Lethal Black Friday, and my thoughts
Nov. 30th, 2008 05:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hollybrookeWalMart death preventable, union says
LONG ISLAND, New York (CNN) -- The death of a temporary Wal-Mart worker trampled by customers amid frantic Black Friday shopping could have been avoided, the union that represents retail workers said Saturday.
Jdimytai Damour, 34, was crushed as he and other employees attempted to unlock the doors of a Long Island, New York, store at 5 a.m. Friday, police said.
"This incident was avoidable," said Bruce Both, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, the state of New York's largest grocery worker's union. "Where were the safety barriers? Where was security? How did store management not see dangerous numbers of customers barreling down on the store in such an unsafe manner?
"This is not just tragic; it rises to a level of blatant irresponsibility by Wal-Mart," he said.
Wal-Mart spokesman Dave Tovar said Saturday that the company had no response to the union's comments, referring CNN to a written statement the retailer released Friday.
The statement said the store added internal security, brought in outside security, erected barricades and worked with Nassau County police in anticipation of heavy crowds.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the deceased," Wal-Mart Senior Vice President Hank Mullany said in the statement. "We are continuing to work closely with local law enforcement, and we are reaching out to those involved."
Damour's death was one of two high-profile violent incidents on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and traditionally one of the year's busiest shopping days.
Police say two men shot each other dead in a Toys "R" Us in Palm Desert, California, after they argued in the store. The fight did not appear to be related to shopping, according to authorities.
At the Wal-Mart, police say that a line began forming at 9 p.m. Thursday and that, by 5 a.m. Friday, there were as many as 2,000 customers outside. A video showed about a dozen people knocked to the ground as the doors were opened and the crowd surged, breaking the doors.
Minutes later, police trying to give Damour first aid were jostled by customers still running into the store, authorities said.
The union is calling for an investigation "by all levels of government" to ensure justice for Damour's family and make sure that such an incident never happens at Wal-Mart again.
"If the safety of their customers and workers was a top priority, then this never would have happened," said Patrick Purcell, a projects director for the local UFCW. "Wal-Mart must step up to the plate and ensure that all those injured, as well as the family of the deceased, be financially compensated for their injuries and their losses. Their words are weak."
The UFCW has long been a harsh critic of Wal-Mart's, arguing that the world's largest retailer offers low wages and poor health care for its workers and pushes competitors and suppliers to do the same or go out of business.
The group has had only marginal success in organizing Wal-Mart workers in the United States and Canada, citing aggressive anti-union efforts by Wal-Mart.
The UFCW has 1.3 million members working largely in the retail, food and food-processing industries.
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This was not necessarily WalMart's fault, in my opinion. People want to pin the blame on the store for not providing sufficient safety measures or security. Let's just play the blame game. Who's really to blame? Let's ask the people who were just so hell-bent on being one of the first inside the store the nanosecond that door was unlocked. Let's ask the customers who were ripping the doors off the hinges. Let's ask the crowd of people who just felt they had to go stampeding in like a herd of cattle and couldn't even be stopped to notice, "HEY! I think I just ran over someone! Are they conscious?"
How have we let ourselves as a society get to this point, where we get so crazy that we start getting vicious and brutal over shopping and Christmas gifts. This is NOT what the holiday season is all about.
Here's what I propose stores like WalMart, Target, etc., do on Black Friday to keep terrible things like this from happening. Start treating your customers as if they're in elementary school. Make them go in the store one by one, in a single-file line, slowly. And if you catch them running or so much as breaking into a sprint in the store, kick them out. There's no need to be acting like heathens inside a department store.
OR....they can take a cue from the folks at Disney and do what they do at Disneyland/Walt Disney World when they open the parks. Here's what they do at Disneyland, and I am quoting from The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland 2008 (published by John Wiley and Sons, Inc.):
"Recently Disney has beefed up the number of cast members supervising the rope drop in order to suppress the mayhem. In some cases, the rope is not even 'dropped.' Instead, it's walked back. In other words, Disney cast members lead you with the rope at a fast walk toward the attraction you're straining to reach, forcing you (and everyone else) to maintain their pace. Not until they come within close proximity of the attraction do the cast members step aside."
