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[arkadyevna]

Wal-Mart Worker Trampled To Death

I've already said as much on pastrydeity's post about this, but what the fuck? I find instances of mob mentality endlessly fascinating, though only in the most horrific way, and this is a sad example. And it's just utterly mind-boggling that people continued to push through the doors and step over the man lying trampled on

Comments

[fannyfae]

This makes me absolutely sick to my stomach. I worked for years in retail for Waldenbooks / Brentano's and it was always a zoo. This has gone beyond the pale, however. It makes me very anxious for beloved friends, some of whom are here on LJ who are working during this holiday madness! This is why I opted to stay home today, and will do so all weekend.

[arkadyevna]

Oh my god, you worked for Waldenbooks too! I worked there in my first year of college, at the huge mall nearby, and it was a god-awful experience. The customers there were three times as horrible as anyone I've dealt with at the pet store, maybe because they were on average much wealthier, but I don't know. The mall is a breeding ground for asshats, anyway.

And you could not have paid me to go out shopping today, even if I'd had the day off. Thankfully we were far from mobbed at the store. I don't work for a major chain, and pet stuff doesn't seem to be most shoppers' top Black Friday priority. Which I don't mind a bit!

[fannyfae]

Yes, these customers can be quite terrible. The one store I worked at in Southern California, Brentano's which was one of their flagship stores at South Coast Plaza. Let us say that these people had a buttload of money. And yes, they are the worst behaved people of all. They have a definite sense of entitlement.

I am glad your store wasn't so bad off as far as crowds go. I am determined to stay as far away from the shopping masses this weekend. Home is where my heart and everything else is.

[kimuro]

It's a sad comment on the ideals expressed yesterday. On Thursday, we give thanks for all that we have been given, in spirit and in goods, for the harvest brought it. We celebrate the richness of our lives by sharing with others. Then the very next day, we turn into ravening beasts intent on getting more stuff.

It's just stuff! We can live without it. It's not worth giving up our humanity to get it.

[arkadyevna]

Then the very next day, we turn into ravening beasts intent on getting more stuff.

I'd say you hit the ironical nail on the head, there!

And I actually think that we're worse than beasts. People in these situations are often described as behaving like animals, but animal violence is almost always a matter of survival, or the right to reproduce. And even if it's not (and I can't think of specific examples atm!) -- while I don't feel that the capacity for empathy is exclusive to human beings, I do feel that we've developed it to a unique level. Most of us don't have the excuse of not being able to imagine ourselves in another being's shoes/paws/what-have-you, and to act accordingly. So yeah, willfully tossing your humanity to the wind in favor of a bunch of material crap that you don't need to survive... pretty despicable.

[pastrydeity]

but ZOMG it is a matter of life and death if we don't get that four-foot TV and the latest video game systems and that other thing from the ad! How would you expect us to show our faces in public if we don't have the newest and shiniest toys?

People make me sick. And I think the planet is getting angry enough to shake all the people off and start over.

[arkadyevna]

I'm not saying I don't like things. Even new and shiny things, sometimes, although new and shiny things cost money that I do not have at present! But jeebus, there's a point where the thing-want just becomes plain insanity.

I think we should help the planet along. In a non-violent way, of course. And so:

http://www.vhemt.org/

Not that I was planning on breeding anyway.

[pastrydeity]

New things! More things! Bigger and better and shinier things!

Yeah, I wasn't going to breed either. Not a fan of kids anyway, and even if I were, I'd adopt.