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Walmart customers “unruly” after store closes, police called

j-mac said:
Ok, so here is the question...I have noticed that peoples actions over the past 40 years or so have become more and more self centered...For instance, when I was a kid, never would you have had people going to this length to attempt to keep a store open just for themselves...

So, how about it? Are we becoming more selfish? Is this lashing out like depicted in the story a result of people feeling like they are being too tightly controlled? What say you?
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Before it was called "keyboard hero" it was called "telephone tough-guy". I think technology simply allows us to act how we've always wanted to act.

I personally am learning to be more selfish, though I think shopping at Walmart right before they close is a matter of disregarding the 3StupidRule more than being selfish.
 
CaptainCourtesy said:
It's hard to even imagine. Consider what DP would be like... and how many new Sub-Forums we'd have:

Civil Rights
Vietnam War
Cold War
Counterculture

And many more I'm sure.
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Could Vietnam War have continued with Facebook and Twitter?
 
Jerry said:
Please understand that I'm not angry here, I just literally have nothing to do for the next hour and this is kind of a pet peeve with me. How does being able to order something off of e-bay and have it in your hands the very next day harm you? Wouldn't harm depend on what you're ordering and why, and not on how easy it was for you get or how fast you got it?
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It's not the easy or ordering or what; it's the being unreasonably angry and/or frustrated if you can't.

Have you ever become ridiculously irritated by how slow a fast-food drive-thru line is going? I remember the first time I was (and how horrified I was). Now I just smile and remember that this surely beats buying meat in the store and bringing it home to cook...much less wringing that chicken's neck or dressing out that cow.
 
Fenton said:
Sure , consumerism is great.

How is it relevant to a bunch of idiots getting out of hand because a Wallmart shut down early ?

Unless you're trying to suggest that Consumerism is new and is the reason why these people couldn't control themselves why bring it up ?
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I'm not the one who brought it up.
 
Mason66 said:
If the trend is to defy authority, like with the protests against the police, it is nothing to defy the management at a Walmart.

I think this is a bad road the country is going down.
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So no questioning authority. Thank God you weren't around in 1776.
 
nota bene said:
It's not the easy or ordering or what; it's the being unreasonably angry and/or frustrated if you can't.

Have you ever become ridiculously irritated by how slow a fast-food drive-thru line is going? I remember the first time I was (and how horrified I was). Now I just smile and remember that this surely beats buying meat in the store and bringing it home to cook...much less wringing that chicken's neck or dressing out that cow.
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Especially since I don't know how to dress a cow and have no kitchen to cook it in if I did.

That being said, standing in line is a near daily annoyance for me. I deal with it by listening to audio-books while shopping. I have noticed a few more weird looks in the store since switching from the Motorola Elite Sliver to Earplug Headphones. It's as if people are offended at the fact that I don't want to overhear their bull****.
 
Fenton said:
Sure , consumerism is great.

How is it relevant to a bunch of idiots getting out of hand because a Wallmart shut down early ?

Unless you're trying to suggest that Consumerism is new and is the reason why these people couldn't control themselves why bring it up ?
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I wanted to buy me a pound of shaved beef for a samwich yesterday at Pick n Save, oh snap! they were closed for Christmas! what was the management thinking? darnit.
 
imagep said:
I doubt that those people were polled for their political lean. In all honesty, I don't think that politics has anything to do with it.

The hackery is when someone tries to make it a political issue, blaming either liberals or conservatives.
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I don't think anyone ever brought up what those particular people's political lean actually was. I simply said that that kind of mindset is more prevalent on the left and as our society has gotten more liberal, the public behavior of the people has gotten more self-entitled.
 
CaptainCourtesy said:
That's a really good point. About 20 years ago, there were 4 24 hour supermarkets within 10 miles of me. Now there are none. I often find myself getting angry at those supermarket chains for altering their hours and not being immediately accessible to my needs. This enhances my technology presentation and adds to it neatly.
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Why would you get angry? It's not like they change their hours on a whim, you know when they are open, you can go when they are open or you can wait. Operating hours are based on profit. Local stores to me have been open 24 hours or not over the years. Walmart seems to go through cycles, either being open 24/7 or closing at midnight. If they're making money from odd times, why shouldn't they be open? If they're not, why should they remain open on the off-chance you might want something? Are you incapable of making plans?
 
Jerry said:
Please understand that I'm not angry here, I just literally have nothing to do for the next hour and this is kind of a pet peeve with me. How does being able to order something off of e-bay and have it in your hands the very next day harm you? Wouldn't harm depend on what you're ordering and why, and not on how easy it was for you get or how fast you got it?
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I never said it harmed anyone. What I said is that it created an aura of instant gratification, something that many in society now expect because it's so constant. This can be a good thing, but it can also create problems.
 
nota bene said:
I think it's all of these. Partly, it's what two successive "me generations" hath wrought, but you're right about what I call the fast-food mentality. And the loosening of societal strictures. People actually think it's okay to wear a t-shirt with a huge f-bomb on it out in public where children can see it, and they think nothing about sharing their most intimate business while yacking on their cells in a grocery store checkout line.

Maybe we could begin with a little more regard for others. Another plus would not be categorizing those who behave badly as "liberals" or "conservatives": They're unique individuals who are solely and entirely responsible for what they say and do, and lean has little to do with it. Ill-bred, boorish behavior is YOUR choice.
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In bold. So good I'd like to use it in my signature if that's OK with you.
 
