it? These are the same folks that are upset

over the removal of prayers from schools.

[WinkyDink]

30. I considered going.

But...I figured I'd save my money for the top-notch version of what I want.
Gotta stop throwing good money after bad!

[madrchsod]

32. my daughters boy friend worked at walmart on third sift

he had to "guard" the pallets of stuff that was to be sold on friday. people would beg,bribe,or try to rip the stuff off the pallets. he didn`t believe what they told him until that night! i guess people are really desperate

[pitohui]

55. i considered offering a bribe

i'm told you can shake hands w. the employees w. a $5, $10, or $20 bill in the hand, depending on the item, and the employee will help you out

i've been too shy to try this

would the employee really get in trouble for taking such a bribe or tip? most people wouldn't do it, so it isn't like they'd run out of all the items before black friday, would they?

[IDemo]

34. We MUST fight them at the Walmart on Fairview Av.

So we don't have to fight them at the Walmart on State Street!

[NMDemDist2]

35. ROFL... best response so far. Priceless! n/t

[TahitiNut]

41. (lol)

:rofl:

[DS1]

43. We will fight them in the aisles, we will fight them at the registers,

and we shall fight them in the kiddie-pen, and we shall fight them in electronics, and we will never surrender our rebates

[IDemo]

48. Click: "Clean up in aisle 3,7,10,15,23,27, parking lot, and rooftop!"

[progressoid]

36. It's the reason for the season.

[Nickster]

40. LOL, it's so funny. People will fight and kill for stuff that will be so

easily forgotten by the gift receiver just shortly after opening.

Not to mention, if you get up early enough, a lot of the stuff is available online. I sat up with my mom and bought a few things at crazy-low prices. Nice and warm and no fist fights either.

[Ron Green]

50. It's just like the Super Bowl.

A made-up event, based upon nothing of importance, that becomes the top news story and an annual tradition.

:scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:

Why do I hate America?

[pitohui]

57. sport is sport

actually it's nice to see a female dominated sport (shopping, bargain hunting) get the same respect in the media that male dominated sports like football get all fall and most of the winter

there are injuries in all sports, birdwatchers (my sport) are regularly killed in auto accidents, but what is sport without the spice of risk?

if we're real, we'll admit the injuries in shopping are way less than the injuries in football or even jogging, hell, everyone who jogs is injured sooner or later

[rman]

52. they shouldn't have lowered chocolate rations for this holiday

[Chiyo-chichi]

56. It's all those full carts that have been left in the aisles!

They're making people crazy!

[ncrainbowgrrl]

58. BWAAHAHAHAHAHA!

:rofl: That's funny! Thanks for the laugh!! :hi:

[soup]

59. Ha! I'd forgotten that. Isn't that supposed to take place today?

Wonder if they'll even be able to find a parking spot, let alone make it in the door.

[sandnsea]

69. My son works retail

He has never done Black Friday before. He said there are so many carts of crap left all over for so many reasons that you'd never even notice if somebody had done it on purpose. He also said he's going to start carrying pockets full of garbage around and wander in to CPA and law offices and throw trash on the floor and knock over whatever he sees and say "you need to clean that up" and leave. He was stunned at how rude people were. Poor kid, it's a long Christmas season this year too.

[chalky]

63. CHRISTMAS UNDER SEIGE! Why do you hate the baby Jesus?

:P

[womanofthehills]

64. Air quality in Walmart is really bad

Another reason not to go into Walmart (as if anyone needs one) is the air quality. It's about the worst of any store I've been in esp. the new supercenters. I've talked to many people who don't shop there anymmore just because they feel sick in their stores. Maybe the toxic air contributes to aggression.

[Shallah Kali]

65. Nothing celebrates Christmas like going into massive debt buying crap

I love presents. I really really do but it has nothing to do with Christmas. My family isn't well off so I am straight out and out telling them to not spend much if anything on me this year. Having people who truely care about me is what matters most. The groups having hissy fits over stores saying Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas makes me laugh. Yes the best way to salute Jesus' birth like beating up another person over cabbage patch kids/beanie babies/etc while maxing out all your credit cards :rolleyes: Silly me I though Jesus was the reason for the season not Shop Until You Drop!

[NuttyFluffers]

66. ahh, i love to live vicariously through the Desperate Consumers of America

makes me think of a (london) Suede song, "jumble sale mums, what are they on?..."

so there are hazards to living in cushy suburban/rural hell in america. would've never guessed.

[tomreedtoon]

67. And what about the (ahem) "quality" of these goods?

Have you actually looked at the stuff Wal-Mart stacks up for these sales? No-name DVD players, laptops and TV sets. They'll work for a few months, then blow up, and no one will be able to fix them. (Do you think you get quality, or for that matter a warranty, for these mystery products?)

Yes, poor people have no choice but to buy these things, but as better people than I have pointed out, they're being cheated by the process in so many ways.

[DanCa]

68. It's an Arnie christmas remember jingle all the way? (nt)