Whenever I watch CNN, I usually just read the ticker tape that rolls along the bottom of the screen. It’s more aesthetically pleasing than Wolf Blitzer and typically more informative. Today, an item passed by that needs no explanation or comment. The bleak, sad absurdity of it speaks for itself: a Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death by shoppers in Long Island, New York.
What can you say? The fact that the poor guy worked at Wal-Mart is sufficient, in and of itself, to fill one’s heart with grief. That he was stampeded by a herd of grasping consumers chasing after some gadget they’ll probably throw away in a couple of years leaves you sunk in pathos and despair. Epitaph: Here lies a man who worked part-time for minimum wage and was stomped to death by fat people. The end.
The poor guy just couldn’t get a break. I guess he was in the wrong culture at the wrong time.
George W. Bush never had to go through that.
No, I'm glad you mentioned it so your comment in the previous post is received positively. Having several perspectives on the same subject is a positive thing. You concentrated on the poor guy who was killed, I concentrated on the insanity of mobs at Christmas and my disdain for shopping and shoppers. You demonstrated compassion, I demonstrated disdain. Both excellent views on the same subject. But perhaps yours is the better stance to take. Three families are burying loved ones in the next few days. Over "bargains". And Wal-Marts total under staffing of its stores. They used to not be so bad, but I've noticed a definite attempt to get more done by fewer and fewer workers. And I've shopped there for over 25 years and it's not my imagination. The lines for checking out at Wal-Mart are often like my anticommunist sixth and seventh grade teacher used to lecture us about how bad the Soviet Union was. I hope Wal-Mart gets heavily punished because they've been intentionally under staffing their stores, much worse than I've seen in over 25 years of shopping there.
Posted by: Buck on November 28, 2008 7:40 PMTime to shop someplace else, Buck!
Anyway, I was relieved it wasn't my friend's husband, who's just started working at a different Long Island WalMart for $9.50/hour (the best job available; his business, which was thriving last year, is down to nothing thanks to the Depression, and six people can't stay afloat long on her income alone).
Posted by: Joyful Alternative on November 28, 2008 10:35 PM