Woman Knocked Unconscious While Shopping (at Walmart)

[baldguy]

snip

Patricia VanLester had her eye on a $29 DVD player, but when the siren blared at 6 a.m. Friday announcing the start to the post-Thanksgiving sale, the 41-year-old was knocked to the ground by the frenzy of shoppers behind her.

"She got pushed down, and they walked over her like a herd of elephants," said VanLester's sister, Linda Ellzey. "I told them, `Stop stepping on my sister! She's on the ground!'"

. . .

"All they cared about was a stupid DVD player," she said Saturday.

more

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=9&u=/ap/20031129/ap_on_re_us/trampled_shopper_2

Capitalism at it's very best.

[mhr]

1. With Sheeple Like This, Is It Any Wonder We Get The Government We Have?

eom

[sweettater]

3. Isn't it the truth

You've said a mouthful! :grr:

[coralrf]

51. Amen...

nt

[joeybee12]

2. Serves her right for shopping at Wal-Mart!

I feel so dirty whenever I'm in there--and I'm only in there when someone I'm with goes in--never go in on my own accord!

[7th_Sephiroth]

i had to go in yesterday

and i had to buy a video game, we had other shopping and wanted to pay for it up front, but store policy is that the game must be escorted to the front checkout counter by the cashier in electronics (the only guy with the key to the game cabnets) so that raised feelings of being a cirminal AND slowed other people down

[jbm]

4. from the article..

<snip>Ellzey said Wal-Mart officials called later Friday to ask about her sister, and the store apologized and offered to put a DVD player on hold for her.<snip>

and this is Wal-Marts reaction to the incident????

[oasis]

14. Did Jonny Cochran say he now only handles civil cases?

[markses]

23. Coupons? My wife: Dying! My Daughter: Dying! And you talking about COUPONS

"What can I do for you Sir"?! Look at your fucking food - Maybe you poison everybody!


TEN POINTS for whoever can place the line.

[n0_data]

25. Jerky Boys

Pay up, sucker.

Is ten points enough to buy a DVD player?

[markses]

27. Nicely done

TEN POINTS means you get beat "unmerciful." ;-)

[saigon68]

53. A DVD player on hold that she has to pay for?

How about a lawsuit under the safe place statute. Failure to safeguard the store, Have barriers and security people allowing only a few in at a time.

These people were business invitees. The store is responsible for failing to safeguard her safety.

Want to bet the SCUM at Wallyworld will fight a lawsuit like that, to the death.

[NashVegas]

5. Not All That Different from Filene's Basement

I've had people nearly grab stuff out of my hands on the racks.

[jeffreyi]

6. **bad taste alert**

Getting trampled by 5 people at Wal-Mart is equivalent to getting run over by 30 people almost anywhere else!!

[ozymandius]

16. What a horrible comment!

I can't stop laughing. It is so true. The elephants!

[ColumbusGirl]

30. This pisses me off...

It's proof that those on the left can be as petty and unthinking as those on the right.

Aren't we past this as adults?

Guess what. Fat comments are not funny or witty or clever in any way. It's no different than making fun of blind, deaf, mentally disabled or anybody else.

It's just not acceptable...Even if you disclaim by saying the comments are "tasteless".

I'm so disgusted.

[tedzbear]

32. I'm fat and I loved the joke.

Lighten up, Columbus girl.

[Guaranteed]

43. They're Walmart customers.

They're totally unworthy of respect. Especially considering that they trampled this poor woman.

[ikojo]

46. I am not defending Wal-Mart but the

people who shop there may shop there because their crappy jobs don't pay enough for them to shop elsewhere.

Yes, I understand that it's a viscious circle...shop at Wal-Mart and encourage their predatory ways and low wages.

[coralrf]

50. they slop there because

most opted to drop out of school, become disgustingly fat and have no intention of bettering themselves. Sure intellect has a genetic limitation but these folks are hardly the victims of anything but their own sloth and laziness.

Go to a Wal Mart. Look at the crap they sell. You can make and offer for sale simple elegance at a very low price. See it in Wally World? No. They don’t want it there. They want fat ass low brows to shop there. They sell hamburgers in the joints!!!

[dietbubba]

59. Are you kidding?

When I was working and making $10 an hour and trying to furnish an apartment, one of the few places I could afford to shop was Wal-Mart. And I am neither a drop out nor fat. Its cheap merchandise or food and sometimes people who have a small budget are forced to shop there.

