WARNING: Vent on the Way...

[manning]

You have to wonder what we are raising no a days

To anyone who feels like they have to punch someone out, here I am. I'll leave you on the floor bleeding.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

DW Lauri and I went out separately this Black Friday to do some shopping and I have to give huge props to our county police force. At every store that had an excessive line (Target, Kohls, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc) there were at least 2 patrol cars parked up on the sidewalk in front of the doors.

We had good experiences in every place we went to. Lauri was at the opening at Target but waited in her car instead of standing in the line. She said the line went all the way down the street to a hotel! She went in after the line made it in, very orderly. The police held back a group of line jumpers. After she checked out she had a really nice lady offer to help her to her car with her purchases if she could have her carriage (Lauri walks with a cane and a bad limp)

Surprisingly a very easy going morning.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I was in Dillards and was reaching up to get a play house off of a top shelf whenever a lady came behind me screaming at the top of her lungs that it was her playhouse and she just went to get a stock person, she was screaming ...."help I need a stocker...help"...MY GOD, I just looked at her and walked off...idiot.

That was kind of you. My opinion? The item goes to the person to legitimately obtains it first. If you can reach it, you should have it. Now, if you want to be generous and hand the last remaining something off to the person who POLITELY claims, "I've been trying for twenty minutes for store assistance to reach that item" and you choose to give it to that person instead of buying it yourself, that's (again) kind of you - but not expected.

 

[C.Ann]

Yikes, I'm so sorry that happend to you.

This happens every year. Just not at Walmart

Stephanie,


I agree about shopping online. Some people are so crazed by the "get it before it's gone" mentality that they don't think about anyone but themselves. How sad..

No, this is absolutely consumerism at it's worst, and I refuse to participate. Black Friday is also Buy Nothing Day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buy_Nothing_Day. I have never purchased anything on Black Friday and I never will. I won't buy into this artificial hype to save a few measly bucks. It is not worth it to me. I support ethical shopping and marketing tactics and the black friday hype is NOT. Whatever the deals are they are not worth this. Even one person injured or mistreated is enough for me, but it always seems to be at every store. If I can't afford to buy an item that is reasonably on sale, that I don't have to punch someone or be punched to get, then I don't need or want that item. End of story.

I've seen people knocked over and people assaulted and arrested at the Staples where I worked. It's a mad house and it brings out the worst in people.

Seriously what is this world coming to whenever crazies are punching people for a toy item

I was in Dillards and was reaching up to get a play house off of a top shelf whenever a lady came behind me screaming at the top of her lungs that it was her playhouse and she just went to get a stock person, she was screaming ...."help I need a stocker...help"...MY GOD, I just looked at her and walked off...idiot.

----------------------

This thread has accomplished two things..

#1: For the millionth time since this news broke of the man being killed when he was trampled to death in Walmart, this type of behavior is NOT "exclusive" to Walmart.. Every store has had vile incidents (I remember several from the Kmart near where I used to live), but because people (media included) are so determined to make Walmart out as the "Big Bad Wolf", for the most part, those are the only incidents you will hear reported..

#2: People are naive when it comes to Black Friday sales.. They have been brainwashed into believing it is the ONLY day of the entire year when they can get items at a greatly reduced price and that simply isn't so.. But - they're afraid to "miss out" on a "deal", so they will camp out at 3 a.m.; trample people to death to get what they want; gun people down in front of children; and in the case of the OP, punch a woman in the stomach over a TOY!!

Is this what people really want? Are these the lengths that people will go to in order to have a "Merry" Christmas??

Shop on-line.. Shop months and months before Christmas.. Wait and shop the week before or the week "of" Christmas when the prices are just as good - if not lower.. But for God's sake - stop this insane behavior that is a result of being BRAINWASHED!!!! ..

 

[SplshMtn99]

I pass out samples of products in stores like Walmart, Target & Kmart. I'm a walmart shopper myself, but I can tell you, of the 3 chains I frequent for work, the Walmart shopper is the rudest, pushiest & most "its all about me & what I can get for free" shopper I've ever encountered. They have no intention of sampling & buying, just making lunch of the samples & in an extremely rude way about it too. I work about 26 different stores between the 3 chains. All the Walmarts I'm in are that way.

