"Competitive Advantage" . . . calling all LA members

[Sapphire Silk]

OK, I just gotta ask . . .

Do we have any members who work at Wally World in LA?

Seems a woman there decided to use pepper spray to keep other customers away from merchandise she wanted. Cops haven't found her yet.

I'm hoping for more details and an update.

http://www.news-record.com/content/2...riday_shoppers

[corwin02]

Ok let me pick my jaw up from the floor , pepper spray for some shopping deal ?? you got to be kidding me.

[qwerty]

I don't post often due to not working in customer service at the moment but I just had to respond to this. THIS IS ABSURD! I cannot understand why people lose their minds over sales and why stores encourage this type of competitive craziness.

My local walmart had the pallets of BF merchandise out since at lease Wednesday but they were shrink wrapped. People were opening them and hiding the items to retrieve on BF. They also blocked off almost every aisle and reserved every item for BF. Why pay employees to sit at registers and do nothing for 1 1/2 days because the managers decided to sell almost nothing? I tried to buy tinfoil baking pans and a rolling pin and was refused two days before BF.

This stupid holiday is designed to encourage the behaviors that make reasonable people despise shopping at these stores. It's like they want only SCs as customers.

[Brojekk]

One of the things they should do when they find her.....she should automatically forfeit every item she got that morning. That by itself may make more of an impact than any other punishment she'll be getting.

[BrenDAnn]

I agree with Brojekk, she should have anything she got taken away. Also, I hope the people that got pepper sprayed press charges of some sort HARDCORE on her. There is NO reason for that sort of behavior at all! This, ladies and gents, is why I don't do Black Friday shopping, no matter what time of the day on Black Friday it is!

[XCashier]

This stupid holiday is designed to encourage the behaviors that make reasonable people despise shopping at these stores. It's like they want only SCs as customers.

It does make you wonder, doesn't it? Between hoarding items as you described and those stupid TV commercials that encourage awful behavior (I'm looking at you, Kohl's!), you've got to ask yourself why Corporate is encouraging the SCs.

[Sheldonrs]

I uses a taser. That way, the spray doesn't ruin the merchandise.

[Teskeria]

I do not condone her behavior. I do NOT believe it was appropriate or correct, but I do understand her frustration at the line cutters. When you read the story, she got irritated and upset at the people that kept cutting the line and lost it. She didn't randomly spray people to keep them away from what she wanted as the first stories out apparently made it appear. Then she just left the store (apparently without buying anything.)
Of course I don't shop on Black Friday, so I don't have to worry about getting that frustrated.

[cindybubbles]

Stores like "Wally World" only care about money, and so, would prefer to dehumanize the humans if doing so will generate the most profit. Why would they advertise "door-busting" deals if doing so actually produces a gigantic loss?

[sms001]

[soapbox]

Sadly, I know EXACTLY why stores are encouraging this sort of thing. The free "advertising" is incidental. Of primary importance is that your store is perceived as THE store to shop at. If people are willing to commit violence, you must have some great deals, huh?

Seriously, we KNOW how to handle crowds in this day and age. Anyone who has stood in line for two hours for a four minute roller coaster ride know this.

You could spring for fifty dollars worth of hot chocolate, or (as mentioned about Best Buy in the BF debriefing thread) show movies, or hand out line tickets for door busters, etc. Instead, the majority of the stores actively encourage antagonism among the customers/competitors.

Concert promoters know all too well that handling the crowds that attend their events is THEIR responsibility. 'Creating A Public Danger' doesn't even start to describe the atmosphere these stores are purposely creating. I'd like to see cops show up on Mike Duke's doorstep tomorrow and charge him with every assault that occurred on WalMart's property today. Ditto the other BigBox BigWigs.

Shop Small or don't shop at all.

[/soapbox]

[Sapphire Silk]

I do not condone her behavior. I do NOT believe it was appropriate or correct, but I do understand her frustration at the line cutters. When you read the story, she got irritated and upset at the people that kept cutting the line and lost it. She didn't randomly spray people to keep them away from what she wanted as the first stories out apparently made it appear. Then she just left the store (apparently without buying anything.)
Of course I don't shop on Black Friday, so I don't have to worry about getting that frustrated.

Do you have a source? According to CNN, she was able to get her item (a discounted X Box), pay for it, and leave before the cops arrived. http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/25...too/?hpt=hp_c1

[tropicsgoddess]

This is why I absolutely refuse to shop on Black Friday. That is just beyond asinine and I hope they find that bitch.

[wagegoth]

The last I read was that she turned herself in. Whether she got the Xbox was not clear in any articles.

[Kristev]

Is there anything more she pulled than this awful stunt?

[TheSHAD0W]

UPDATE: Apparently she got caught in a crush, and used the pepper spray to try and protect herself. Video wasn't very conclusive, but the local prosecutor isn't going to press the case.

http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_19426509