I can't stand Wal-Mart or their practices and since I have become more enlightened about them I do my best not to shop there. Most people don't take the time to care about the sort of things that go on behind the scenes and are drawn in by the lowest price. And somehow that makes them fat and disgusting?

You need to check your hatred at the door and deal with whatever issues you have with overweight people in private.

And as you said in your other post, you are a liar. When in Wal-Mart I see all kinds of people, not just fat. I am sure you were exaggerating for effect but any point you may have been trying to make was lost in your ignorant hatred.

[Guaranteed]

65. Well, *I* was kidding...

Sort of...

I've shopped at Walmart. I've stopped, though, since they started putting other grocery stores, even large ones, around town out of business. Screw them.

Most people who shop there may not know any better, but they are enablers.

I dunno. The whole thing is just disgusting.....sloppin' the hogs, sloppin' the hogs.

[kayell]

60. MY DAUGHTER SHOPS THERE you clod!

No, I don't like it that she shops there, and I don't shop there, prefering to by used if I have to or not at all, but a lot of people can't afford much else.

And just so you know, she is not fat, she is a teacher (and don't they get paid ever so well) and she has put herself through her own education while raising a young child as a single parent. Hardly lazy and probably pretty typical of a lot of Walmart shoppers.

Yours is one of the most elitist, stereotypical, bigoted and insensitive comments that I ever read on these boards. I need a shower.

Don't bother to reply. I doubt that you would be able to post anything more than vile and baseless insults anyway. In any case, I am adding you to my still small kill file. *plonk*

[RebelOne]

63. I agree with you.

This dumb ass must think that everyone can afford to shop at Macy's or Saks.

[BlackFrancis]

67. like if you are at Wal-Mart you are on food stamps

Give me a break.

[Name removed]

48. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DeathvadeR]

7. I see dumb people..................n/t

[benfranklin1776]

8. Unfrigginbelievable

Whatta way to honor Jesus, eh, by trampling your fellow human in a zealous warlike quest for cheap imported tawdry trinkets!!! Only in America where mammon is king and Christ is merely an advertising prop! Apropos that this occurred in the temple of Wal Mart which represents the apotheosis of greed worship these days. Hallelujah and God Bless Wall Street, er I mean
America.......

Of course Wal Mart wants her back as a shopper and has kindly agreed to "set aside a DVD player" so that when she recovers from her brain injuries and regains at least partial use of her faculties she can buy it! Whatta bunch of humanitarians!!
:puke: :puke: :puke:

[Piperay]

18. Even when I was

a kid I thought it was so weird, if this is Jesus' birthday how come everyone else gets the gifts??? :shrug: I think they should stop tying the holiday in with religion and just call it Giftgiving Day, call it what it is. :think:

[benfranklin1776]

20. Spot on.

Then there would be, at long last, some truth in advertising.

[lfairban]

34. I like it.

Let’s return the celebration on December 25 to its original designation, the Saturnalia.

[ozymandius]

41. HA! Happy birthdday Jesus. Here's some crap.

I had to trample somebody to get it, though. They'll probably be okay.

[anarchy1999]

45. $5 OFF slipped disks

I read last week that the Chinese were expecting their first WalMart to have a boon of exciting U.S. merchandise to enhance their slide into capitalism and Western hedonism, but discovered more than 70% Chinese-made junk they already have.

Ha!

There is no reason in the WORLD to go into a WalMart.

[ignatius]

56. Ozy, thanks for the laugh. I have had a lousy two days and that

gave me a much needed belly laugh.

Women in my office were set to go shopping Friday at 6:00 a.m. What a bizarre country we have become. Shopping 24 hours a day,trampling people to get a "perceived" bargain. Empty people buying meaningless junk to give to ungrateful children...one hell of a way to celebrate a holiday.

[skypilot]

68. LOL!!! LOL!!!

LOL!!! LOL!!! LOL!!!

[GCP]

42. My thoughts exactly

The very least they could have done would be to give her a top-of-the-line DVD, and pay her hospital costs.

WalMart truly sucks and the only reason I go in is to use their bathrooms when I get desperate.

