Of course you heard about the Wal-Mart worker who was trampled by shoppers.

I've been in one of these crowd situations. I (and about five hundred other people) were waiting for the last commuter train out of town one cold, rainy night. The last two trains over the prior hour had been canceled because of mechanical problems, so nobody was in a good mood. The door dividing the waiting area from the track area was about seven or eight feet wide, secured by a locked, sliding door. When the train was announced, everybody surged toward the door. I was near the front of the crowd. When the door opened, everybody started moving toward the bottleneck.

Once it started, there was no way to stop. The people behind pressed forward, and the people in front had to keep moving. If somebody had fallen (luckily, nobody did) there would have been no way to get him back up because of the pressure of the crowd pushing from behind. It wasn't that there was any malice involved, it was just a matter of crowd dynamics and physics. It was as if each person pressed on the one in front with an pound of force, but the cumulative effect was a ton at the front of the crowd.

http://www.crowddynamics.com/Main/Crowddisasters.html

http://www.wikihow.com/Evade-a-Stampede-of-Shoppers

I think the point is that they can't stop. The pressure of the people behind them won't allow it.

Never under estimate the danger of stupid people in large groups.....

I don't think so. In a stampede situation like this you couldn't stop if you wanted to. You go into survival mode moving in the direction of least resistance. Stopping might mean your own death.

Sad story. Ironic that it was so close to the anniversary of the stampede deaths in Cincinnati, Ohio at The Who concert 12/03/1979.

About the same time we had another incident in Riverside California. Two latinas got into a catfight over a toy at Toys R Us.
Their machismo boyfriends intervened, one pulling up his shirt to display a pistol, and, in the ultimate scissors cuts paper, the other guy pulled his concealed pistol out.
They chased each other down the aisles trading shots until both were deceased, ie non returnable at the service desk.
Several customers were slightly hurt just trying to run away.
This is why my christian expression of religosity is eastern orthodox.
I wait until January to celebrate.
ROFLOL

Regardless of one's religious beliefs, it seems most everyone has some sort of celebration this time of year. I shall use Christmas in this instance. . .

HAVE WE AS A SOCIETY FORGOTTEN WHAT THIS SEASON IS ABOUT?????

Sadly, I am afraid many have. And those who haven't are not supposed to utter the "C" word if we do!

A gas station I have gone to for 2 years recently decided to not be an Exxon anymore. Since they do not have to pay franchise fees, the gas is of course cheaper. It's now a whopping 3 cents cheaper than the other gas station about 1/2 a block a way. I no longer go there because the lines are ridiculous. I pay my 3 cents more a gallon down the street.

How much would I save over the course of a year if I went to my old gas station? $15.60 That's assuming a complete fillup of my 10 gallon tank once a week.

People are so motivated by saving a few cents they lose their sense. $20 a year savings is not really going to help you in the long run. Plus, everyone likes to shop at discount stores, and most people are satisfied with buying the same crap every 2 years, when you could have spent less money and had the product last 10 years or more.

Reminds me of the despair demotivator's posters...
http://despair.com/idiocy.html

From what I read the other day, the four other employees trying to brace the door with him tried to help their fellow employee, but I don't think they could reach him, and at least a couple of them wound up injured by being trampled, too.

Just imagine what they went through (I think this is basically what happened based on what I read)--you and four of your fellow low-paid workers are bracing the front doors before opening for Black Friday. You had already been nervously eyeing the crowd for the past hour and noticing that they've been getting more anxious, banging on the glass, and yelling to be let in as opening hour approaches. Now the bodies are pushed up against the door.

The little metal bolt holding the door shut is straining to pop out so you guys have to push against the door to keep the lock from breaking. Suddenly, the weight of the crowd shatters the thick, tempered glass right in front of your face. Instinctively, the five of you let up the pressure on the doors and that's all it takes for the surging crowd to blow the doors open and literally breaking some of the hinges, flinging you to the side or to the ground. Unfortunately, one of you gets knocked to the ground directly in the path of the shoppers streaming in, whether they're eager to race to their favorite section or simply pushed forward by the weight of humanity behind them.

You scream for the shoppers to stop or watch out for your coworker, but it's no use. You try to shove your way over to him, but you get shoved out of the way again or even knocked down and stepped on yourself. It's unclear if he died from being trampled or maybe hit his head when he fell or maybe it was a combination of the two. Happy holidays, bargain hunters.

Over here, this side of the pond we get the following music constantly played in all the shopping stores. Huh, stampedes and shootouts, you've got it easy over your side, you don't have to listen to this almost every minute of the day whilst getting dragged around the stores.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JDSHXztNfpI

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=8jEnTSQStGE&feature=related

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zt6Ot8WLHw&feature=related

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=asq7TW4bRBU&feature=related

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3354flS1KJs&feature=related

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff3aoSyYOVs

Didn't read the story but Yahoo news had a headline about new policies being instituted at Walmart stores based on the events the other day.

Sad thing was the guy who was killed wasn't even a full time employee, nor did he work in any sort of security position, he was apparently a part time maintenance worker who was told to help out by store management.

Can't help but wonder how much it's going to cost Walmart when all the court cases are over and done.

Another note, the only major retailer reporting sales gains for November nationally was Walmart.

John E

My M.O. is to use a small summit pack as my EDC. If I am out of the house it is on my back. I have thought about moving the whistle from my survival kit in the pack to a coiled lanyard wrapped around the shoulder strap of my pack. Maybe a loud whistle would got some peoples attention at that accident but probably not. Sure makes a lot more noise than someone struggling on the ground.

Maybe something I'll consider.

I'm with BigDaddyTX:

"YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE!

"IN YOUR HURRY TO GET YOUR SLAVE-LABOR CHINESE BARGAINS, YOU HAVE JUST KILLED A MAN BY TRAMPLING HIM TO DEATH.

"THE POWER TO ALL THE CASH REGISTERS IN THIS STORE HAS BEEN TURNED OFF, AND WILL STAY OFF.

"NOW PLEASE PROCEED TO THE NEAREST EXIT AND GET THE HELL OUT OF THIS STORE.

"IF YOU RETURN TOMORROW AND THERE IS ANY INDICATION THAT YOU ARE PARTICIPATING IN ANOTHER GREEDY FEEDING-FRENZY, EVERYONE IN THE STORE WILL BE MOWED DOWN BY MACHINE GUNS.

"HAVE A NICE DAY!"

Not that Wally World would do that, of course. I'm sure a few dead bodies per store wouldn't bother them much, unless it interfered with the credit card machines.

Sue

The store was closed after the incident, and many of the black friday shoppers were complaining.

That's the second really galling part of the story--even after Walmart announced on the PA system that the store was closing because someone had died (don't know if they mentioned how it happened in the announcement), some shoppers were angry that the store was closing and continued to shop.