Friday, November 29, 2013

It's Crazy Out There

"Stabbings, shootings and brawls have broken out in stores across the nation as shoppers scramble for the best Black Friday bargains."
A Virginia man has been stabbed in a row over a parking space, a Las Vegas shopper has been shot in the leg by a man stealing his newly-bought television, and police have opened fire on an alleged shoplifter as he fled from a Chicago store.

Shoppers have also filmed violent scenes at several Walmart stores and posted the startling footage to YouTube, revealing the madness that has become a tradition the day after Thanksgiving.
written by James Nye, David Mccormack and Lydia Warren for the DailyMail

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I guess, like most bloggers out there, when this time of the year comes around, I too should remind readers to please use our Amazon Portal and avoid some of that craziness out there.

Black Friday Video Supercut at the Jump

34 comments:

bagoh20 said...

OK, I'm tearing up here. It's just so beautiful. It's a gloomy drizzly day here, but this made it all seem brighter and full of promise.

Thank You...Thank you very much.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

check out the video.

john said...

I have been wondering why conservatives, who I would have thought would support local businesses especially mom and pop establishments, get so self-righteous and indignant when states force Amazon to collect sales taxes. One would think that conservatives would consider a sales tax to be one of the fairest ways of collecting revenue and leveling the playing field.

And why do liberals hate big box stores and Sams Club, and do all their shopping at Costco?

I would bet there have been no riots at the Costco and Amazon stores this Black Friday.

Icepick said...

John, Costco is known for treating and paying its employees better than Sam's and most of the big box stores. Of course they can do that because of a wealthier clientele....

john said...

They should make an app that springs a mechanical elbow out into your cheekbone when you go online shopping on Black Friday.

bagoh20 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michael Haz said...

I can't think of a reason to go shopping on Black Friday. The sale prices are mostly bait for shoppers who don't understand how retail works.

I would go to a big box store, however, if said store installed a bleacher section and charged admission for people who want to just watch the mayhem of bargain-crazed shopping mobs. Cocktails would be a plus.

bagoh20 said...

I have been wondering why leftist, who I would have thought would support local businesses especially ones who provides low cost goods and lots of jobs for the less fortunate, get so self-righteous and indignant when those stores want to come to their communities to help the poor in their area. One would think that leftists would consider a company that helps and serves primarily the poorest in the community to be a welcome addition.

And why do liberals hate big box stores that employ the most people and, and do all their shopping at Whole Foods and Pier One?

deborah said...

Pier One has tasteful crap.

bagoh20 said...

I shop at places like Whole Foods Pier One and also Walmart. They offer entirely different options and experiences.

I'm not satisfied with either. I went to Whole Foods the other day to get something for dinner. It barely covered the bottom of a brown bag and was $50. I felt like a sucker. But also, many times I go to Walmart and when I get my thing home it breaks the first time I use it. I'd have to say that paying a lot often doesn't really get you much grantee either, since about 1/3 of the time I throw out the food I buy at Whole Foods, and that's a double whammy which hurts more.

I'd say the best deal is french fries at a strip bar that has no cover charge, but those are all gone now too.

Chip Ahoy said...

The video actually made me a bit ill.

And please please please do not give me any of that merchandise for Christmas.

The good thing about revulsion to this is it suggests the alternative that turns out to be fine in unplanned ways. To buy people gifts through the year and spring it on them without any connection to anything. No birthday, no holiday, nothing, just a gift. It changes people. A little. I think. Maybe. Boom. Out of the blue.

One man told me this year that a Bronco wallet was particularly well-timed. (It wasn't timed at all) He did need a wallet (not that one, It couldn't be, wallets are too personal a thing, he would need a bi-fold not a tri-fold like this) plus, and don't mention this, he was just then entering therapy and felt fairly certain nobody thought of him. I did not know any of that. I barely speak to the person through the year. And the note saying that he didn't actually have to use the wallet was pleasantly amusing, just see it, and pass it on. That's all, presenting no burden, like a ceramic parrot, in fact if he passes it on to someone who likes it better then he does, then he gets to be giver instead of a dud receiver, so from my point of view then two scores in one.That's one example of this year.

Another unexpected feedback I got was circuit city to a klutzy boy. Totally scored on that one. That was a hit with the son and the mother and the kids in his class at his new school where he chose to switch because he was getting a rep as a bully at the public school. No dad around. I learned later. So a gift out of the blue from someone he barely knows had a series of little impacts that I could not anticipate.

