1. Ethics miscreant 1: Walmart. Nice vetting and training there, Walmart! The store hired a sociopathic hoodlum, didn’t train her in basic customer service practices, and allowed its law-abiding, unsuspecting customers to wander the aisles unaware that they were at the mercy of violent social misfits.
2. Ethics Miscreants 2: The girl’s parents.
Part A: . No wonder she was raised to be confrontational, violent and disrespectful: those are their proclivities as well. I am tempted to jump to conclusions from the fact that her parents have different surnames: 70% of black teens are born to unmarried parents, meaning irresponsible, untrustworthy parents. Would any of this have happened in they had taught their child basic habits of civilized society?
Part B. Gee, where to begin? 1) You don’t attack strangers in a store. 2) You don’t attack seniors in a store. 3) You don’t attack and beat up people because your teen-age daughter tells you to. What kind of culture did these two ooze out of? There is no justification for this. Have they heard of words? Conversation? Civil discussion?
3. Ethics Miscreants 3: The employee, of course. Again a supposition: this seems like an incidence of assumed racism. Two non-blacks reprimanded a black girl, and she had been taught by her parents and encouraged by the Obamas, progressives and Democrats, Ibram X. Kendri, Charles M. Blow, Kamala Harris, the “1619 Project,” Critical Race Theory, her teachers, her church, Hollywood, race-hucksters, black activists and the George Floyd mob to believe that racism and bigotry is pervasive in all American interactions with blacks. You can add all of those participants and more as Ethics Miscreants 4-10,000.
How hard would it have been for the young woman to say to Bert, “I’m sorry, sir. I wasn’t paying attention. Is your wife all right?” Too hard. She was never taught basic manners and social skills; she was raised and socialized to distrust and disrespect non-blacks. Walmart never trained her to remember that the customer is, if not always right, at least to be given the benefit of every doubt and treated professionally and politely. Instead of saying “I’m sorry,” she threw a can.
4. Societal and political double standards. If this had been two white parents attacking an elderly black man for complaining when a young white jerk nearly ran his wife down with a cart, the episode would be a national sensation. Black Lives Matter would be raising funds off of the outrage, then buying mansions with the money. MSNOW and CNN would be blaming President Trump. Walmart would be picketed and boycotted.
5. The news media’s bias. The only major outlets outside of Virginia that I see covering this story are the conservative sourced like the New York Post. The New York Times, the Washngton Post, NPR, and the rest: Why, it’s just a local story! There’s no larger significance whatsoever, not like when a white cop accidentally contributes to the death of black perp resisting arrest while he’s overdosing on fentanyl.
6. The parents’ attorney’s defense theory is absurd, but you know, lawyers. He says his clients were defending their daughter—from words she didn’t like!— and that the alleged assault was not premeditated. Right. The parents just drove to the Walmart after their daughter told her about the incident to meet the Atienzas and invite them to dinner. “They did not go there, intending for any of this to happen. It was an emotional situation. Their daughter called them. She was distraught. They went, as any parent would do, to try to make sure that their daughter was safe and then the situation kind of erupted. It was spontaneous almost,” James Broccoletti said. “We think that the evidence establishes at best an assault because they punched the gentleman, there is some evidence my client may have kicked him, but that’s simple assault, that’s a misdemeanor. There is nothing that goes further than that, that indicates that there was any chance or likelihood or probability that this man would die as a result of this.”
A Larry Vaughn! “May have kicked him”! “I’m pleased and happy to repeat the news that we have, in fact, caught and killed a large predator that supposedly injured some bathers.”—Amity Mayor Larry Vaughn, “Jaws”
I can’t blame the lawyer: he has a hopeless case, and he’ll eventually cut a plea deal. He is obligated to come up with some defense. That one makes no sense, but I can’t think of a better option at this point. He’s doing his job.
Wow, this is what a segment of our society thinks is acceptable behavior?
I wonder what all the race baiters would have done if the man that was attacked had justifiably pulled a legally concealed pistol, shot and killed all the attackers just before he lost consciousness and died, and now everyone directly involved is dead; ironic karma.
Am I wrong to think that there’s at least some civil liability with WalMart, perhaps limited to the single store? Someone has to be responsible for the employee’s behavior besides the employee herself. She probably demonstrated that she isn’t sugar & spice & everything nice while she was in training but WalMart let her loose on unsuspecting customers anyway.
Oh, absolutely. Big law suit for sure.
Jack, you really covered all the bases. Two points:
PS – our two youngest sons share the same name ….. cue the Newhart Show
Third point:
The aggrieved customers should have talked with a manager, as it is his/her job to reprimand and train the employee, not theirs.
