Back Friday Gets Ugly
It’s been a while since Black Friday occurred, which is named Black Friday because it is the day that most retailers come out of the red and into the black and start actually being profitable for the year – which is hard to believe! Black Friday is traditionally the day when all retailers compete with one another with ridiculously cheap deals on merchandise in order to draw consumers in by the droves, and people can find some of the best deals they will find all year round on this day after Thanksgiving.
I have to say that the day deserves the name Black Friday not just because retailers come into the black as far as profits go, but also because of some crowd’s behavior, which is embarrassing and yet true that we live in a civilized society and yet something like this awful occurrence can still happen here in the US. Actually, it was two things that happened on Black Friday that make people stop and go “hmm, is this stuff really that important that we treat one another like animals would, or worse?”
Stories that emerge like this about how people tend to take on a pack mentality on days that are traditionally crowded with overeager buyers are exactly why I do not go out shopping on Black Friday. I tried it one time with a friend of mine years ago and decided that it just wasn’t for me. The way I saw people behave wasn’t very attractive, and I believe that now that online shopping has the same deals a lot of others feel the same way and are avoiding the crazy crowds on this busy shopping day.
The two stories that came out about this past Friday shopping day are enough to turn anyone’s stomach. Apparently a New York area Wal-Mart saw the death of an employee when the doors were literally stampeded upon the five am opening of the store by eager shoppers to be the first ones to get the ridiculous low prices on some of their featured items. Even more disgusting is the fact that when the store announced it had to close down because an employee died (he was stampeded), shoppers became irate stating that they’d been in line all night.
Really nice world we live in sometimes, eh? Makes you wonder what kind of people care this much about getting a bargain that they can’t stop and observe that a life was lost all for the sake of cheap DVD’s and digital cameras. Law enforcement is currently looking into prosecuting those that were responsible for trampling and killing the man, in his thirties and the prime of his life, but acknowledged that it might be difficult to track the people down because of the large crowd. His exact cause of death has not been determined, but I think it’s safe to say that had he not been trampled, he would still be with us today.
Another lovely and heartwarming (yes I’m being facetious) story comes out of Southern California, where two people were shot in a toy store apparently fighting over something unrelated to a bargain toy, but that’s still being determined. This one’s still being looked into as well, and the two that were shot did die.
The victims and assailants were two men who were with female companions and children, and pulled guns on one another after their female companions got into a fist fight, killing eachother. Senseless, absolutely senseless and sad. It’s enough to make you stay at home on all Black Fridays from now on, if you already don’t. We went out very briefly to pick up some necessities at a local craft store and even the scene there was chaos, with people’s manners going right out the door. It’s enough to make you sad about the state of America’s mindset today.
