God Bless America
28 November 2008 by Bob
Just gotta love Long Island…
Wal-Mart Worker Dies in Black Friday Stampede
Bargain-hungry shoppers stepped on a fallen Wal-Mart worker, who died Friday morning, after the crowd knocked down the store’s front doors — and the worker — during the “utter chaos” of a Black Friday shopping melee, Nassau County police said. “A throng of shoppers . . . physically broke down the doors” at around 5 a.m. Friday and knocked the 34-year-old part-time worker to the ground as the crowd pushed its way into the store at the Green Acres Mall, Nassau police said. “This crowd was out of control,” said Nassau Police Det. Lt. Michael Fleming, who is investigating the death. He characterized the melee as “utter chaos.” Fleming said an estimated 2,000 people had gathered in line around 5 a.m. as the store was preparing to open. Asked at a news conference whether the store had enough security given the crowds that Black Friday shopping typically attracts, Fleming said no. Four shoppers had minor injuries, police said. People in the rear of the line began pushing, cascading the people in the front into the doors, which were knocked off their hinges, Fleming said. Hundreds of shoppers who then streamed in literally stepped on the worker who later died, Fleming said. Fleming said the worker, who has not been publicly identified, was a temporary worker sent by an employment agency. Fleming said criminal charges were possible in the case, though he said it would be nearly impossible to identify individual shoppers. But, he said, authorities were reviewing surveillance video. Another police officer told Newsday the prelude to the death at the Green Acres Mall was “a mob scene.” Shoppers who surged past the fallen Wal-Mart worker into the store were asked to leave by other store workers, some of them crying and visibly upset, said one shopper, Kimberly Cribbs, of Far Rockaway. Though rumors circulated among the shoppers that someone had been badly injured, people ignored the Wal-Mart workers’ requests that they stop shopping, move to the front of the store and exit, Cribbs said. “They kept shopping. It’s not right. They’re savages,” said Cribbs.
28 November 2008, on 10:48 pm
When I saw this on the news this evening it really disturbed me how people behave like complete animals when the stores offer this “bait” to bring people into their stores. The merchants are just as guilty as the greedy and heartless, unthinking people who are so full of greed as to not care a thing about other people.
“Savages” is indeed the right term to describe folks who behave in such primitive behavior.
I would never go near a store on Black Friday. There is absolutely nothing in this world worth that much to me to stand in a line for hours and behave like a bunch of water buffalo being chased by some predator. My husband had to drive up to check on things where he works early this morning so decided to stop by a couple of these stores to check out a couple of “deals” he saw in the paper. Well, he said the lines were wrapped about the building twice for these flat screen televisions and there were literally mile-long lines for other items advertised. He came home empty-handed as I assumed he would be.
And most of these people are probably God-luvin’ Xians who claim this is a Xian nation based on Xian principles. I can see that this might be true. Since Xianity is a religion based on the “rewards” that people are going to get when they are herded into their heavenly place of gold-paved streets and mansions, I can understand the behavior of these delusional people here on Earth.
Disgusting, absolutely disgusting.
29 November 2008, on 1:21 am
Wasn’t quite that bad here in Springfield, of course my mom and I went out at 9.
Last year the pizza place I work at stuck me outside with an advertising board and a wrestling mask. This year, I’m unemployed.
Ah well.
29 November 2008, on 1:22 am
Ah, my fellow Long Islanders getting into the spirit of the season.
You know, sometimes I wish Christmas was more of a religious holiday, instead of the orgy in credit card binging that it has become.
29 November 2008, on 2:08 am
All I can say is, “Merry fuckin’ Christmas!”
29 November 2008, on 4:15 am
I have made it a point to not boycott this so-called Black Friday and I have not bought anything on the Friday after Thanksgiving in years. To be honest, it’s pretty easy for me because I hardly buy anything anyway. I guess I’m a bad American. I don’t spend a lot of money on needless crap. I’m not contributing to the economy. I hope you all will join me in bringing down the system by refusing to take part in it.
29 November 2008, on 11:01 am
You know, sometimes I wish Christmas was more of a religious holiday, instead of the orgy in credit card binging that it has become.
Yes, it might be better to keep Christmas in churches where they can sing their hymns and light their candles, etc.
My mother, who works at Target, equates Black Friday to the “running of the Bulls” idiocy in Europe. People are stampeding into these places to buy crap that will sooner or later break or be outdated only to be replaced with the next “carrot” the retailers dangle out there telling consumers that they MUST have it. She says the customers’ eyes are wild as they run into the store, pushing and shoving their way to the front of the herd and tossing merchandise this way and that to make sure they get first pick.
It’s the season to be greedy. That’s what it’s all become, the season of greed. And celebrated mostly by Christians who have such better moral standards than we do.
29 November 2008, on 12:21 pm
War on Christmas claims three!
WTF ever happened to the Xian concept of Xmas as a religious holiday?
29 November 2008, on 12:35 pm
It’s time like this that make me glad to know that Christ is risen indeed, and that all the small people of this great country remember him in these dark times. America is TRUE the land of the blessed and a GREAT Christian Nation!!!!
/end poe
In reality, I don’t get this Black Friday mentality. Are these stores offering discounts on everything 75-90 percent off? If not, then who cares? There’s no reason to camp outside Best Buy over night unless they’re selling plasma screen TVs for 20 bucks, and they’ve only got 100.
29 November 2008, on 1:11 pm
Rowen, I still can’t see that as being a good enough reason. Now that I no longer live in the land of eternal sunshine and I actually experience winter (Tennessee is a wee bit chillier than Florida) I couldn’t DREAM of standing in line at 5 am for anything.
These people are probably the same idiots who will complain when someone says “Happy Holidays” and force us to listen to that jeebus-is-the-reason crap…
29 November 2008, on 2:34 pm
Black Friday to me is just an excuse for my mom and me to hang out and go shopping. Yes I’m male and I like to shop.
29 November 2008, on 2:55 pm
You think that’s bad? Check out this Marketwatch report of a double homicide at a Toys ‘r’ Us yesterday.
Nice to know that consumer confidence is higher than expected. No dubt Paulson and Bush will be jumping on this as evidence the economy is strong.
1 December 2008, on 4:03 am
A bit late, but Happy National Buy Nothing Day! http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd
BTW, I’m amking all of my presents this year. Personal art work is much more appreciated than cheaply made wares any day.
1 December 2008, on 5:07 pm
Ah yes, God bless America! I think all of these people should face jail time.
1 December 2008, on 7:14 pm
I actually went out on Black Friday morning. Of course, I work nights, so it wasn’t a stretch. I went to Best Buy, picked out a couple small things I wanted, and stood in line. Of course, I went to the Home Theater register, and my line was about three people long, instead of the several hundred that were in the main line. Ah, good Christian sheep that they are, they didn’t even notice that there was a better way.
Things here in Knoxville were, if hectic, at least not violent.
1 December 2008, on 7:41 pm
If you’re willing to behave like this just to get another thing, then I agree with Bruce: you’ve let yourself be totally brainwashed by the extreme materialism this country’s plagued with. It’s one thing to go shopping and enjoy the experience, as well as picking out certain specific things you can afford, but it’s quite another to throw all value for human behavior and life out the window for the sake of a discounted bigscreen TV.
I’m also planning some, if not all, homemade gifts (I know; I should have started earlier in order to make them all); it’s been quite a challenge foraging and budgeting for materials and ingredients, though…
1 December 2008, on 8:05 pm
Black Friday sickens me. The family and I visited friends in the mountains and avoided any and all consumerism that day.