Holiday Madness 2

Posted on December 5, 2003 in Consuming Scoundrels

As noted by a commentator on my Holiday Madness article, the word is that the woman who was trampled in a mad rush to purchase a $29 DVD Player has a history of claims against the company and other places where she has worked and shopped:

An investigation by WKMG-Local 6 reveals Vanlester has filed 16 previous claims of injuries at Wal-Mart stores and other places she has shopped or worked, according to Wal-Mart, court files and state records. Her sister, who accompanied her Friday on the visit to Wal-Mart, has also filed a prior injury claim against Wal-Mart, with Vanlester as her witness, a company spokeswoman said yesterday.


Asked whether Vanlester’s frequent injury claims might cast doubt on the veracity of her latest allegation, her attorney, David L. Sweat, of Port Orange, said, “No comment.” He did stress, though, that Vanlester “has not filed a claim nor have we decided to file one” related to last week’s incident.

While I point out that the findings of any journalist in this day and age are suspect (this could be Walmart spin), I must add that if the allegations are true, I must side with Walmart on any issues stemming from the trampling. A woman who throws herself before a herd out to buy a $29 DVD player may be mentally unwell. The videotape, the testimony of eyewitnesses, and the court documents discovered by WKMG-Local 6 should all be considered by a court if the claim is made. WKMG-Local 6 should also come forward with information as to how they were tipped off about this woman.

Even if this particular incident proves contrived, I stand by my other criticisms of Walmart, which include their poor treatment of their employees, the pressure they put on manufacturers to export jobs out of the United States, and the very fact that they have been using items such as $29 DVD players to flood the competition out of the market. Walmart acts immorally and possibly illegally in many ways. I do not support fraud as a means of battling a greed-driven conglomerate; I stand by my pledge, however, not to shop there for these other reasons.