:puke:

[benfranklin1776]

49. Likewise.

Until they cease their virulent anti-unionism, pay their workers a livable wage and cease sale of sweatshop made goods they get not one thin dime from me. I seek out local businesses or other retailers and online companies committed to ethical business practices. Interestingly a sizable contigent of the callers to the local radio station this morning were echoing that same sentiment. I would like to believe that people are waking up to the consequences of the "Wal Martization" of America but when I read where they posted a record one day sales total that convinces me there are many unaware or willing to overlook them. I understand not making enough money to scrape by and being driven to seek what you think or are conditioned by advertising to think is the lowest price possible, but trampling one's fellow human being is not the answer. The corporados chuckle to see the masses kill themselves for dwindling scraps from the table. Agitating to raise the minimum wage and for greater workplace protections, fairer sensible trade policies and guaranteed quality education for all are more constructive pursuits and the only things that will lift workers up out of this mess, not squashing each other and thereby trampling our essential humanity in the process. This is after all supposed to be the season of peace on earth and goodwill towards our fellow inhabitants of terra firma.

[monobrau]

9. Should have observed "Buy Nothing Day"

I kept my ass right here in the house yesterday, as I do every Buy Nothing Day. That's a tradition I started long before it was "cool".

[loudnclear]

10. I am with you on this one.

We are all either making or baking our gifts. Putting money into family savings account to help needy members of family as more of them lose their jobs. About 37 of us in the family have agreed to only buy necessities, reduce or eliminate luxaries and travel, spend the minimum in 2004, shop at family or other small businesses, for discount stores when necessary we will shop at Costco (we buy in bulk and then divide it up among the family). We will not buy any more appliances, electronics, or autos until 2005. There are also a few families in the neighborhood who will try this type of boycott. The 37 members of my family are spread out in four states: PA, CA, NC, NJ. (My NJ family members livid about the increases in tolls and sales taxes that are needed to make up for lost Federal payments. Also, they say there are gashtop like tactics about traffic violations to raise more money.

Happy holidays to all.

[Lorien]

12. I bought nothing yesterday as well, and shop Costco

for most of my Christmas gifts, which are much less extravagent this year than in years past. I've also started a tradition of buying used (antiquarian pre-1900) books for my book loving friends; doesn't lead to resource depletion, and they get a kick out of having a gift with a lot of history behind it.

Not so odd thing: since I stopped watching commercial television at the beginning of the year, I haven't had the desire to shop at all. That's one habit I'm truly happy to be free of!

[abelenkpe]

28. good move

getting rid of TV. I've always felt that commercials are responsible for most of the anxiety in our society. All they are designed to do is to tell viewers how inadequate they are for not owning this or that. Have you ever seen a movie called: 'The Visit' with Anthony Quinn and Ingrid Bergman? Great commentary on the allure and immorality of materialism.

[abelenkpe]

29. good move

getting rid of TV. I've always felt that commercials are responsible for most of the anxiety in our society. All they are designed to do is to tell viewers how inadequate they are for not owning this or that. Have you ever seen a movie called: 'The Visit' with Anthony Quinn and Ingrid Bergman? Great commentary on the allure and immorality of materialism.

[Piperay]

17. Gosh,

if everybody did this it would ruin chimp's economy, hehe. :evilgrin:

[abelenkpe]

31. whoa

Sorry to hear some of your family may be losing their jobs. I like the idea of making or baking your gifts. Here's a couple of places online you can feel good about shopping at:

http://www.americanapparelstore.com/
http://www.bluecanoe.com/store/index.php

to find others in your area:

http://www.pica.ws/

You may already know about them, I read about them in Hightower's 'Thieves in High Places.' If you know of any other places that aren't outsourcing American jobs to 'compete' with Wal Mart lemmeno. Happy Holidaze.

(and down with Wal Mart!)

[ozone_man]

11. Same here,

Although I wasn't sure when "Buy Nothing Day" was. I always detested the day after Thanksgiving buying rampage and rush to Christmas decorations that go up before Thanksgiving is over.

[electricmonk]

22. Me too

I hate crowds in general so I don't care how great the deals are I'll pay extra not to be in a mob like that.

At dinner Thursday my 67 year old religious Democrat Mom ranted about all the stores opening at 5 and 6am and said she won't support any store that makes their workers come in at those hours. She was like where is any holiday spirit in forcing your help to get out of bed at 4 in the morning to work for minimum wage.