Some days I just come home thoroughly disgusted.

Like I said, I shop there too, but only because its close to our house & the others are not.

Extra security or not, I don't know if it would help. These people just have NO MANNERS & want everything for free or cheap & as much as they can get.

Target would be next on the list of "what can I get for free & not have to buy", but they aren't pushy about it.

Kmart believe it or not, is the opposite & most subdued of all of them. Matter of fact, I worked in Kmart today & it was pretty tame!

 

[kaytieeldr]

#2: People are naive when it comes to Black Friday sales.. They have been brainwashed into believing it is the ONLY day of the entire year when they can get items at a greatly reduced price and that simply isn't so..

That's true. An analysis of the 2007 holiday shopping season showed the best (lowest) prices were available three weeks AFTER Thanksgiving.

 

[sdarwkcabemanmy]

DH works for a big box retailer and he said they had somebody who had started camping out on WEDS NIGHT!!!! for Fri morning. But neither of us were really surprised. I mean, after having the property's landlord have to call the cops to keep people from camping out for a WEEK prior to the release of a big item (I think it was a video game in that case), nothing really shocks you anymore.

 

[tigger813]

I did not go out shopping on BF. I did order one item online. I did all the shopping for my kids last month. Dh is going to do his non-online shopping today while I go to church. I will be shopping once my mom and dad arrive next week.
DBIL and his 2 kids went out at 3:30am on BF as he has done for years. I will do more shopping during the week as well. I got some great deals last month at Target and other places.

 

[luna99]

I'm so sorry that happened to you. What is up with Walmart. It is the one store that I avoid like the plague on black friday- something happens to people in that store.

This was my first black friday experience, and I'm not trying to single out Walmart, but I will say of the three places we went to (walmart, target, and the mall)... it was the worst. They let people inside the building but had roped off the back area so no one could get to the electronics and the toys until exactly 5 am.... well, when they dropped the rope, it literally sounded like a stampede of animals... feet pounding, screaming people, etc. I was really shocked at the sound...

thankfully no one I saw was actually hitting or pushing, but SOME people really did seem paniced and I did hear a lot of cursing!

one mom yelled to her daughter across a few lanes of traffic: "did you get the _____?" (didn't hear what item she said specifically)

to which the daughter replied: "No, the stupid b*@ch of a cashier said it wasn't there".

Um, ok? why do you need to talk that way??? LOL.

My husband also told me about a few people he noticed who were acting very anxious and paniced and cursing a lot. It was a madhouse.

what if a responsible store(corporation) said, "these are OUR sale prices, as low as all others, GOOD for the whole month! no need to rush here! shop in peace (peace on earth, good will towards men) ... RELAX... our company refuses to participate in the artificial panic that only leads towards people becoming bitter, at best, and people being injured, at worst., and we hope you will support us in this endeavor, and shop in our stores, in our regular hours."

love this idea.

I think of all the kids dragged around at 5am to witness this horror. Outrageous!

I noticed a lot of children out at Walmart and some people even had infants in slings across their bodies while they shopped. I tell you what, I would never bring a child with me to black friday.

I was in Dillards and was reaching up to get a play house off of a top shelf whenever a lady came behind me screaming at the top of her lungs that it was her playhouse and she just went to get a stock person, she was screaming ...."help I need a stocker...help"...MY GOD, I just looked at her and walked off...idiot.

lol. I wish I could have seen that.

 

[Pinkgurlshubby]

To the man that punched me in the stomach this morning at Walmart.....

I certainly hope that your child appreciates the Leapster that you got for him/her by punching a woman in the stomach and then proceeding to run away!

Ok, I feel much better now!

Thank you and I hope you all have a great weekend!

Some people are jerks. It's too bad that other customers didn't come to your aid. The guy probably went home all proud of himself...I would go to the news, the newspaper, radio, etc with this story.

 

[suzimar57]

i'm not doing any holiday shopping this year at all - new "tradition" - and we stay out of all malls from now until mid january - just safer and more sane that way - the traffic leading to the malls is unbelievable.