LONG ISLAND, New York (CNN) -- The death of a temporary Wal-Mart worker trampled by customers amid frantic Black Friday shopping could have been avoided, the union that represents retail workers said Saturday.
Jdimytai Damour, 34, was crushed as he and other employees attempted to unlock the doors of a Long Island, New York, store at 5 a.m. Friday, police said.
"This incident was avoidable," said Bruce Both, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, the state of New York's largest grocery worker's union. "Where were the safety barriers? Where was security? How did store management not see dangerous numbers of customers barreling down on the store in such an unsafe manner?
"This is not just tragic; it rises to a level of blatant irresponsibility by Wal-Mart," he said.
Wal-Mart spokesman Dave Tovar said Saturday that the company had no response to the union's comments, referring CNN to a written statement the retailer released Friday.
The statement said the store added internal security, brought in outside security, erected barricades and worked with Nassau County police in anticipation of heavy crowds.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the deceased," Wal-Mart Senior Vice President Hank Mullany said in the statement. "We are continuing to work closely with local law enforcement, and we are reaching out to those involved."
Damour's death was one of two high-profile violent incidents on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and traditionally one of the year's busiest shopping days.
Police say two men shot each other dead in a Toys "R" Us in Palm Desert, California, after they argued in the store. The fight did not appear to be related to shopping, according to authorities.
At the Wal-Mart, police say that a line began forming at 9 p.m. Thursday and that, by 5 a.m. Friday, there were as many as 2,000 customers outside. A video showed about a dozen people knocked to the ground as the doors were opened and the crowd surged, breaking the doors.
Minutes later, police trying to give Damour first aid were jostled by customers still running into the store, authorities said.
The union is calling for an investigation "by all levels of government" to ensure justice for Damour's family and make sure that such an incident never happens at Wal-Mart again.
"If the safety of their customers and workers was a top priority, then this never would have happened," said Patrick Purcell, a projects director for the local UFCW. "Wal-Mart must step up to the plate and ensure that all those injured, as well as the family of the deceased, be financially compensated for their injuries and their losses. Their words are weak."
The UFCW has long been a harsh critic of Wal-Mart's, arguing that the world's largest retailer offers low wages and poor health care for its workers and pushes competitors and suppliers to do the same or go out of business.
The group has had only marginal success in organizing Wal-Mart workers in the United States and Canada, citing aggressive anti-union efforts by Wal-Mart.
The UFCW has 1.3 million members working largely in the retail, food and food-processing industries.
********************
This was not necessarily WalMart's fault, in my opinion. People want to pin the blame on the store for not providing sufficient safety measures or security. Let's just play the blame game. Who's really to blame? Let's ask the people who were just so hell-bent on being one of the first inside the store the nanosecond that door was unlocked. Let's ask the customers who were ripping the doors off the hinges. Let's ask the crowd of people who just felt they had to go stampeding in like a herd of cattle and couldn't even be stopped to notice, "HEY! I think I just ran over someone! Are they conscious?"
How have we let ourselves as a society get to this point, where we get so crazy that we start getting vicious and brutal over shopping and Christmas gifts. This is NOT what the holiday season is all about.
Here's what I propose stores like WalMart, Target, etc., do on Black Friday to keep terrible things like this from happening. Start treating your customers as if they're in elementary school. Make them go in the store one by one, in a single-file line, slowly. And if you catch them running or so much as breaking into a sprint in the store, kick them out. There's no need to be acting like heathens inside a department store.
OR....they can take a cue from the folks at Disney and do what they do at Disneyland/Walt Disney World when they open the parks. Here's what they do at Disneyland, and I am quoting from The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland 2008 (published by John Wiley and Sons, Inc.):
"Recently Disney has beefed up the number of cast members supervising the rope drop in order to suppress the mayhem. In some cases, the rope is not even 'dropped.' Instead, it's walked back. In other words, Disney cast members lead you with the rope at a fast walk toward the attraction you're straining to reach, forcing you (and everyone else) to maintain their pace. Not until they come within close proximity of the attraction do the cast members step aside."