[abelenkpe]

26. Yeah, who like 'mauls' anyway?

Your Mom sounds fantastic! I wish I could say the same for my Mom. She was always a democrat until the Monica Lewinski thing. Personally, I think she really took Clinton's affair to heart because her own Dad ran out on her Mom when she was a teenager, left them for another woman and had a whole other family. While I understand her pain given her history, it saddens me that she has been voting Republican ever since. She emailed me earlier today and asked me what I wanted for Christmas, and I really want to say: For you to end your evil ways and vote democratic. What's a girl to do?

[electricmonk]

35. Yep Mom kicks ass

She found out one of my brothers voted for Oliver North and was beside herself with anger. Said she was going to write him out of her will and was wondering where she went wrong.

When I turned 18 and asked her for a ride to the polls she asked me if I was going to cancel her vote out. Can't remember the exact election now but I said I'm voting for the Democrat I don't know about you and she said "well I ain't voting for any damned ole Republican so OK."

[abelenkpe]

37. right on!

Republican's have never done anything useful for women anyway...at least not in my lifetime. Your Mom is smart.

[kysrsoze]

39. Yeah, screw Waldheim-Mart, but I did go to Best Buy....

I think you guys are a little out of touch with reality. You're all talking about how "greedy" everyone is. It's not the shoppers, it's the store. When I was standing outside at 4am, I was with a bunch of people who wanted to get their kids or family something special for Christmas, like a dirt-cheap DVD player, some low-cost videogames or a computer for the kids.

When I was a kid, I would've flipped for an electric train set or a new bike (don't tell me you didn't feel the same way as a kid), but today it's Gameboy Advance or Bratz. Times have changed, so the items people buy these days are different, but these are not exactly luxury items anymore. I was talking to a lot of people whose kids' beat up old computers crapped out, or they were trying to 'move up' to a 24" or 27" TV, not some $10K plasma screen. DVDs have replaced nights out at the movies because it costs about $40 for a family of 4 to see Elf.

I ran into one person (some trashy bitch), but everyone else was super nice. One lady saved my spot in line so I could go get some coffee, and we helped each other figure out where everything was. You should all be mad at the number of people buying new Maybachs or Hummers, not your average person, because those people were all hitting the early sales, then going home. I heard a lot of people remark, "if it wasn't for this, we wouldn't be getting much else."

BTW - Got my daughter a pretty darned nice emachines computer for $199 after rebates to replace her dying computer, so she could watch Finding Nemo and continue chatting with her friends who have moved away. She doesn't mind wearing Payless shoes and buying some of our groceries at Aldi. It's all about priorities.

[ikojo]

47. Movies or DVDs?

I agree kysroze about the cost of movies and a dinner out.

Friday night one of my friends took his wife and four of us out for dinner and a movie (Lost in Translation). The dinner cost about $50 and the movie cost $40.

This is outrageous! Not many families can afford regular nights out like this. This is one reason I buy DVDs so that I can watch them when I want.

The shelf life of a movie is so short now that it pretty much comes out on DVD within six months of release.

[coralrf]

52. Last night I watched Amelie..

granted a French Film but very good. I paid ziltch. The library has the DVD. There are options in life.

[Maddy McCall]

13. Why this lady has a GREAT case if she decides to sue--wish I were a lawyer

Sirens blared to commence the sale? Is that walmart manager fucking STUPID? Doesn't he/she realize that sirens provoke fight/flight urgency responses in people?

To use an EMERGENCY SYMBOL to commence shopping was ASKING for trouble, and that woman has a very very great case to receive such punitive damages from Walmart that she will never have to shop at a discount center again.

Hope she lawyered up!

[MasonJar]

15. The amazing greed in this country

is widespread and ugly. Yesterday I went to a small business (a frame shop) to have some beautiful, old family fans put in shadowboxes for my grown children. I am so excited; they are going to be so extraordinary. All my other gifts are donations to animal organizations, who are really hurting in this avaricious, pugnacious world. The gorillas really need help if you want to give. The World Wildlife Fund and the African Wildlife Fund do exceptional work in this field.

[ozymandius]

19. There were originally Four Wise Men.

At the perfume merchant's tent one was trampelled during a sale stampede.

[benfranklin1776]

21. ROTFLMAO

Good one and eminently possible!

