The cost of bargains

Erika Hayasaki of the LA Times gives us a follow-up report on the mob that trampled to death a Wal-Mart employee at in Valley Stream, NY, on Black Friday.

You know, that’s the incident where a horde of shoppers, enticed by ludicrously low prices (for a limited time) on toys, electronics & other goods, swarmed into the store upon opening, each member intent on getting the loot s/he needed…

Here’s the video Hayasaki mentions of rescue workers trying to resuscitate Jdimytai Damour, 34. What you don’t see in this video is that while the attempt was going on, the store was crammed with shoppers continuing to fill their carts with schlock.

When I first heard about the killing, I harkened back to the 80s, when parents first seemed to go murderously ballistic in attempts to get Cabbage Patch Kids (which weren’t even being offered at discount). The image of one tearful woman sobbing to a reporter that all the other parents were awful because their kicking & clawing resulted in procuring a doll, while hers hadn’t, has stuck in my head ever since.

This woman just didn’t make the connection between her (unsuccessful) barbarism & that of the successful barbarians.

& here’s what I find interesting about this particular report: Hayasaki follows Nakea Augustine, 26—who jumped the line in order to get a good shot at the loot she wanted. At opening, she described how she just kept moving so she wouldn’t fall & be trampled like others she saw (but didn’t try to help).

In fact, “Augustine saw Damour sprawled out. She managed not to step on him.”

Instead, she “raced for the toy section & snatched up a bike, a dollhouse & 10 Hannah Montana dolls for $5 a piece.” She stayed in the store for two hours, buying $495 worth of merchandise just as the store closed—it being a crime scene & all.

So, Augustine (& the rest of those who didn’t let a little thing like homicide slow down their pursuit of bargains) was appalled at the behavior of everyone around her, but has no sense at all that she was one of the barbarians.

I despair. I absolutely despair.