Shame on WalMart; it should have known better. I realize it's a challenging retail environment, but WalMart's management showed poor judgment in trying to beat the early Black Friday competition. In fact, it was conceptually close to the First Amendment exception to free speech of shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater. WalMart is one of the few retailers showing sales strength, with many other stores and chains experience single- or double-digit percentage declines in year-over-year sales. Why did the retail giant feel it had to resort to marketing gimmicks to build up traffic? And even if it was going to resort to gimmicks, it doesn't take a lot of creativity to implement things in a way that defuses a crowd determined to beat each other on their way, say, to the electronics department. For example, it distributes raffle tickets for the limited-quantity items during the first 3 hours of the store opening and randomly draws tickets (winners need not be present). Or they could install multiple turntiles at the entrance, provide a special entrance and location for electronics sales, implement a "click-and-brick" promotion via walmart.com for specified store sites, etc.
The death by asphyxiation of a 6'5" temporary worker (Jdimytai Damour), trampled over by a frenzied crowd at the WalMart in Green Acres Mall (Long Island, New York) on the recent Black Friday, reflects badly on both WalMart and its customers. At last word, the police were still trying to pull together a list of suspects from witnesses of the trampling stampede. There is simply no excuse for anyone whom knowingly stepped over and around a fallen man in the middle of a crowd and did nothing to help his or her fellow citizen; this was someone's son, maybe a father, brother or husband. What would we have felt or said if it was our own loved one on the ground? Wouldn't we have wished for someone or anyone to have taken the initiative and shouted out, "STOP! There's a man on the ground! Let him up!"? How ironic and tragic, at the start of the season that celebrates the birth of the Christ child, that we see shoppers motivated more by greed than by the principles and teachings of Jesus Christ!
I'm sure that WalMart will defend itself, saying that it didn't anticipate this crowd reaction based on past sales, that it shouldn't be held responsible for the unlawful behavior of rogue patrons beyond its control, etc. No doubt it is breathing some relief because technically it was not the employer of the contractor.
Many people do not understand the second-class status one has as a subcontractor. In one recent case involving an internal project for a global consulting firm, I found myself walked off after I complained about a physical threat from an overstressed contractor (different company) whom had been sent home a couple of weeks earlier; my client manager didn't want to have to deal with corporate HR. In another, more trivial example, I had replaced the corporate database administrator, whom had given notice, for a chip-testing equipment distributor in Silicon Valley. My boss, who was hinting that he wanted to hire me perm, had just returned from an internal company meeting/luncheon and invited me to go down to the cafeteria and help myself to some leftover pizza. At first I resisted, pointing out I wasn't an employee, but eventually I went downstairs. A general accounting manager spotted me approaching the open pizza boxes; she quickly closed them and took them with her, indignantly pointing out that the pizza was for employees only.
However, WalMart will not be able to maintain its business partnerships, e.g., with temp agencies, if it fails to provide the same safe working environment extended to perm employees. It also could have just as easily have been a customer whom got knocked over during the stampede as well.
I'm sure that WalMart did not knowingly plan the public relations disaster it now has, and it's impossible to plan for every contingency. But I think WalMart needs to reassess its marketing and store security policies, standards, and personnel, and it should be more proactive than reactive in planning special events. One security person facing dozens (if not hundreds) of anxious customers, some waiting for some time to enter the store is an accident waiting to happen. And regardless of the legal issues over Mr. Damour being a contractor vs. employee, WalMart has a moral obligation to do right by his surviving family.
