AfricaBrass Posted December 1, 2003 Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 I heard she's getting a flat panel display TV and a copy of the movie Flatliners to go with her new DVD player (which is now on hold at WalMart). (I do know I will burn for this. ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted December 1, 2003 Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 (edited) WHOAH! Remind me not to make any sudden movements around you! I hope you know my tongue was FIRMLY in my cheek, ... Edited December 1, 2003 by JSngry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz Posted December 1, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 yeah sorry. mine was a joke too. I should have included this smilie face: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz Posted December 1, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 A.B. - I'm sure she was really....FLATtered by their offer.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AfricaBrass Posted December 1, 2003 Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 A.B. - I'm sure she was really....FLATtered by their offer.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted December 1, 2003 Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 I wondered about that myself, but I thought maybe there were legal reasons. As in, maybe that could be seen as some sort of admission of liability. At any rate, the offer to hold a dvd player for her is a slap in the face. I don't think it would amount to an admission of liability. Having worked in retail for nearly six years (much of that time at a supervisory level or higher), I know a thing or two about this sort of thing. I know that Walmart cannot say that they are "sorry" without admitting liability (that was the first thing I learned about retail management...no matter what happens, never say "I'm sorry"). But they could certainly give her a DVD player (or even a gift card in the amount of the DVD player, if it's a matter of not screwing up inventory) as a gesture of sympathy. It would be viewed as "good customer service" not "admitting that they were at fault." If anything, the offer to hold the item in question just makes them look insensitive. Kinda like that Starbucks in NY that tried to charge the 9/11 emergency workers for all the bottled water they used... Incidentally, I am blessedly OUT of retail this holiday season. And I'll never go back, either! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz Posted December 1, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 I wondered about that myself, but I thought maybe there were legal reasons. As in, maybe that could be seen as some sort of admission of liability. At any rate, the offer to hold a dvd player for her is a slap in the face. I don't think it would amount to an admission of liability. Having worked in retail for nearly six years (much of that time at a supervisory level or higher), I know a thing or two about this sort of thing. I know that Walmart cannot say that they are "sorry" without admitting liability (that was the first thing I learned about retail management...no matter what happens, never say "I'm sorry"). But they could certainly give her a DVD player (or even a gift card in the amount of the DVD player, if it's a matter of not screwing up inventory) as a gesture of sympathy. It would be viewed as "good customer service" not "admitting that they were at fault." If anything, the offer to hold the item in question just makes them look insensitive. Kinda like that Starbucks in NY that tried to charge the 9/11 emergency workers for all the bottled water they used... Incidentally, I am blessedly OUT of retail this holiday season. And I'll never go back, either! I don't know if you would know this, but if she did accept a free dvd player, could that possibly be seen later as a settlement? I've always heard advice along the lines of don't take anything offered to you in a situation like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmitry Posted December 1, 2003 Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 I take it none of you stood in the food lines in the Soviet Union of the late 80s... They would eat you alive [in some places literally so]. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz Posted December 1, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 I take it none of you stood in the food lines in the Soviet Union of the late 80s... They would eat you alive [in some places literally so]. I can honestly say I never have. It sounds like something that needs to be experienced to be understood. Jsngry, I tried to send you a PM apology for that comment, but your box is full: Sorry about that comment. It wasn't a shot, I was just trying to play along as I thought your joke was pretty funny. I tend to fumble over net communication, treating it like I would a regular conversation. Anyways, hope there's no hard feelings! Anywho, I really really need to get studyin, so I'm gonna log off. If I don't I could end up spending my whole evening here!! Jazzy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted December 1, 2003 Report Share Posted December 1, 2003 No problem whatsoever, Jazz, I just wanted to make sure that you knew I was kidding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted December 5, 2003 Report Share Posted December 5, 2003 (edited) GUESS WHAT!!!!!!! source 'Trampled' Wal-Mart Shopper Has History Of Injury Claims Report: Woman Has Filed 16 Previous Claims, 9 At Wal-Mart Stores Tony Pipitone, WKMG-Local 6 News POSTED: 5:25 p.m. EST December 4, 2003 UPDATED: 10:49 a.m. EST December 5, 2003 ORANGE CITY, Fla. -- A woman reported "trampled" last Friday by Wal-Mart shoppers desperate for $29.87 DVD players has a long history of claiming injuries from Wal-Marts and other businesses where she worked or shopped. 