Shouting Thomas said...

I've been out shopping today, but I've missed the murder and mayhem. Shucks! I like action.

Have been watching the "Chuck" series on Netflix. Chuck works in fictional big box store named "Buy More."

They had a Black Friday bit on the Chuck episode I watched last night.

I recommend the Chuck series. Funny and the lead actress is a babe. Unfortunately, the clothes never come entirely off.

Unknown said...

The Daily Mail makes us Americans look really horrible and stupid. Of course, the entire culture around which that mad consumerism is cultivated is primed by the hypocrite elites of leftwing celebrity Hollywood.
Can I get some Jay-Z cologne? Some Beyoncé perfume? I have a stack of welfare checks. I thought capitalism was bad? Kept down by the man. Now get out of my way... I need a new thingamajig. 50% off!

bagoh20 said...

I don't get the people in those videos. The stuff isn't free, and they don't even need it, and they still have to pay for it eventually, yet they will fight for their piece of crappy cheese like their life depends on it.

A perfect demonstration of how we got where we are fiscally as a nation.

I'm thinking about what might happen if I stand on the street in just underwear that say Black Friday Sale Here.

Shouting Thomas said...

15% off guitar strings at Guitar Center and strings.com.

I ordered a six month supply for three different guitars.

Good deal. I'm gonna buy them anyway.

bagoh20 said...

When people say hey this little European nation or that one has socialized health care and they can make it work. I think of stuff like this and say to myself, you don't know Americans like I do.

Unknown said...

I'm thinking about what might happen if I stand on the street in just underwear that say Black Friday Sale Here.

Nice idea for a photo and a blog post. I say do it.

bagoh20 said...

You're a funny girl, April, but nobody gets excited about a sale at the Goodwill store.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

No Black Friday shopping for me. I can't stand crowds. Plus the stores (WalMart etc) are several hours away. By the time we drive down to the store at gasoline $3.89 a gallon for regular, pretty much all savings are gone. There really isn't anything that I need that badly.

One would think that conservatives would consider a sales tax to be one of the fairest ways of collecting revenue and leveling the playing field.

Yes, and no. Yes. If everyone buys and pays sales taxes at the same % and on the same items, then it would seem to be an equitable collection of revenue.

No. In that my sales taxes paid go to the State of California and they use the taxes for things and policies to which I object or they just waste the money on boondoggles and give-aways to people who don't work and who get FREE money for everything under the sun. Fuck em. Big ticket items we buy on line or go to Oregon.

Lydia said...

The Brits love to paint the U.S. as the land of idiots. Yet they've got their crazy Boxing Day sales, and they're not exactly tea parties: Shoppers brawl as £2.5billion is spent in Boxing Day

Michael Haz said...

I'm in a Wal-Mart. God save me.

Unknown said...

The Brits think almost everyone in the US are dying of gun shot wounds-- littered across the front lawns of hospitals, waiting to get in, and rejected. If only we had the NHS.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Shop Until You Drop

john said...

Shop where you live...and if you shop mostly at Wal-Mart, good fucking luck living there when you neighborhood turns to shit and Wal-Mart moves out of town.

I'm with you, flying dog. Except that for many areas it is no longer a choice.

Michael Haz said...

Why?

Mrs. Haz needed something she wanted to buy at Wal-Mart. She's a thrifty shopper, so whatever that thing was, she knew Wal-Mart had the lowest price.

I hung out in the liquor department. Nice markdown on Jameson, so good for me.

I don't understand the Wal-Mart bashing. One of my siblings is a cognitively challenged adult who Wal-Mart employed for 17 years. She worked 32 hours/week, was paid the same as other workers doing the same job, had a 401(k) plan, a stock bonus plan, and a medical/dental insurance plan. She stocked and straightened merchandise on shelves.

Some of her co-workers chose to decline the medical insurance because they could buy it for less through loophole in the low-income plan that the state offered. The state closed that loophole last year.

Wal-Mart employees have free will. If their skills and abilities are such that they can find a better paying job, or a job with better benefits, they are free to leave Wal-Mart.

Michael Haz said...

@aridog - I live in a green, leafy exurb. We don't really have a local merchant shopping district, apart from few insurance agents and tire stores. In fact, until Wal-Mart opened, you couldn't buy pants or shirts or shoes where I live.

Wal-Mart was a net plus here, including the 800 new jobs. And I don't expect our area will 'turn to shit' anytime soon.