[Guaranteed]

24. Another great article written by Mike Royko

He wrote an article about 11 people being trampled to death at a rock concert, in the eighties....the next article he wrote was about the responses he got from a class of high-schoolers.

http://www.sourcetext.com/grammarian/newslettersv04/4.3.htm

Absolutely hilarious. And, yes, these people ARE barbarians.

[koopie57]

33. I was almost trampled

at an Aerosmith concert. For some reason we ended up in the front of the line at the doors. The doors opened and I could feel myself immediately being pushed down, but my boyfriend just hung on to my hand and and just that moment of pulling held me up long enough to get squished between two people and I just kept moving my feet until I got to a wall. I remember watching all the people go by and thinking I could have been under there somewhere. I still shiver when I think about it.

[shamanstar]

36. unconscious on top of dvd player!!!!

Paramedics called to the store found VanLester unconscious on top of a DVD player, surrounded by shoppers seemingly oblivious to her, said Mark O'Keefe, a spokesman for EVAC Ambulance

[CSI Willows]

38. Another reason not to shop at Wal Mart this holiday season

:evilfrown: Poor lady

[Voltaire99]

40. Unfashionably, I feel sorry for Wal-Mart America

They're hard-working. Underpaid. Trapped.

They've been sold out by both major political parties.

Their communities have been decimated economically and culturally by Wal-Mart, for many the only game in town - with its cheap pay, sweatshop clothing, censored CDs, and intercoms blaring Bush speeches.

Their hopes are circumscribed by the promise of cheap products that actually come at a terrible price: indenture and the loss of local identity.

They didn't deserve this. America didn't.

We have to care, even those of us who have never and will never set foot in a Wal-Mart. For at the very least their mean and reduced lives are a recipe for more and more reactionary politics. Those beyond rational hope will flock to the irrational and the violent. And that will sweep us all in its tide.

So: what are we going to do? If we cannot find the antidote to Wal-Mart, the future's grim indeed.

[undergroundpanther]

44. Wal mart

When I go there,I don't buy I browse.I do it to remind the people working there,not the managers mind you,that they don't have to tolerate the abuse Wal mart does .I remind them alot of people are angry at wal mart's tactics.I give them tips and support and truths about what unions can do for them.I speak of how grass roots organization changes everything.I offer my support,I let them know of job openings at better places where thier workers are treated better.

Usually just about then a manager comes around with her sarcasm,and takes over the conversation because that is how wal mart intimidates it hires bully personalities to management positions.

[kayell]

62. Great post

much as I dislike walmart, it is very offensive to me to see DUers putting down the people who shop there. Many of them are the very people that the Democratic party is supposed to represent and defend - the working class, the underpaid, those with few economic choices in life and increasingly more of us everyday.

[Dudley_DUright]

54. OMG!

I saw this headline and thought what kind of crazy community would trample a poor woman just to get cheap DVD players, and then I find that this happened in my community! Although I don't make a habit of shopping at Walmart, I have been to this particular store before. It is only a few miles from my home. I am not at all impressed with Walmart's response and now I have yet another reason for not shopping there.

[Barad Simith]

55. so she can come back and buy it, after she's out of the hospital

"Ellzey said Wal-Mart officials called later Friday to ask about her sister, and the store apologized and offered to put a DVD player on hold for her."

AAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Even Wal-Mart, loathsome BASTARDS that they are, could have GIVEN her one of their top-of-the-line models!

What a slap in the face! They should bring it to her, gift-wrapped! It's just common sense!

I hope she sues the shit out of them.

[arikara]

57. As much as I despise walmart...

I've seen this sort of thing before. I used to work in a small department store in a small town; we used to have door crasher sales. One time, a woman was bending down to pick up a set of dishes that were on sale and somebody knocked the baby right out of her backpack and then grabbed the dishes while she rescued her infant. This was 30 years ago.

But the store did stop having that type of sale after that. You can bet that the evil empire will continue the practice.

[doc03]

58. What a country

I bought a DVD player in Sears for $34 several months ago. All of this for 5 stinking dollars!

[govegan]

61. I thought they (walmart) had checkers at the door....

Doesn't one have to be "unconscious" to be shopping there in the first place?

Sad, too sad.

[bushisanidiot]

64. Practice Safe Shopping - Boycott WalMart!!

:)

[skypilot]

66. I hate to say it but

...lately it just seems to be Florida and Ohio. Florida and Ohio.