Retail Employees Reveal The Most Horrifying Things They've Witnessed On Black Friday
Every year, retail employees dread the inevitable Black Friday nightmares that most will only know about because of the news. While you experience the shock and awe of Black Friday horror stories from the safety of your homes, retail workers must deal with the worst Black Friday incidents as they unfold in all their discount-induced devastation.
Childhood havens like Toys R Us take a nosedive into anarchy while already obnoxious retail spots like Walmart descend from the third circle of Hell into the seventh layer. Retail employees who work on Black Fridays describe soul-crushing accounts of shoppers yelling, shoving, and full-on assaulting other customers and employees in order to get that plasma flat-screen or Furby.
Black Friday is, indeed, that. It keeps companies in the black but it leaves employees to see humanity through black-colored glasses.
- 11,969 VOTES
A Nintendo Caused A Bloodbath
From Church_of_Xenu:
"Years ago I got hired as seasonal help for Toys R Us. It was before they redesigned the stores into their current [mess] and everything was in long aisles. I got stuck in aisle one, which was board games on one side and the big glass case of video games on the other. This was the year that Super Nintendo came out, so we had one behind the glass with a controller outside so you could try out Super Mario Land.
"I'm up on a ladder getting more copies of Crocodile Dentist down to restock the lower shelves and hear some yelling. I look down and two kids are shoving each in front of the SNES. They start swinging at each other and the parents intervene, only to start fighting themselves.
"I slide down the ladder and my manager rushes over to try and stop things from getting worse. One of the parents had a bat in his cart and hits the other guy square in the back, knocking him into the display cabinet, shattering the glass and cutting him up really good. The guy with the bat realizes what he did and grabs his kids and tries to make a run for the door.
"Management is trying to block him from leaving as they go and manage to get the cop that is outside directing traffic. The police come in and wrestle this guy to the ground while his kids watch. He resists and gets a serious beat down in the middle of the store. The other guy that went through the glass is cut up and bleeding really bad. He ends up losing an eye over the whole thing. After this is all over, we have to lock up the SNES and you could only try it out if management opens the case for you.
"The other really messed up part of this whole thing is that people are taking toys out of the cut-up man's cart as EMS works on him and his kid sits there crying. One woman even tries to take the blood splattered, demo SNES out of the broken case to try to buy for her kid. People are heartless, mindless sheep when it comes to cheap crap. Ever since this, I spend my Black Fridays at home."
- 21,375 VOTES
Some Black Fridays Warranted Hospital Visits
From Wildfires:
"My first Black Friday, I was working at a Walmart. I was assigned to be one of the employees that would cut open the plastic on the pallets which contained our merchandise, which were all in the floor. As I readied [a] box cutter, I got shoved by a customer, fell right on it, and sliced my hand open. After getting through that and patching it up, I came out on the floor and promptly got punched in the face when I picked up a DVD on the ground. A customer apparently wanted it.
"F*ck Black Friday."
- 31,219 VOTES
Those Jeans Were Hardly Worth An Arrest Warrant
From a deleted user:
"I worked one Black Friday in the clothes department at Walmart. For like two straight hours before the sale began, people hovered over the pallets. The alarm went off and the swarm just went insane.
"There were two women in particular on opposite sides, tossing clothes back-and-forth to each other. I don't know what their system was because half the stuff they were just catching and tossing aside. But this little teenager (I mean like petite tiny girl) intercepted a pair of jeans being tossed and the women went f*cking insane and elbowed her in the face. Instant blood and the little girl was so shocked she just stood there shaking and crying. The women acted like that was a perfectly reasonable thing to do.
"I pulled her out of the crowd and started to walk her to get her cleaned up when the sheriff appeared out of nowhere. The best part was she was his kid and the women [were] arrested on the spot. [They] had to post bail and pay full price for [the] sh*tty Levi's."
- 41,286 VOTES
One Customer Suffered A Bloody Hit-And-Run
From InfinityKitty:
"I worked at Walmart for four years and worked all Black Fridays. I've seen a woman hit another woman in the chest with those toddler car boxes you drive in. Woman who got hit was a week or two post-op of open-heart surgery. Lots of blood, right in front of me. No idea what happened to the woman who hit her. I do think she got the toy car purchased it and left."
- 51,141 VOTES
That Plasma Was Worth Pooping Over
From Dave_Versus_Volcano:
"I worked for Best Buy for six years. Everyone knows about the lines that you stand in outside. Part of the process is once you get into the store you stand in another line to buy your products. Our manger thought he was particularly smart winding the line through our appliance department. Mind you there [are] usually 1500 plus people in the building at 6 AM (with a line still outside). Well, we get a complaint from one of our patrons.
"After checking the dryers we find a nice turd in one. Good size, solid constancy, just sitting there. A lady who did not want to lose her spot opened the dryer, and shat right there in front of every one. I decided that day even though I may want stuff; I will never sh*t in front of an entire crowd of people for [a] $799 50" plasma TV."
- 61,091 VOTES
Even Old Ladies Weren't Immune To Black Friday Madness
From a deleted user:
"This old lady wanted a cancer pink-ribbon fabric, and the woman she ultimately tackled had called ahead and ordered a bulk amount of it because she works for a cancer organization and makes blankets for cancer patients.
"The woman was wheeling a cart in the store with several large bolts of the fabric in it (which she had special ordered, and we put it in the cart for her so she could continue shopping). Old lady sees that this woman has 'all the bolts' and it isn't right that she's hogging the entire stock of that particular print. The woman explains the situation and that she in fact special ordered these, and that the reason she was coming in on Black Friday to purchase them is because they were a major Black Friday promotion at 60% off.
"The old lady continues to yell at the poor woman. The woman very calmly keeps trying to reassure her that she is not taking any of the store stock and that she makes blankets for dying women with breast cancer. She is a very sweet store regular who pays out-of-pocket for all the blankets, and so my store held the fabric for her until Black Friday, when she would come in and purchase them with her coupon.
"The old lady doesn't give a sh*t, whips out mace, and tackles the woman.
"Old lady gets kicked out of the store. She would come in once every couple of months, give me the stink eye, and then rebelliously write down recipes from the home and food magazines so she wouldn't have to buy them. Then she'd scurry out and come back in a few months."