I buy things on line, or drive into the city, or visit the hardware store, or stop at Wal-Mart. It's all good.

YMMV.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Why WalMart.

They have good bargains on many things that I need. The selection is much more than I can get in a "local" store. For many of the items that I need/want there IS NO local store or they just don't have the items I want. Perhaps I'm not the norm, since we live in a rural area and stores of any kind are few and far between.

Going to WalMart or Costco is an excursion and something that we do once a month. Everyday shopping we do as much as we can locally.

But...assume that I actually live in the town that the Wally World is located. I can buy White Stag tee shirts between $6-8....OR....go to Macy's and buy something similar for $20 to $30. I can spot up an 8 dollar shirt just as well as a 30 dollar one. Blue jeans at WM for $18 to $25 OR...$50 yo $80 elsewhere.

Even the small items like a giant bag of cat food for a few dollars less. Bird food $8 less per bag. Maybe YOU have money to burn. Every bit of savings will add up.

A retail establishment cannot compete with Wally World, Target or Costco. If they want to be successful, they need to be unique and not try to go head to head with the big boys.

test said...

bagoh20 said...
I'd say the best deal is french fries at a strip bar that has no cover charge, but those are all gone now too.


Some of the first advice I ever remember:

Never put anything from a strip club in your mouth.

Thanks Dad.

bagoh20 said...

"
Never put anything from a strip club in your mouth. "


Surely the pickled wieners are safe.

Trooper York said...

Not true bags.

Huma wouldn't do that so Anthony had to look for the strange elsewhere.

Birches said...

I love Walmart. Food is the cheapest there. Cooking supplies too.

One of my siblings is a cognitively challenged adult who Wal-Mart employed for 17 years. She worked 32 hours/week, was paid the same as other workers doing the same job, had a 401(k) plan, a stock bonus plan, and a medical/dental insurance plan. She stocked and straightened merchandise on shelves.

My spouse and I were talking about this today. Most of the people that work at Walmart probably couldn't do anything else. Its a great job if you're in that situation. Those that are capable of doing something else can use it as a stepping stone to get a better job. I used to work HR for a credit union. We used to drool over applications that had Walmart or Kmart on a job history if the person had stayed there for more than a year. With a job applicant like that, you knew you didn't have to worry about them showing up late, or cutting out early, or being a pain in the butt employee. They knew what they had working bank hours and wouldn't screw it up. Not the case with many of the part-time college students who felt like their job was getting in the way of their social life.

Birches said...

I have no loyalty for buy local, especially when most of the sheeple think buying local means heading over to the "local" Kroger owned grocery store instead of Walmart. Kroger is not any better than Walmart; their employees are just unionized.

Birches said...

Costco is a big lie too. Its pretty easy to pay your workers top retail dollar if you convince someone to pay $55 or $110 dollars a year just for the pleasure of entering their store.

Some stuff is cheaper there, and I've been a member, but my $55 comes out of the entertainment budget (good samples). I have no delusions about it really saving me money in the long run most years.

This year we're switching back to Sam's Club. Better selection on baking items and less money to join.

Aridog said...

Michael and the others who appreciate Wal-Mart...

I am sure Wal-Mart does serve a good purpose in many communities. That is not the case where I live. This community was on its knees and failing, but a minority class of entrepreneurs moved here and rebuilt the place, with private money, not federal, nearly all new, to the walk to the store standards of the 40's and 50's. I really don't need a car and drive under 6000 miles per year.

THEN f'ing Wal-Mart showed up to bleed off some of the market that was already established. We already had a Target and a Mega Mall close by, and Wal-Mart filled no niche except an exploitive one. They will slowly wreck what ghetto Detroit couldn't. And they did nothing to resurrect the community, not even a dime.

Ten years ago when I visited acquaintances in th northern Michigan boondocks who lived in a very small community with a great General Store. Yet, everyone up there told me how much better it was at Wal-Mart in a large town 35 miles away. So I had my host give me their shopping list for the week and I shopped the local General Store, then took the receipt sot mock shop the Wal-Mart. Guess what...Nothing of substance was sheaper, beyond a couple loss leader junk food items, and the list toal at Wal_Mart would have been a dollar higher than the local store...plus the gas the drive the 70 mile round trip. Wal-Mart is a business and they are only "cheaper" when they think they have to be. Channeling "Crack"...I think Wal-Mart is a cultish fetish.

I'll given them credit for the good you all have witnessed, but I have never witnessed any of it...just their destructive impacts.