I actually like shopping, don't mind busy malls or toy stores, and have occasionally braved "Black Friday" to get a great price on something like a digital camera that's 50 percent off before 11 a.m.
However, when I heard about the Wal-Mart employee who was trampled and died, I was so very ashamed of all those people who DID NOT STOP AND HELP HIM. How could that be? If you were the third or fifth or twentieth person in the door, and you saw someone hurt or lying there, how could you not stop and help? How could you step over someone on the floor? How can you not immediately see that this human is more important than anything that's discounted at 5:30 a.m.?
Apparently the crowd in line at that Wal-Mart had been building all night long. Police were called for crowd control at 3:30 a.m., but were no longer there when the store opened. As the crowd -- about 2,000 strong -- started beating on the doors before 5, the doors shattered and the crowd rushed inside -- and over the employee who was killed. Some customers tried to help, but others streamed over and around the employee in order to get to the merchandise. Here's the New York Times story about the incident:
I hope the people who rushed that Wal-Mart door and then streamed past the injured employee never stop feeling ashamed of what they did. A mob mentality is a dangerous thing, and when it is combined with the practice of encouraging customers to "compete" for a discount, situations can easily get out of hand. The two men in the Toys R Us should not have been armed, but at least innocent bystanders weren't harmed (as they so easily could have been). The Wal-Mart employee was just trying to do his job, and now he's dead.
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I actually like shopping, don't mind busy malls or toy stores, and have occasionally braved "Black Friday" to get a great price on something like a digital camera that's 50 percent off before 11 a.m.
However, when I heard about the Wal-Mart employee who was trampled and died, I was so very ashamed of all those people who DID NOT STOP AND HELP HIM. How could that be? If you were the third or fifth or twentieth person in the door, and you saw someone hurt or lying there, how could you not stop and help? How could you step over someone on the floor? How can you not immediately see that this human is more important than anything that's discounted at 5:30 a.m.?
Apparently the crowd in line at that Wal-Mart had been building all night long. Police were called for crowd control at 3:30 a.m., but were no longer there when the store opened. As the crowd -- about 2,000 strong -- started beating on the doors before 5, the doors shattered and the crowd rushed inside -- and over the employee who was killed. Some customers tried to help, but others streamed over and around the employee in order to get to the merchandise. Here's the New York Times story about the incident:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/business/29walmart.html?em
I hope the people who rushed that Wal-Mart door and then streamed past the injured employee never stop feeling ashamed of what they did. A mob mentality is a dangerous thing, and when it is combined with the practice of encouraging customers to "compete" for a discount, situations can easily get out of hand. The two men in the Toys R Us should not have been armed, but at least innocent bystanders weren't harmed (as they so easily could have been). The Wal-Mart employee was just trying to do his job, and now he's dead.
December 1, 2008 - 9:55amThis Comment
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