As most of you likely have likely heard by now (or, at least, those of you based out of the US), a couple of weekends ago, a Walmart employee was killed by a mob of people trying to get cheap plastic crap offered in limited quantities.
Let's put aside Walmart's fault in this incident (and yes, they do have some fault). Let's put aside the local police's fault in the incident (they were called out several times for assistance before the fatal incident).
I want to look at the individuals who mobbed the store, tore down the doors assaulted others and stepped on a man until he died.
What drives a person to do such a thing? Awesome prices? Perhaps, but, to be honest, the deals weren't that great.
Today, I had an incident that just shocked me. We had a free moment and one of our game case doors has been giving us trouble, as if it was going to fall out. I've worked with these doors/cases several times, so I grabbed a screwdriver and another associate to help me, as these doors are real glass and real heavy.
So, by the time we get the door off, a young kid was beside us playing the 360 and a couple other kids were looking at the games - meaning we had to work extra careful to not crush anyone. After a few minutes, an older lady came up and asked my co-worker and I if we had "this game", pointing to a piece of paper that had some Spyro game for the PS3 written on it. My co-worker told her he "didn't think" we had it and I told her if we did have it, it'd be in one of the first two cases. She said "okay", then went down to look...
...about 30 seconds later, she says to me "I don't see it, maybe I'm just overlooking it. Could one of you come down here and help me?" Politely (at this point) I say "Just as soon as we get this door put back on, we'll be right there."
The customer's eyes grew three sizes that day. "How long will that take?" (asks the customer, in a demanding tone).
"I'm sorry ma'mn, but I'm not sure." (I'm no door fixing expert) "We'll help you as soon as we can." I'm sure the tone in my voice likely changed at this point.
"Well, isn't that the point of you guys? Aren't you supposed to be here to help customers?"
"Yes ma'mn, but this glass door is pretty heavy and I don't want anyone to get hurt if it was to fall or something." (Eying toward the various children around).
"I thought it was customers first."
"Ma'mn, it's always safety first. I'll be with you as soon as I can."
She looks for a few more seconds, then leaves. She spent far more time throwing a fit than even looking.
Now, I understand that, to her, this video game was important. However, at what point is it so important that it's worth risking the lives of strangers over?
The Walmart store in New York where the associate was trampled had the same problem. When trying to close the store, customers argued and threw a fit, expressing no interest in the human being they just trampled to death, but want to know how the store was going to honor the deals.
'Tis the season, indeed.
Topic: My Christmas Rant - Or why I hate people. (Read 14921 times)