Cephus said:
Why would you get angry? It's not like they change their hours on a whim, you know when they are open, you can go when they are open or you can wait. Operating hours are based on profit. Local stores to me have been open 24 hours or not over the years. Walmart seems to go through cycles, either being open 24/7 or closing at midnight. If they're making money from odd times, why shouldn't they be open? If they're not, why should they remain open on the off-chance you might want something? Are you incapable of making plans?
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Your comments are completely irrelevant to my point. Let's see if you can actually identify the point that I was making in context.
 
Kobie said:
Afghanistan and Iraq had no problem with it.
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Yeah. Only difference is that the type of warfare and the American losses were bigger, hence more of an internet outcry. Still, I don't think it would have mattered much.
 
CaptainCourtesy said:
Your comments are completely irrelevant to my point. Let's see if you can actually identify the point that I was making in context.
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No, they aren't irrelevant at all. Stores are open because it is profitable for them to be open. If it isn't profitable, they close. It isn't up to the customer to determine when they want the store to be open, it is up to them to go to the store when it is open for business, regardless of their personal desires. Rioting because they don't get their way is absurd and it doesn't matter if it's the middle of March or Christmas eve when the store is closing, they don't get to override the store's decision to close, particularly with violence.
 
Cephus said:
No, they aren't irrelevant at all. Stores are open because it is profitable for them to be open. If it isn't profitable, they close. It isn't up to the customer to determine when they want the store to be open, it is up to them to go to the store when it is open for business, regardless of their personal desires. Rioting because they don't get their way is absurd and it doesn't matter if it's the middle of March or Christmas eve when the store is closing, they don't get to override the store's decision to close, particularly with violence.
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In context of what I was discussing they were entirely irrelevant. You STILL didn't get the context. Wanna try again?
 
an interesting thread - with the exception of the mindless insistence that the liberals alone are responsible for this kind of mob event
i cannot agree with the presentation that commerce shares responsibility because it makes it easier to buy stuff. to succeed in business one must offer a compelling reason not to buy elsewhere. and convenience is a huge selling point
i also disagree with the notion that reduced wait times, the result of technological innovations, has caused consumers to 'act a fool' as my grandparents would have characterized the behavior of the walmart shoppers. the ultimate outcome of much engineering is the reduction of wait time. this abbreviation of wait time is nothing new or novel and should not be found as the cause of stupid behavior
so, what could it be? i would submit that this kind of behavior is the result of inadequate life skills of the walmart mob participants. ultimately, the result of weak parenting. is there anyone who did not know Christmas was approaching, and that commercial activity starts winding down on Christmas eve. if that is accepted as a legitimate presumption, then those walmart shoppers had reason to know that their window for Christmas shopping was going to end at some time Christmas eve. and with that knowledge, they failed to timely plan/execute to meet their shopping needs. fail to plan, then plan to fail. life skills, 101
in no way do i suggest that this is a recent shortcoming. members of society have been lacking in life skills forever. but i would suggest that a larger portion of a larger population is now without them
we learn to parent from our parents. sometimes we learn from them what not to do. but generally, we raise/teach our kids in the same way we were taught. but we now have something which was not evident in the not-so-distant past. multiple generations raised by parents/grandparents who themselves were lacking in life skills. families where income arrived in the form of a check on the first of the month; not by having to get up thru the week and earn a living. we have multiple generations who have subsisted without a good education. they were able to get by without attaining skills because they were not forced to do so in a system that provided housing, food, medical help, utilities, and limited discretionary mones for other needs - or wants. well intended public assistance was provided to generation after generation to establish that social safety net. a social safety net especially needed by the kids of the parents receiving the assistance. the parents received that minimal largesse without work and without obligation. and those parents, what life skills have have they acquired by living on the dole. what life skills can they then pass on to their own kids? that mailbox money will still arrive even if you don't get an education. that the check will be larger if you have additional kids
my suggestion is that we have failed the likes of the walmart mob because we have not imparted society's life skills with that monthly public assistance. what reason do we have to actually expect them to know how to behave if there is no one in their lives to impart such fundamental, such critical life skills information
so, if the question is what drives the kind of behavior witnessed at the walmart closing, i would submit that it is piss poor parenting, and misdirected public policy that drives that type of outcome
 
Jerry said:
Something tells me your signature exceeds the 4 line maximum allowed for regular members ;)
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Yeah, I only realized that after a conversation with another member, recently. The Mod Team is probably going to alter that for ALL members, soon.
 
CaptainCourtesy said:
Yeah, I only realized that after a conversation with another member, recently. The Mod Team is probably going to alter that for ALL members, soon.
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A few years ago I tried adding the trailer onto my sig, but the code exceeded 4 lines. Shortly after that I noted your sig and was like 'wtf' but it wasn't a big deal so I let it go.

A word of caution, large sigs on every member's post can be a turn off. It basically turns into spam, especially with the one-liner replies and animated signatures.
 
Kobie said:
Afghanistan and Iraq had no problem with it.
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Not that many people used facebook or twitter back then. Particularly at the start of those wars, I don't know that fb or twit even existed.
 
j-mac said:
Ok, so here is the question...I have noticed that peoples actions over the past 40 years or so have become more and more self centered...For instance, when I was a kid, never would you have had people going to this length to attempt to keep a store open just for themselves...

So, how about it? Are we becoming more selfish? Is this lashing out like depicted in the story a result of people feeling like they are being too tightly controlled? What say you?
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Ahh, Christmas, the only holiday season in which people can sing about peace on Earth and good will towards men, while being complete assholes.
 
danarhea said:
Ahh, Christmas, the only holiday season in which people can sing about peace on Earth and good will towards men, while being complete assholes.
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I doubt these assholes were singing Christmas carols. :wink:
 
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