Saturday, April 22, 2006

Wal-Mart gives woman heart attack

The letters section of this week's Voice is the most ironic in months. First state Senator Elaine Alquist claims that her bill to exempt manufacturers from state sales tax is in fact not a bill to exempt them from state sales tax. Then a woman forcefully argues that because she has a job, her son is incapable of biking or walking to school.

But by far my favorite is the last letter, in which a woman thanks the employees of the Mountain View Wal-Mart (her "favorite store on earth") for the actions of its employees during a heart attack she suffered last month. The employees called 911, asked her if she was okay, and then proceeded to sell her groceries while she was doubled over in pain.

Having never had a heart attack, I can't say this with any authority, but it seems that you may want to delay any purchasing decisions you can until after you've recovered, regardless of any great low prices you may have found. Given the tone of this leter, financial considerations did not seem to be a problem for this woman, but I imagine enough Wal-Mart has enough uninsured people among its millions customers that at least some of them may have to cut back the chotchkies they buy in order to cover the cost of an extended hospital visit.

4 comments:

Kathy Schrenk said...

"The importance of treating our youth with the respect they deserve begins by allowing them to park their cars on the public street by the school they attend."

WTF?!?

Kathy Schrenk said...

OK, that Wal-Mart letter has to be made up. They rung up her purchases while she was in the middle of a heart attack (supposedly)?!?

Anonymous said...

Ha! Anyone who's ever been to Costco knows that people there regularly shop wheeling their medical drip-stands along with them as they buy bottles of mayo that could do up enough BLTs for the Titanic. Jars they will never finish, that will be toxic botulytic dumps before they could finish them.

At least the Helpful RoboStaff took time out to bell 911. Lucky shopper.

ps. I can't bring myself to cross the threshold of WalMart, but assume it is costco-esque -- souless, filled with rampaging shoppers who run down the confused and uninitiated who don't know where the boxes of 500 hotdogs dwell.

Kathy Schrenk said...

Apparently Costco actually treats its employees pretty well. There was a NYT article about it a while back. I'd post it here, but I'd have to pay $3.50 or something to access it...