Talked a bit about this with Johnny this morning on KABC which illustrates exactly why I do most of my shopping online and will likely not even leave The Tammy Cave today. Except for maybe the Dog Park 😉

From Fox:

LOS ANGELES – A woman shot pepper spray to keep shoppers from merchandise she wanted during a Black Friday sale, and 20 people suffered minor injuries, authorities said.

The incident occurred shortly after 10:20 p.m. Thursday in a crowded Los Angeles-area Walmart as shoppers hungry for deals were let inside the store.

Police said the suspect shot the pepper spray when the coverings over the items she wanted were removed.

“Somehow she was trying to use it to gain an upper hand,” police Lt. Abel Parga told The Associated Press early Friday.

He said she was apparently after some electronics and used the pepper spray to keep other shoppers at bay.

Officials said 20 people suffered minor injuries. Fire department spokesman Shawn Lenske said the injuries to least 10 of them were due to ” rapid crowd movement.”

Parga said police were still looking for the woman.

The store remained open and those not affected by the pepper spray continued shopping.

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17 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. kmsimchak says:

    This is why I do not do “Black Friday”, there is not enough savings in the world for me to subject myself to all the crazies!
    “My Mommy loves me so such, she hurt a bunch of people just so I could have an XBox! Lucky Me.”

  2. Shifra says:

    #peopledesperateforabargain #blamethedumbbastardforlousyeconomy

  3. gkin31 says:

    I stood in line, in the rain, and was almost on the news, but missed it by a second. Fun night

  4. Kat says:

    OK TAMS…..Family tradition – all females in family go to the first Black Friday sale (use to be 5AM the Friday after Thanksgiving) and it was fun! This year we went to the 10PM sale at Wal-Mart (which is the only place to shop here in the boonies)and WOW what a diff….people were really rude! My Mom and I were at the towels, when the sale started…..people went whackado! By the time I got close there were only 10 towels left out of a box the size of 6ft X 6ft X 6ft! As I was reaching in a man about 55 or 60 yrs of age came up behind me and tried to shove me out of the way….instead I went head first into the box! I landed on 5 towels and came out with ALL 5!!!! WOO HOO! Needless to say I didnt share any with that man LOL!!!!!
    Some people were very nice and helpful, so there is still hope for Humanity!!!
    Happy shopping and STAY safe!

  5. Los2000 says:

    Seriously…what is so important to buy that you can’t wait until Saturday or Sunday? Looking at the people going nutso on Black Friday is like watching lemmings jump off a cliff. What the hell happened to my country?

  6. dennisl59 says:

    Setting: Communist Red China, somewhere outside Shanghai, deep in an underground bunker. Extremely large central control room with multiple state-of-the-art video screens(think NASA/Google/Cisco)and live video feeds(hacked)from all the Major American Retailers entrances.

    Fifty plus P.L.A. personnel, all in colored-coded(based on function)counterfeit Italian designer uniforms. There’s a low murmer of English, perfectly spoken with no accents. Quietly, a shadowly figure steps in front of the video screens…then complete silence. And he speaks:

    “Comrades! Our decades long experiment has finally come to fruition!…The complete brainwashing and re-programming of the American Consumer Underclass. Shortly, you will see for yourself. Having provided the slave labor made material goods for low, low everyday prices, blue light specials, and doorbuster specials, you’ll be witness to the American Black Friday shopping madness, induced by constant and relentless subliminal advertising; all controlled by US using American counterfeit hardware and software. (Applause)

    Let’s remember our vision Comrades:

    “The Capitalists will borrow their own money from us, to buy the the cheap rope we made with which we will hang them.” (Applause)

    Now, without further delay!…I shall press the Bright Red Reset Button! And…Done!!!

    And across all the video screens, mobs of the frenzied and over-medicated rush thru the doors, yelling, screaming, pushing and shoving all the part time/seasonal assistant managers aside to grab the closest $5 off piece of Chinese made recycled plastic gadget within reach. But it gets better for the ‘Observers’. Someone pulls out the pepper spray, then that’s countered with a taser, a fire alarm is pulled and all the screens go dark…

    “You! Over there!, yeah you in the dark blue blazer…Launch the Drudge Report!

    ‘Next?…CyberMonday!’…Cheering starts…

    fin

    posted 11/25 830pm Texas [Help me, I’m trapped in a gadget factory] Time.

  7. dogbite says:

    after many years spent working in retail, i feel their pain… #bahhumbug
    people here are definitely spending less, thank goodness they are not cutting back spending on their furry children. #blesstheirhearts

  8. jeaneeinabottle says:

    I never have done the black friday event, they only have a few of the items at the low price, that’s why the rush, why would you do that? All month of Dec they have great sales and by Christmas eve they want to get rid of everything. I usually buy most on the internet with free shipping, right to your door! If you’re looking for cozy, warm polar fleece Old Navy usually has great deals. Last year half zip fleece pullovers for men were $5.00, bought 20 bucks worth! They have something for everyone! The crowds do not interest me and finding a great deal online is fun and you can find unique hand made beautiful things too, that’s the best part for me when I shop for Christmas.

