photo credit: Stryker W@SPMy wife and I were up early shopping with all the other crazy people on Black Friday late last week. It has become a tradition for us to partake in these activities every year on the day after Thanksgiving. In the past, we have always stayed away from Walmart because of hearing awful stories of how people act when shopping there on this day. This year however, we decided to start our shopping at Walmart, as they had several good deals on items we were looking to shop for. We got to the store around 4:30 AM and there were already hundreds of people lined up huddled around pallets of toys and other gifts just waiting to snatch up everything they could get their hands on. Before the 5:00 AM deals began, I strolled around the store to check things out and to see how many people were actually in the store. I was astonished to see that down every major aisle, they had pallets and pallets of items with people salivating over them. It was really a sad and troubling picture and my wife and I should have taken this as a sign to get out of the store.
We decided to stay and split up to see if we could get any of the deals we came for. As soon as 5:00 AM hit, it was total chaos and mayhem in the store. People were pushing and shoving to get their hands on anything they could. Toys were flying over shelves because people near the pallets were throwing them back to others waiting with shopping carts. As soon as this started happening, I actually began to fear for my safety, so I tried to make my way back over to my wife. You couldn’t even walk down an aisle because there were shopping carts blocking everything. I even saw two ladies fighting over a comforter set that was on sale. My wife had been waiting for a different toy item and had actually been pined up against a shelf because people behind her were pushing and shoving to try and get up front. She finally made her way up to one of the items and picked it up, when a lady grabbed it from her and took off. To make matters worse, she actually knew the lady. She was the mother of a classmate from my son’s preschool! When I got to my wife, she had tears in her eyes and was very upset. Thank goodness she was not physically injured, but emotionally she was a mess.
After calming my wife down, we noticed just behind us a grown man was pushing a lady trying to take a Barbie Hot Wheels ride on toy from her. This lady had been waiting in line for hours to get the toy, and was fortunate enough to get one. The man had rushed the line and was in such a craze that he tried to steal it from her right in the store in front of hundreds of people. Fortunately, security was called and the man was escorted out of the building. The store manager then informed people that it was not their job to figure out who got in line first and that they could not control what other people did. I say – SHAME ON YOU WALMART!!! I could not believe my ears at what the manager of the entire store was saying to us. He was actually promoting this type of activity, not trying to prevent it.
We finally got out of that store, and vowed never to return to Walmart. After we went to a few other calmer and more controlled stores, we went home. It was no surprise to me later that day when I found out that a Walmart worker actually died at a different store, because shoppers trampled the employee when the doors opened. It is very unfortunate and concerning to me that people have to act this way just to save a few dollars. I am very ashamed that we decided to stay at the store and was part of that mess. I feel for the family of that victim and unfortunately witnessed a similar frenzy at a different store.
I have often questioned some of the ethics that Walmart uses. Most of the time, I have chosen to ignore them, as Walmart typically has the best deals available. But this time was different. This time it got really personal to my family. I couldn’t imagine what would have happened if there was a fire in the store. It took us 20 minutes just to get to the exit and that was without any mad rush out the doors. Fortunately we got lucky, but the frenzy inside was enough to disgust me. I don’t know if it was different this year because of the economy and how people were reacting or if it is just a human instinct to act this way. Either way, I cannot consciously shop at Walmart any longer.
Did you witness these types of behaviors in your shopping experience?
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It’s real scary. Really, fighting over toys?!? Insane. The Walmart where the worker died is not far from me. I don’t normally shop there but it could have been someone I know that got hurt that day. It rings home how crazy it is. Walmart needs to provide better security for their customers!
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A few years ago a similar situation occurred while I was shopping on Black Friday. One lady was really lucky to find a toy for her son only to have it taken away from her by some really unethical man. Luckily, the security guard saw him and prevented him from getting away with it. I am not a violent man, but boy was my blood pressure up. I was so stressed out! Since then, I have vowed to never shop another Black Friday as long as I live. If I cannot find it before or after, I do not need it!
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I haven’t shopped Black Friday since I used to work retail myself, and then I would hit the deals at the department store where I worked when I was on break. This weekend I broke that tradition by going out shopping – to Ace Hardware and CVS, at 1:00 p.m.. I can assure you there were no holiday crowds at either at that time. I don’t go out usually because large crowds make me nervous – what you described would have been a level of Dante’s inferno to me! You know, I am all for saving a few dollars but what you described is just plain wrong. It is everything that is bad about this holiday. I am glad the two of you made it out safe!
(And I NEVER shop at Walmart if I can help it – the place gives me the hives. This just really reinforced that for me.)
