Black Friday Mayhem

In case you haven't heard, a worker at Wal-Mart in Long Island, NY was killed yesterday -- trampled by the mobs on Black Friday. Now, being in retail, I have been through my fair share of early morning Black Fridays.... For the most part, the customers are great. They love the thrill of the hunt for bargins and have great attitudes. But this is ridiculous! As one of the dead employee's friends said, "Someone was killed for a $5 bargain". So unbelieveably sad. If you haven't read about it, here's a link:

http://www.nydaily.news.com/ny_local/2008/11/28/2008-11-28_worker_dies_at_long_island_walmart_after.html

I read on someone's blog this morning, "I'm sure WalMart is somehow to blame".... Seriously? Okay. They probably could have done a better job at crowd control. But, if you've ever worked retail on the day after Thanksgiving, you know how those crowds can get! Now I love to bash the evil empire as much as the next person, but I know that WalMart probably reviewed crowd control measures with store management before this week in anticipation of the excessive crowds. Most companies do this every year at this time, and I'm sure WalMart is no exception. The blame is with the people who trampled that poor man, not WalMart.