I would have done what the dead guy did. After the employee refused to apologize, THEN I would have reported her. It’s ethical to give a teen the change to learn and make amends without getting her fired, no?
Of course.
Every now and then, I am reminded why I never shop at a Walmart. They’re bad for their suppliers, employees, customers, and their communities. Some shoppers just can’t look past the low price tag to ask “how do they accomplish this?”
Jack Marshall wrote (in part) in the original post:
>>Part B. Gee, where to begin? 1) You don’t attack strangers in a store. 2) You don’t
>> attack seniors in a store. 3) You don’t attack and beat up people because your
>>teen-age daughter tells you to. What kind of culture did these two ooze out of?
>>There is no justification for this. Have they heard of words? Conversation? Civil discussion?
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It’s a sad story. One man man dead, another man almost certainly going to prison, a big lawsuit likely–all because of some words exchanged and the actions set in motion by the teen-age employee.
I couldn’t help but think of one of Marc Mac Young’s books, _Beyond the picket fence_, in which he discusses the anthropological difference between “digntiy cultures” and “honor cultures.” One of the favorable reviewers at amazon.com says enough about those two cultures, I won’t repeat it.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1987700880?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback
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The basic reality is that it’s not hard to get yourself hurt or killed by stumbling into an argument with the wrong person. The “honor culture” is more prevalent among lower class Black Americans, and also among Southerners in the US more generally. It’s not the culture I grew up in…but it’s around. Some people carry it around in their heads wherever they go.
The “honor culture” is not limited to lower class Blacks, or to Southerners. In the USA it’s often traced to the “Borderers” from the Scottish border region who came to settle the Appalachians and the Upland South.
Tim Larkin, who has a self-defense presence online, has one video where he analyzes a shooting in a big box parking lot over a parking space. His comment at 08:20 on the video is
“I have a policy where I treat everyone like they are six seconds away from a shooting spree.”
Thanks for reading,
charles w abbott
rochester NY
“Dignity cultures” and “honor cultures” is a useful distinction, and one I had never encountered before.
Point the First:
It’s a useful distinction. While thinking about this incident and what to write in response, the book _The code of the street_ by the sociologist Elijah Anderson kept coming to mind.
One theme (in the book or discussion) was that the “Honor Culture” was more common in the inner cities of the USA. Not everyone in those neighborhoods actually embraced it or considered it sensible or good, but children were schooled by their older relatives to remember that many neighbors oriented themselves by the system.
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Point the Second:
Somewhere, likely in a book by Stephen Pinker, I recall reading the assertion that a substantial percentage of homicides in the USA end up being explained as “altercation of unknown origin.” The general point was that deadly incidents, especially between two men, can emerge from trivial disputes and perceived insults.
“Altercation of unknown origin” may be a residual category after excluding causes such as robbery, domestic fights and romantic jealousies, financial disputes over debts or business deals, etc.
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Point the Third:
In Weberian Sociology, the State seeks to hold a monopoly on the legitimate use of force, removing the 0use of force from aggrieved private parties.
At the extremes, the diagnostic question for which system you live in is this.
Q: When you are robbed in broad daylight, who do you go to for redress? To the police, or to your cousins?
A good (though depressing) read might be the youthful memoir of Yugoslav writer Milovan Djilas who grew up in Montenegro early in the 20th century. _Land without justice_ is the cheery title.
Djilas was imprisoned under the Yugoslav monarchy between the wars, later under Tito after falling out of favor with TIto. A good writer. His best known book in English is probably _The New Class_, which led to his falling out with Tito and was widely published in the West.
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Point the Fourth:
Jack, did you grow up in Massachussetts? Maybe I’m just confused about your upbringing. Massachusetts would be a pinnacle of “Dignity Culture.”
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Point the Fifth:
Extra reading from a 20 year old article in Rochester’s free monthly newspaper, an interview with sociologist John Klofas.
https://www.roccitymag.com/news-opinion/rochester-made-for-murder-2132212/
Thanks for reading!
charles w abbott
rochester NY
Was the daughter still working in the same area the couple were in? Did she lead her parents to the couple? If they went to find the couple, then that would indicate to me that they intended to attack them. They don’t need to find them to know their daughter is safe.
“Some”. The punishment for kicking someone who is on the ground should be higher than kicking someone who is standing. It’s beyond anything I understand that someone would kick a prone person unless they were fighting for survival. Certainly not because of words.
I have some critical notes / questions here?
This goes beyond the crime. The race-baiting, the presumed racism, the sick African American culture and it’s refusal to reject unmarried parenthood, the under-staffing (and incompetent staffing) that is now typical…not all crimes are ethics train wrecks and not all ethics train wrecks are crimes. But this…
But this…is much bigger than a simple trainwreck.
