by bgetch.

Wal-Mart is in a bad spot in the case of an employee trampled by stampeding customers.  Several reasons — beyond the obvious tragedy of a young person’s death:

1. Credible criticism from locals: When local Nassau County police say they showed up on their own because store didn’t do enough crowd control and its not their job to be security for Wal-Mart, they’ve got big problems. They have exonerated themselves by saying they went “above and beyond the call of duty” to assist.
2. Better behaving peers: Best Buy has detailed processes and training to deal with crowds, which the media notes.
3. Precedence: It’s happened before (injuries from stampeding customers ).  At Wal-Mart - 10 years ago. Perhaps the most damning.

None of the commentary seems to place any of the blame on people recklessly charging through glass doors.  No one, not even the world’s largest company, can completely control reckless behavior.   It would be grossly inappropriate to show store video of the employee being trampled but images of broken glass doors and people poring through may put some of the shared blame where it belongs: with the stampeding shoppers.

Side note: it’s important to look at web postings and to really hear the people being interviewed on TV.  They are most perplexed by people’s behavior to, as one man said, “save $5 on a TV.”  Another posting off the AP story: “Blaming Walmart is intellectually lazy and dishonest.”  Another perspective: Wal-Mart IS responsible for the behavior of its customers. 

DECEMBER 1, 2008, 9:11 P.M. ET

Wal-Mart Assailed on Death

By ANN ZIMMERMAN

 

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. should have had better crowd control to prevent the death of a worker who was trampled the day after Thanksgiving amid the bargain-hunting frenzy whipped up by the sales known as door-busters, according to local police and a lawyer for the worker’s family.

Police say Jdimytai Damour, a 34-year-old temporary maintenance worker, was pushed to the ground and asphyxiated when an estimated 2,000 shoppers broke through the glass doors at a Wal-Mart store on Long Island, N.Y., as they raced to buy a limited assortment of sharply discounted television sets, computers and other gifts in the predawn hours early Friday.

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