'Trampled' Wal-Mart Shopper Has History Of Injury Claims  Patricia Vanlester, 41, was knocked unconscious and, her sister said, "trampled by a herd of elephants" by a stampede of shoppers reaching for DVD players that went on sale at 6 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving, according to Orange City police and the sister, Linda Ellzey. The story was picked up by the Associated Press and carried in newspapers and other media as far away as Australia and China, an example -- some commentators have opined -- of American excess during the holiday shopping season. 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. Wal-Mart is reviewing store videotapes "as we look into the claim," spokeswoman Karen Burk said from the massive retailer's Bentonville, Ark., headquarters. "We will investigate this claim as thoroughly as we have the other 10 claims that this customer and her sister have brought against our stores in the past." Vanlester, who worked at Wal-Marts in Mt. Dora and Orange City in 1996 and 1997, declined comment through her mother, Barbara Rastellini, with whom she owns a home here. Vanlester spent at least two days in Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach last weekend and today was back in the hospital "having a procedure done," Sweat said. He did not know if the procedure was related to the Wal-Mart incident. Vanlester has for years complained of head, back, neck, leg or arm pain caused by slipping and falling, objects falling on her and other accidents, according to medical records in a public court file examined by WKMG-Local 6. In fact, her sister says she was wearing a neck brace at the time of last Friday's incident because of injuries from a years-old car accident. According to state worker's compensation records and court files at the Volusia County courthouse in DeLand, here's some of what Vanlester has claimed over the years under some of her various legal last names: Rastellini, Findley, Crabtree, Platt and Vanlester. In 1978 and 1982, more than $400 in worker's compensation was paid after she claimed injuries from being struck by a falling object and from slipping and falling while working as a machine operator at a now-defunct manufacturing plant in DeLand. In 1984, she claimed a back sprain from working at a restaurant in Winter Haven, producing $356 in worker's compensation. In 1987, she filed an injury claim against Deltona Lanes, a Volusia County bowling alley, after claiming she slipped and fell while bowling there. In a 1993 sworn deposition in another case, Vanlester testified she received a cash settlement from the bowling alley claim, but did not recall the amount. In 1989, after her car ran off Interstate 4 in Volusia and overturned, she filed a claim against Big T Tire and Wheel Service, of Orange City, claiming the crash was caused by a tire blowout. She testified she received a cash settlement in that case, as well. In 1991, she claimed to have slipped on a puddle of hand lotion while shopping for a curling iron at an Orange City Walgreen's, causing "permanent injury, disability, disfigurement (and) mental anguish." She filed suit in 1993, but it was thrown out in January 1994 after a 10-minute hearing. Walgreen's argued no one at the store had seen any liquid on the floor, so it could not be liable for failing to clean it up. In 1995, Vanlester reported slipping and falling on liquid or grease while working in the meat department of a Eustis Publix, resulting in more than $1,200 in worker's compensation. In 1996, she claimed to have slipped and fallen while working at the layaway desk of a Mt. Dora Wal-Mart, leading to more than $600 in worker's compensation payments. In 1997, she claimed a back strain while working at the snack bar of an Orange City Wal-Mart that was replaced by the Wal-Mart Superstore where she claims to have been trampled last Friday. Burk, the Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said she could not reveal exactly how much Wal-Mart has paid in medical expenses and direct payments to Vanlester as a result of her nine claims, but said the total was in the "thousands." Nor could she provide details on the injury claim Wal-Mart received from her sister, Ellzey, 48, of Inglis, Fla., except to say Vanlester was listed as a witness to the injury. Ellzey said in an earlier interview that Wal-Mart should have foreseen the danger of unleashing shoppers on a huge bargain at 6 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving. "For several years, every time they do this, people get trampled," she said last week, adding, "I'm panicked. I'm afraid to go into any stores, especially Wal-Mart." This week, Ellzey has not returned repeated calls seeking comment. But her widely-reported characterization of the incident last Friday as a trampling by a "herd of elephants" has provoked much comment around the world. Syndicated columnist George Will used it to bemoan the death of Puritanism at the hand of Christmas excess, calling department stores "cathedrals of consumption." A Portland, Ore., Web site carried the story under the headline, "Capitalism's Greatest Hits." Edited December 5, 2003 by Rooster_Ties Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AfricaBrass Posted December 5, 2003 Report Share Posted December 5, 2003 Maybe she's just not very surefooted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted December 5, 2003 Report Share Posted December 5, 2003 "We will investigate this claim as thoroughly as we have the other 10 claims that this customer and her sister have brought against our stores in the past." No doubt... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted December 5, 2003 Report Share Posted December 5, 2003 Ha! So this isn't the first time! I know at least one person like this....she's reformed....her familys reformed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz Posted December 5, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2003 Hmm, maybe this is an example of crying wolf one too many times? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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