I see many YouTube videos in my feed that deal with the issue of “black fatigue” about dysfunctional behavior by predominantly blacks, with examples of such behavior in restaurants, airplanes (often Spirit Airlines), cruises (Carnival Cruise), street takeovers. Most of the videos I see are from black influencers; many white influencers are still careful to touch this taboo topic except Matt Walsh, Lily Gaddis who have become sufficiently immunized against accusations of racism.
Then there was of course the murder of Iryna Zarutska by a crazy n****r, who is now found to be incompetent to stand trial. This murder triggered a discussion about crime statistics indicating that blacks commit a majority of violent crime while only being 13% of the population.
The first thing we need to do is to name the problem, without respect for all the taboos we have created since the Civil Right Struggle. It is time to get over our fear of being called “racist” as that word has lost all meaning. The black community needs to assume ownership of this problem, which is at heart a spiritual problem.
I would not blame employers who are hesitant to hire people from certain backgrounds. Certain employers of East Asian ancestry do not post job openings, but fill these based on referrals by trusted relations (family, friends, church and ethic community) and that usually works out well as the person who made the referral looses face if the hire does not work out. I do not see this hiring practice as unethical but as wise; until the Civil Rights Act this practice was also fully protected by the freedom of association clause in the First Amendment.
Regarding Walmart’s hiring this person, I’m less inclined to let them off the hook. A post here way back about a bad 911 dispatcher (unfortunately I couldn’t find it again) prompted somebody to comment that you want a certain kind of person in customer service. They need to enjoy working with people, and show an eagerness to help, and that’s not something you can fake in an interview, at least not with a competent interviewer. In all the job interviews I’ve had they’ve asked me about situations I’ve been in and how I’ve handled them, what would I do in this scenario or that scenario. My observation has been with people like the rotten employee and her parents is they don’t even realize they need to check themselves; they take for granted they’re always right and the world just needs to bend to their will. All you have to do is get them talking about themselves and check their social media to see what kind of attitude they have.
We need to break this cycle of uppityness the perceived slights and disproportionate responses – make Billy Clubbing and Fear of The Law – paramount that if this subset of society that is a minority but the majority of criminal convictions cannot function then they need to be forcibly reminded of where the EBT, Snap & Sect 8 comes from.
I am confused by the facts. The man yells at the 17 years old employee, they argue, and she “chucks” a can at the man. She somehow had time to call her patents to tell them about the altercation. They, within minutes, descend on the store, find the man, argue with him, and then proceed to beat him.
1. What did the man say to their daughter? I would bet they shopper is either from Latin American or Philippine descent, based on his name and appearance. Did he call her the word that cannot be spoken? Did he use other racial epithets? Why did what he said to her upset her so badly she needed her parents’ reinforcement?
2. Were the loving, protective, honorable parents already in the store? Why were they so angry? Why did they feel they needed to come to their daughter’s rescue? What was the exchange between these model parents and the shopper? Did the shopper reiterate his “racist/racialist” comments to dear ol’ dad, whereupon Ward Cleaver felt it necessary to pummel the shopper?
3. Where were the other shoppers? Why didn’t they got involved? The video is fairly long, not some simple shove into the vegetable aisle shelf. Was it, “Forget it. I am not getting involved” or “That old guy had it coming to him”?
4. Did Walmart have any idea they hired this cretin? Yeah, they are gonna be liable for negligent hiring, training, and supervision. Their defense will probably be, “you know, we have a strict policy prohibiting employees calling their stupid parents because a shopper says something mean or insulting to employees. This girl clearly broke the rules and violated our policy and has been terminated. We do have a sale on slightly dented soup cans on aisle 4B.”
Truly strange story.
jvb
You’d expect that throwing a can at a customer would be enough of a reason for a complaint to be filed against her and possibly end with her being fired. Even if you aren’t in a specifically “customer service” role, being able to control your temper and not give into impulses is part of any job, especially if you are in a public-facing area.
As for her parents – sheesh, I seen and met some overprotective parents in my time, but to beat someone up over something like this is beyond reason. I hope the whiny daughter feels “better” knowing that she was part of the reason that a person died and her parent (father?) will end up in jail.
Know when to just shake it off and move on, is my experience from many years in the retail space.
“sheesh, I seen and met some overprotective parents in my time, but to beat someone up over something like this is beyond reason.”
This type of behavior is not a rare occurrence in the 77 Square Miles Surrounded By A Sea Of Reality, and the…um…participants are grossly over-represented by one (1) demographic group.
PWS