  9. jaliranchr says:

    So much of this nonsense is little more than a Pavlovian response by some consumers. They see it time and again on TV and think they need to be part of it. Everyone does it, don’t they?

    Even in podunk towns that don’t have a Walmart, the insanity prevails. Because they think they are supposed to do this because they see it on TV. We had a small department store (chain in middle American) in a town of 2000. There would be people parked outside the store at six a.m. Why??? No crowds, and most of it had been on sale the day before (yes, open on Thanksgiving :P). I know what the sales and margins were. It didn’t justify the extended hours.

    I’m all in favor of the free market and if the extended hours are justified, go for it, I say to the retailers. If they are just doing it to create buzz in the media and get people rushing the store, they will reap what they sow, and frankly, that is what I am seeing more and more, every year.

    I don’t see a lot of thoughtful savvy shoppers in the videos of this Black Friday nonsense. I see mobs there to participate in potential mayhem. Let them and the executives that plot this have it. I reserve my thoughts and concern for the poor store employees that have to deal with it.

  10. Kimj7157 says:

    I’ve done most of my shopping on-line for years now. Have never participated in a Black Friday. Never will. Too many wackadoodles like the idiot with the pepper spray. Hope they find her.

    If only that woman could be pepper sprayed as part of her punishment. Of course that’ll never happen. But it might in the “United States of Tammy”… . 🙂

  11. Artgal says:

    There is something incredibly sad – even sobering – when thinking of Thanksgiving weekend. We gather with family and/or friends, reflect on our blessings, humble ourselves and give thanks to God on Thursday only to watch far too many become selfish, rude, thoughtless, wreckless hosebeasts at the stroke of Black Friday midnight shopping madness. It’s sort of schizophrenic.

  12. KCBob4Tam says:

    A tale of two retailers.

    My 20 year old daughter and I went to a local Wal Mart(KC suburb) to see about a couple of items. We had gone by Toys R Us to look at toys for her neices/nephews but the 300+ in line turned us away. We went into the Wal Mart and it wasn’t too bad. As we got closer to 10pm – the bewitching hour – it seemed as if people came from everywhere. Appliances were in the boys section and pots and pans were in the shoes. The only place you saw any employees were around the laptops and TVs. It didn’t quite resemble the online videos but it was close(think the 2$ waffle maker with the “crack” lady and it was close). People were merging from everywhere and cutting in line for TVs and XBoxes. I honestly feared for our safety for a while. Checkout was no better. Think of an ant farm on crack and you get the picture. Poor planning would have been better than this.

    Fast forward to Target. We wanted to get a Kinect(whatever that is) and I wanted to get her a couple of sweaters. We got there at 11:30 and there was a line. We waited(warmly) in the car until five til. It cost us about 50 spots in line. There was a single file line down the building and through the parking lot Security was present and passing out maps while instructing us on decorum. They let in 30 people at a time and it was very organized. They had the front of checkout lines blocked off and there was only one way into the check out process – also manned by security. It was painless and fairly fast and we saved about 80$ on three items. Where would you rather spend your money?

    BTW. Mobs and throngs are nothing new. I can remember my father fighting tooth and nail with angry mothers over those ugly ass, bald headed Cabbage Patch Dolls for my daughter.

  13. AniMel says:

    I am predicting a reality show about Black Friday. They’ll follow the most die-hard, rabid shoppers as they collect the ads, decide where to go, camp out and find ways to amuse themselves. Then, on the day of, they’ll showcase who won.

    The only thing they’ll never tell you is about the employees of those stores and banks who had shoppers threatening to bomb their building and/or shoot them. God knows it would prove that these people really are a bottle or two shy of a six-pack.

  14. thierry says:

    the greatest invention of our consumer driven society for me has been internet shopping.that and moving out day on certain ivy league campuses.

    even if it’s not black friday everyone is rude, children in carriages are used as batter rams, the staff is surly (on their iphones and unhelpful), and they never have what i want. last few years i’ve noticed it’s impossible to find some fairly common items readily- they really keep the stock low . if it’s vaguely a technical item no one working there knows anything about it.

    that’s the thing about situations meant to generate a mob-everyone’s now not so carefully hidden sociopathies bloom forth. it always ends in tears .chaos can’t be controlled so when you willfully create it…

    no human interaction, no dead bodies to step over, no pepper spray- the magical internetwebs.

  15. padrooga says:

    When did black Friday get so big? When media played it up as an “event” and a “happening” and of course everyone wants to be part of an event.. And maybe even get to be on TV…
    All for the ritual of buying useless crap for a holiday who’s meaning was long ago corrupted by its own believers.

    It’s great to not be religious, I don’t have to participate in all the stupidity this time of year…

  16. jiaconis says:

    I REALLY hope this nutcase gets arrested and fined for way more than she saved, and even serve time in jail for assult and battery. If I was one of the people that got hurt by this idiot, you can be sure that I would sue her for assult and battery. And she was out CHRISTmas shopping!!!

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