Wal-Mart + Greed = Insanity

"Stop stepping on my sister! She's on the ground!"

So cried Linda Ellzey as she desparately tried to rescue her sister who was being trampled unconscious by a mob of crazed shoppers rushing the opening doors at a Florida Wal-Mart in hopes of getting their hands on a discounted DVD player.

"She got pushed down, and they walked over her like a herd of elephants."

When paramedics arrived on the scene, they found the 41-year old woman slumped over a DVD player, seemingly invisible to the frenzied shoppers all around her. Doctors expect to keep her in the hospital through the weekend.

Wal-Mart's response?

Ms Ellzey said Wal-Mart officials called later to ask after her sister, and the store apologised and offered to put a DVD player on hold for her.

"We are very disappointed this happened," she said. "We want her to come back as a shopper."

The behavior of the shoppers is the stomach-turning crime here, but I am aghast that Wal-Mart 1) couldn't give the woman a $29 DVD player after creating an environment that put her in the hospital and 2) could have the gall to punctuate their lame apology with a wish that she return to the scene of the crime and give them more of her money!

Can someone please tell me how anyone with a conscience can shop at Wal-Mart?

Woman crushed in rush at DVD sale | BBC NEWS

Comments

[Steph]

'Can someone please tell me how anyone with a conscience can shop at Wal-Mart?'

Well coming from someone who does shop at Wal-Mart... I’d have to say a lot of people can’t afford not to shop at Wal-Mart, because like it or not, they do have really good prices. That being said I think they treat their employees and costumers like crap and are pretty much a growing festering blob trying to take over the world by moving into towns across the country and running “Mom & Pop” stores out of business. I know I’m a bit of a hypocrite by shopping there. I do have a brain and a conscience but I also happen to have a thin wallet at the moment.

[Steve]

Thanks, Steph. I've had a lot of similar feedback and had a conversation with friends about this the other evening. I know a number of people who can't afford to shop anywhere else. When you have a fixed number of dollars to spend each month, it's hard to justify spending more than you have to for any single item. And that is precisely what Wal-Mart is banking on — and how they're bankrupting the competition and anyone else they don't like. The best article I've seen on this was in Fast Company magazine this month. The article is entitled, "The Wal-Mart You Don't Know."

[Reverend Mother]

Don't get me going on the white heterosexist oligopatriarchs. Boycott ANY business that's not local. "Nuf said!

Rev Mom Over n Out