Christmas Crowd Control
Nov. 29th, 2008 08:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vovatI'm sure you've all heard about the security guard at a Long Island Wal-Mart who was killed by a Black Friday shopping mob. What I have to wonder is whether Wal-Mart did anything to try to prevent this sort of thing. Did they limit the number of people who could enter the store at any one time, or make them go in single file? Or did Wal-Mart just think, "Hey, if someone dies, we won't have to pay them for working today!" Yes, I know controlling a crowd can be difficult, and people might well have pushed their way in even if they HAD been told to wait, but it seems to me like a lot of retailers don't even try. For that matter, why not find some other way to distribute rare items, instead of making it whatever person can reach and hold on to it?
I'm sure I'm not the first one to make this point, but isn't pretty much everyone in a crowd like that shopping for Christmas, or some similar holiday? You know, peace on Earth, good will toward men, and all that? Are you showing good will to your fellow man by shoving him out of the way and trampling on him? I'm sure whatever joy you bring into the world by giving a loved one a $300 off-brand laptop is more than counteracted by any acts of violence you perpetrated in obtaining said gift. To these people, "holiday spirit" presumably means crushing someone until they become a ghost.
I haven't yet started my holiday shopping, and it's never easy for me to do so, because I have no idea what most people want. Can't they at least give me SOME idea, even if it's something as vague as "clothes" or "a book"? Mind you, I'm not always sure what to ask other people for either, but I DO have an Amazon wishlist that to which I've directed people in the past. Granted, a lot of the items on it are currently unavailable from Amazon, but that doesn't mean they can't be found elsewhere.
I'm sure I'm not the first one to make this point, but isn't pretty much everyone in a crowd like that shopping for Christmas, or some similar holiday? You know, peace on Earth, good will toward men, and all that? Are you showing good will to your fellow man by shoving him out of the way and trampling on him? I'm sure whatever joy you bring into the world by giving a loved one a $300 off-brand laptop is more than counteracted by any acts of violence you perpetrated in obtaining said gift. To these people, "holiday spirit" presumably means crushing someone until they become a ghost.
I haven't yet started my holiday shopping, and it's never easy for me to do so, because I have no idea what most people want. Can't they at least give me SOME idea, even if it's something as vague as "clothes" or "a book"? Mind you, I'm not always sure what to ask other people for either, but I DO have an Amazon wishlist that to which I've directed people in the past. Granted, a lot of the items on it are currently unavailable from Amazon, but that doesn't mean they can't be found elsewhere.