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I did see the crazyness in the store, but to top it off, I drove 90 miles one way to get there by 4:30 to get the Emerson 32″ TV advertised in the black friday ad with a PC outlet. I stood in line with the others since they only had 20 of them, and talked to a few others waiting to purchase the same TV for the same purpose as I, a computer monitor for $388. So I got the TV and did somemore shopping where I could get down any isle, and as I got up to the Check stand I noticed that the diagram on the box did not show a PC outlet, so I asked around, long story short.. We ended up opening the box and scanned the entire TV and guess what?? NO PC OUTLET>>
So I put it back, grabbed the Samsung for $100 more, and went to a floor manager to ask why the Emerson was advertised with a PC outlet and that there was none, and if they could do something for the price of the Samsung, since it was false advertising. So after waiting 20min while he asked his General Manager, he came back and proceeded to tell me that It is not Walmarts fault, that they didn’t print the ad, and that there was nothing they could do, not even a gesture of anything…. Just some lame excuse that they did not print the ad, if Walmart didn’t print it, then who did??? It has their name on it…
So I left my entire cart walked out of the store, and drove the 90 miles home, sent Walmart a nasty gram, and have yet, to hear from anyone, except a computer generated response..
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Wow…I wouldn’t want to go back to that Walmart either. I went to Walmart when it opened on Black Friday too (it was 7 am, because of zoning ordinances, I believe). It was a completely different (of course I didn’t go near the toys) atmosphere. I didn’t see anyone fighting over anything.
Now, I thought Target was worse. It seemed a lot more unorganized and more people pushing in the crowded aisles.
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This mayhem completely baffles me.
I have friends in Jersey (I’m in Vancouver, Canada) and they went shopping at some crazy hour and didn’t see any deals.
Just doesn’t seem worth it to me.
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I JUST READ THE STORY ABOUT BLACK FRIDAY. WHILE IT ABSOLUTELY IRRITATES ME THAT PEOPLE CAN ACT LIKE CHILDREN ON THIS ONE DAY,WHAT IRRITATES ME WORSE IS WAL-MART AS A WHOLE. THIS COMPANY STARTED AND GREW BECAUSE SAM WALTON HAD A VISION OF SELLING “AMERICAN PRODUCTS” . WHEN HE DIED AND HIS FAMILY TOOK OVER THAT IDEA DIED WITH HIM. DOES ANY ONE REALIZE THAT JUST BECAUSE WAL-MART PRICES ARE LOWER, THAT DOESN,T MEAN YOU ARE GETTING A BETTER DEAL?
WAL-MART IS SELLING US DOWN THE RIVER AS A COUNTRY . IF IT WEREN,T FOR WAL MART CHINA WOULDN,T BE WHERE THEY ARE TODAY. EVERY TIME WE BUY SOME THING AT A WAL MART THAT EQUATE,S TO MONEY THAT COULD GO TO A WORKER AND HIS FAMILY HERE IN THE U.S. THEN THERE ARE THE ISSUES FOR WHO MAKES THE PRODUCTS THAT WE BUY. THAT IS A WHOLE OTHER ISSUE AS FAR AS HUMAN RIGHTS ARE CONCEARNED.
THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT WAL-MART DOESN,T SEE THAT THEY ARE NOT THE ANSWER TO THE PROBLEM AT HAND THEY ARE A MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR OF THE PROBLEM. ALSO DOES ANY ONE REALISE THAT A PERCENTAGE OF EVERYTHING THAT CHINESE COMPANIES EARN
GOES DIRECTLY TO THEIR MILITARY PROGRAM ? THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT WAL-MART IS THE INSTIGATOR TO A WHOLE BUNCH OF ISSUES AND THEY HAD BEST WAKE UP AND GET WITH THE PROGRAM BEFORE THE REALIZATION HITS THEM .
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First off, if you didn’t think this is perfectly within the realm of normal human stupidity, then you’re not paying attention.
Second, do you really expect Wal-Mart (or any retailer) to hire a small army of a security force to protect people from each other when most of the people that shop on Black Friday actually WANT to do crap like this? They’d have to raise prices to compensate, then there goes the deals.
The whole idea of “a few bad apples” is outdated. Most people are greedy and stupid. Period. You can’t expect a retail establishment to protect greedy and stupid people from other greed and stupid people, and if you don’t fall under that category, don’t shop at 5am on Black Friday.
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I work retail, and have for a few years now. Black Fridays are the worst days to work in my opinion. Now I don’t work in such a massive place like Wally world, but even at the smaller stores it can be bad. At my store we had a group of ladies come in and they destroyed (as in knocking it down and it fell into pieces) a display for clearance. We also got a lot of calls from people asking to hold a whole list of items for them, after the third call we stopped doing it. One lady who looked in perfect health turned to me, after I was coming to the end of my 14 hour shift, and said, ‘I’ve been walking around for an hour in here, can you go get me *this**this*and*this*? Thanks.’ So I laughed, clocked out, and walked past her and said, ‘Toodles.’ I wonder if she got her stuff or not, but then I remember that people like that make me not give a damn.
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Wow, that is so crazy. Can’t believe anyone would try to head to Walmart, ever, so early – let alone all the camping out stories. Let alone the death that occurred by trampling last year. I’m just aghast and speechless about it.
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