Megawatt, the spare Megan, Zack B., and Stev decided that they wanted to brave the masses and hit the midnight sales down in Portland in order to take advantage of the lower prices at the stores in the Maine Mall. Just thinking about all those people makes me want to vomit, let alone having to keep my eyes open in the middle of the night. I am just not a die-hard shopper. Never have been, never will be. Not around the holidays anyhow. This is my least favourite time to shop.
Imagine my surprise, just as I'm about to drift off into a deep sleep as the 11PM news is blaring in the background, to see Megawatt stroll across the screen! She and the others were standing outside the entrance to the mall, waiting for the doors to open whilst the news crew from the local CBS affiliate (they had the video up on the site, but it's since been updated with another from later in the day. If I can find it I'll post it.), talked about how hundreds of people were braving the fridgid temps and waiting for all of the early bird specials. And who would have imagined that less than 45 minutes later, once I'd drifted off into a deep slumber, that the phone would ring and my hysterical daughter would be in fits of sobs and tears on the other end, vowing never to go to the mall again?
From what I could make out during my initial bleery-eyed conversation with her was that once the doors opened it was literally a stampede. People were pushing and shoving and doing anything they could to make sure they were the first ones to get whatever deals they could. In the course of all this pushing and shoving, Megawatt got a small table shoved into her hip and is now sporting a bruise from the top of her hip all the way down her thigh, the spare Megan has spent the day in the hospital after her shoulder was dislocated, Stev fell down after being pushed by a mob of teenage boys and then her ankle was stepped on by someone running past and it looks like she might have torn some ligaments, and then Zack ended up being pushed down on top of someone already on the ground whose leg had been crushed (literally)by a couple of people who had steamrolled her.
From what Megawatt told me, when the four kids left only a short while after all of this happened, there were already three ambulances waiting outside.
This is just incredulous to me. How can people act like such neanderthals and have so little concern for their fellow human beings? I know times are tough, but if things are so bad that you have to practically kill someone in an over-zealous attempt to save a few dollars, then do you really need to be out spending money in the first place? I've heard stories in the past of women coming to blows over the last TMX Elmo or whatever hot toy of the season, in an attempt to bag the prize and get it home. Asinine! But this is just insanity! People being crushed and bruised and bloodied all in the name of holiday sales?
I phoned the local NBC and ABC affiliates to ask if their crews had captured any of this and if so, why wasn't it on the news? I was told very politely that although they'd heard of an ambulance or two being called to the mall,the big news of the day was going to be how well retailers did and if it was going to be enough to "boost the morale of the local economy." I was actually shocked into silence and hung up because I couldn't fathom saying anything else in response unless it contained a string of expletives.
It's deeply upsetting to me that the the almighty dollar is more important than consideration for the people who very well could be the ones signing your paychecks, patronizing your business or even live next door to you. This is yet another pathetic example of how unfailingly ugly people can be.
