A sale to kill for

@tycoon,

riot behaviour happens all across the land in all kinds of stores on Black Friday. This has happened for many years, has never been dealt with, and is getting worse because the stores have changed how they run their sales. These bastards know darn will how the day will go, they call it "shopping frenzy" , they devote large advertising budgets to making it happen.

1 Reply

So far I mostly agree with Tycoon in this highly emotionally charged dialogue. The crowd behaved in a manner that can only be described as mass psychosis. However, I do think that Wal-Mart bears some responsibility for not having forseen the need for adequate security. I don't think they should be hit with a big stick. It was only very indirectly their fault. But, at minimum, I think they should acknwledge that this was piss-poor prior planning.

0 Replies

@hawkeye10,

Why do Americans behave like that?

2 Replies

I despise Wal-Mart and all that they are, but don't believe they are primarily at fault in this episode.

There's plenty of "personal responsibility" to go around; there certainly should have been some security personnel present and accountable for a crowd of 2,000 surging against the store's entry at 5 am. It's also fair to wonder where the local law enforcement authorities were. Presumably dunkin' a donut. (Thought I'd throw in some '**** tha po-lice' just because you requested it, tycoon.)

And signs such as "Doorbuster specials" and "Blitz line starts here" seem more than just inappropriate in the aftermath.

I'd like to cast an aspersion toward greed and capitalism as a parting shot but my work is probably done here. Mr. Green

0 Replies

Quote:

Premises liability is a term used to describe the legal responsibility that a landowner and occupiers of a property have for injuries and accidents that occur on their property. Premises liability claims can be filed for a variety of reasons. For example, slip and fall claims are common. In addition claims may be filed for injuries that are result equipment that is used on the property. Also injuries that may be a result of another person's actions on the property may be the responsibility of a property owner, especially if the owner fails to provide adequate security on the property.

http://www.resource4thepeople.com/premiseliability/

0 Replies

Let's be fair here; this is the first time a death occurred from a bunch of shoppers who wanted to be the first to grab the good deals at a time when most experts were saying that shopping on this black Friday would be "down."

When it didn't happen in the past on similar shopping days, we can't expect any store to anticipate the kind of madness that went on this year - when most said it's gonna be slow. There are always several days during the year when consumers expect good sales prices, and black Friday is only one of them.

We learn from past experience, and I believe most retail shops will be prepared in the future. If not, then they can accept some of the blame.

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

culturally approved adrenalin rush/greed/ the basic coarsening of the general culture that has not been addressed. To lay all this on the individual greed is not fair to the individual, it is taking one action of one person out of the context of broad cultural problems that we face but refuse to fix. My suspicion is that those who want to drop the puck on the individuals and be done with it do so because they need to evade the the fundamental faults of modern American society.

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

I disagree; there is no excuse for shoppers to become a horde of unthinking machines. Greed is never an excuse.

0 Replies

Quote:

According to the circular, Wal-Mart's so-called doorbuster deals offered between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m. ET will include a 50-inch Samsung plasma HDTV ($798), Magnavox Blu-ray player ($128), Xbox 360 ($199) sold with free Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock game and wireless guitar, HP Pavilion desktop computer ($398) and a UniFlame gas grill ($175).

http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/14/news/companies/walmart_blackfriday/

the mob did not make "doorbusting" up, walmart promoted the concept. So I guess I can encourage you to kill somebody, and if you are stupid enough to do it I am free and clear so far as the law goes, right? Wrong.

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

Do you have a circular from Wal-Mart that describes their sale as doorbusting?

If you received that ad in your mailbox, would that entice you to literally bust down their door?

0 Replies

Here's a "DOORBUSTERS" ad from JC Penny's, but nobody seems to have been harmed by their ad.

http://www.dealtaker.com/JC-Penney-Black-Friday-2008-Doorbusters-t190480.html

0 Replies

Reading this back from the first post reveals how much disinformation is foisted on the public. I bet most of you watch CNN....

As for the two assholes in Palm Desert - two less gang banging chimps to threaten the rest of society. Good riddance.

0 Replies

@cicerone imposter,

I'm not sure that's true -- I remember something from a year or two ago.

0 Replies

@ehBeth,

Because americans are humans.

1 Reply

@ossobuco,

Seriously.

We have the same stores here , the same doorbuster advertising/sales (ours mostly happens on Boxing Day). We don't have the fighting, the tussling, the injuries.

This sort of behaviour around shopping seems very American, and I wonder why.

3 Replies

@ehBeth,

it comes as no surprise that we see this first in NYC, an urban area where the citizens pride themselves on being tough, and area that during the eighties and some of the nineties was downright scary in some places. You call people in this area with this kind of history to retail arms they are likely to respond. But if not checked this kind of violence will spread quickly. Both mob members and walmart need to be dealt with by society. They need to be made an example of, to discourage the practices that we saw here.

0 Replies

@ehBeth,

Maybe our humans have different influences on their mores.

0 Replies

@ehBeth,

ehBeth wrote:

Seriously.

We have the same stores here , the same doorbuster advertising/sales (ours mostly happens on Boxing Day). We don't have the fighting, the tussling, the injuries.

This sort of behaviour around shopping seems very American, and I wonder why.

I asked, basically, the same thing on another site and, like you, was ignored. There must be some reason for the difference.

3 Replies

@Intrepid,

do you have mass promotion of sales of items at far below cost where only a few copies are for sale, or where it is on sale only for a couple of hours before the sun comes up???

no

2 Replies

@Intrepid,

What do you want me to say? That we have more ignorant people in our population? More greedy people by nature? More people who are poor who are attracted to the glitter of purchasing? As opposed to thoughtful budgeters? More suckers for ads? A society of people who aren't taught to think?

Mob rule has been a concern over millennia.

Human nature is expansive in its range. Widespread, too.
So are superior tones. (The US - whatever the US is, seemingly people in the press? - is famous for that, but that's not usually representative of me.)

I question the set up by what is, after all, a major corporation - but I don't just blame that.

0 Replies

A sale to kill for

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know