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I'm shoppin' till I'm droppin' today

I want some

By panda | Fri, 11/28/2008 - 10:45am

I want some webkinz- heard they'd be cheaper today.

Haveta fill a prescription...

By FlyingToaster | Fri, 11/28/2008 - 12:01pm

... so I have to go to CVS. And Stop&Shop (hubby's out of cereal). But not to anything resembling a mall or shopping district, thanks anyway.

Good question, molly

By independentminded (not verified) | Fri, 11/28/2008 - 7:03pm

As horrific as this incident was, it's not surprising. The recent incident at WalMart is by no means the first incident of this nature that has taken place. If the stampedes that occurred in various areas throughout the country over the Cabbage Patch dolls in the early to mid 1980's, where there were brawls, and one person even ended up with a broken leg, plus the stampede that took place in Cleveland some years ago by a crowd waiting to get into a Who concert, due to the fact that only one of the eleven gates to the arena where the concert was held was to take place, resulting in the death of at least one person, or possibly more, for example, are any indication, this is yet an indication of how people can and often enough do behave when they can't get enough of something they want soon enough. It's bestial behaviour, and it reveals a facet of human nature that's extremely primitive, greedy and vicious, not to mention calloused, on the face of it. Behaving in such a bestial manner over things, whether it be a concert, merchandise, or whatever is inexcusable, but I do think that, in the case of the concert, the city was responsible for this too, for failing to open all the gates to the arena so that people could enter from all sides, without suffocating others,
the way they should've done. Our dog-eat-dog consumerist culture brings out the very worst in human nature.

Wait, now you're just messing with us!

By eeka | Fri, 11/28/2008 - 7:44pm

Our dog-eat-dog consumerist culture brings out the very worst in human nature.

I thought it brought out rats...?

LOL!!

By independentminded (not verified) | Fri, 11/28/2008 - 8:16pm

n/m

If these stores are going to

By ShadyMilkMan | Fri, 11/28/2008 - 6:34pm

If these stores are going to open early in the morning and create a scenario where people are going to be fighting each other to get items they should be held responsible when someone gets hurt. I had to go with someone to Best Buy last year and they seemed to have it under control, even though they had some great deals. They had a detail officer ready at the door, some of their "yellow shirts" walking around and people were told to stand in a straight line, and someone would come out and give updates. Then two hours before the store opened they came out and handed out tickets, forst come first served. I got the impression that if any of us even thought of rushing the door they wouldnt think twice about calling in the swat team lol. There was no reason to rush the store because all the really great stuff was represented in the tickets.

I agree, ShadyMilkMan.

By independentminded (not verified) | Fri, 11/28/2008 - 7:00pm

I also fault the managers of that Wal-Mart store for not having prevented this needless fiasco with its resulting death before it even started. Maybe a SWAT team
should've been brought in for that purpose! This dog-eat-dog aspect of our consumerist culture often brings out the very worst in human nature, but this was certainly taken to an extreme. The fact that Best Buy handled it differently, thus preventing this kind of horrific occurrence is admirable...something that could be learned from, if one gets the drift.

Microcenter Last Weekend

By SwirlyGrrl | Fri, 11/28/2008 - 8:47pm

I wanted to go to Microcenter last weekend, but there was this huge line and an enormous number of cars in the parking lot, making it difficult to even get to Trader Joes as planned.

We did find a spot by staking out a cart-weilding shopper from TJs, and proceeded to check out the scene at Microcenter.

There were cops stationed all along the line. Per fire marshall orders, they could not let more than a certain number in at a time. Everything was orderly and well explained. I didn't have time to wait in line as I didn't care about the "presale" that was going on, but there didn't seem to be any misunderstandings, frenzy, or disorder at all.

I'll admit: I like to make annoyed noises when I'm heading back to Boston on a plane and there is a huge "make your own line" funnel rush at the first announcement (insert amusing anecdote about non-stop from Seattle and gate agents refusing to open the doors until everybody made a proper line in the proper order), but for pushing and shoving and not getting out of the way for anything, New Yorkers are even worse.

It also helps that Ive found

By ShadyMilkMan | Fri, 11/28/2008 - 11:12pm

It also helps that Ive found Microcenter shoppers to be a little less chaotic then Walmart customers lol. I really like microcenter, they are another company that gets it right. It actually used to be much better, when you could buy a usb cable for 2.50 but they still have the best prices and most informed staff in town, although their prices are sometimes weirdly high in some areas while still below average in others.

Bread made from chickpea flour, already prepared.

By the zak | Sun, 11/30/2008 - 11:11am

Where around the Cambridge area are there any bakeries, restaurants, eateries, grocers, or what mail order shops are there for bread made from chickpea flour already prepared?...

I know you're not big on googling, but...

By eeka | Sun, 11/30/2008 - 12:47pm

...in case you do decide to exercise some self-help skills in locating this, it might help to know that gram flour is called besan in Hindi, and it's commonly make into pakoras (not really a bread, but tasty), papadums (more like a cracker/dense flatbread), and parathas (a bread). If you look on google or Yelp, you might have more luck looking for parathas.

http://1smootshort.blogspot.com

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