Wal-Mart

[mrssnoop1]

My dh and I work at Wal-Mart,(basically no other jobs in town). He came home today and said they were talking in the breakroom about how a guy in another store had been pushed and pushed around and couldn't take it any more. He walked out to the parking lot and set himself on fire. He lived for 2 hrs. Has anyone heard about this and where it happened?

[hotwheelstx]

Wal-Mart worker burns self to death in parking lot

A 58-year-old Wal-Mart employee who said he "couldn't take it anymore" lit himself on fire in a parking lot near the Bloomingdale store where he worked late Thursday night and was later pronounced dead at a hospital, authorities said this morning.

In an interview, his son said his father went to work last night with nothing seeming out of the ordinary. "This had nothing to do with the economy. I want to make that clear," he said, adding that the family may never know the reason for the public suicide.

The Carol Stream man, who worked the overnight shift, was in a parking lot of an adjacent sporting goods store in the west suburban strip mall when he set himself on fire with lighter fluid around 10 p.m., said Randy Sater, a watch commander with the Bloomingdale Police Department.

The man set himself afire outside of 328 W. Army Trail Road, and the Wal-Mart is at 314 W. Army Trail Road, in the same mall, Wal-Mart corporate spokesman Dan Fogleman said.

At least 10 people, including some teenagers, witnessed the suicide and several attempted to help the man by throwing their coats on top of him in an effort to put out the flames, he said.

"He said he didn't want any help and threw the coats off," Sater said.

When one of the first officers tried to speak to the man, who by that time was severely burned, he responded, "I just couldn't take it anymore," Sater said, citing the officer's report.

The man "enjoyed his job and living in the 'burbs," his son said. "We were getting ready to redo the front lawn." He added that his father had no health problems.

"You try not to ask yourself the question [why he did it] because there's no answer," the son said.

A store manager, who identified himself only as Erwin, had no explanation for the suicide. he said the man had not been laid off.

Fogelman said the man had worked for Wal-Mart for a little over 7 years, most recently as an overnight stocker. He said he had spoken with a member of the store's management who described him as "a good guy and fun to be around."

He called the suicide "a tragic situation, and our thoughts and prayers are with the friends and family."

Wal-Mart was cooperating with authorities in their investigation, he said, but he declined to "speculate" on whether the man had been in to work last night before the incident or had spoken with any employees.

"That's not something we'd be able to share publicly," Fogleman said, saying those issues are considered personnel matters.

The man was rushed to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove before being transferred to the burn unit at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. He was pronounced dead there at 12:42 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.


http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/02/wal-mart-worker-immolates-self-in-parking-lot.html

[CLARKS4]

Oh how sad.

[keoka3]

Boy that was bad, no job is worth setting yourself on fire.
At a walmart close to me, a cop pushed the guy at the door he was 70, they had it on camera, the cop got 30 days supended without pay.

[hotwheelstx]

Boy that was bad, no job is worth setting yourself on fire.
At a walmart close to me, a cop pushed the guy at the door he was 70, they had it on camera, the cop got 30 days supended without pay.

That's ALL?? Sounds like assault to me. No flaming PLZ but I guess there's to many cops around that do think they're above the law. I've seen/heard things like this happen to many times.....cops get away with it. If it were the other way around anyone else would be in jail, fined, community service. JMO.

[mrssnoop1]

Thank you for the info. This is so horrible.

[BeanieLuvR]

That is really sad. :( Prayers for his family. I can't imagine how they are feeling.

[whatever]

you know you hear stories about how they treat the employees and goverment wants to step in to everything else. So if they do not offer ins. to people who work there and in Iowa I know they have said on the news its alot of walmart employees who use the free clinic (thus using tax dollars) why don't they demand better standards of the big giant? I guess what I don't understand is walmart being such a big store/empire why they have to treat their employees with such low standards in the first place.JMHO

[dv8grl]

Tragic story!!!! Poor guy! :(

[fleabones3]

How sad is that? setting yourself on fire???? I can think of a lot less painful ways to kill yourself that that. and to do it in a parking lot where small kids can see... Its bad enough teenagers and adults had to witness that..

Life isnt easy, especially nowdays with the economy and all, and who knows what was going on in his head, but I have never figured out how killing yourself makes things easier. It doesnt, just makes life that much harder and sadder for the ones you leave behind.

[bonniejeanne]

Walmart treats their employees like garbage because they really don't care about anything other than making money. The longer an employee stays -the worse they treat them. They do their best to try to get that employee to quit so they can hire a new person for cheaper pay. That's why you're always seeing new people at your Walmart. Most of the managers are bullies who call you into the office for every little thing. I was a cashier there for five years. As a cashier, you get treated like garbage by the customers and management team alike while getting paid next to nothing for it. There are certain customers known for making up complaints about anyone who checks them out. Management there never takes their employees word for anything. Cashiers are written up if a customer thinks they looked at them the wrong way. One day the cashiers are told to do things a certain way, and the next they are told something else. We never knew what was what. Everyone is always complaining about coupons. Well, some days we are told one thing and then the next they change it on us. That's why your cashiers never seem to know what's going on. At our store, the cashiers are trained for two days and then thrown on the register to fend for themselves. If certain things do not come up while they are being trained, they have no idea what to do. I was working next to one lady while she checked out her customer. The customer was cursing her out and the cashier was extremely polite to her. The customer then went to management and complained that the cashier was cursing her out. Management called her into the office to talk to her. When I found out about it, I went in and told them what had really happened. Customers know they can say anything they want and management will let them get away with it. The last time they pulled me into the office, it was about something that was totally untrue. I was working the express lane and a customer came up who had more than twenty items. As is custom at our Walmart, we politely ask them if they have twenty items or less. If they stay in our line we take them anyway. Well, when I asked this customer if she had twenty items or less, she replied, "I don't know, I can't count. Do you want to count them for me?" I replied "No, that's ok," and proceeded to check her out. Well, she certainly knew how to count when she counted her cash out to me. Later I got called into the office because she had complained that I was rude and insulted her. That I had yelled at her that she had more than twenty items and demanded she count them. That I was prejudiced against her because she was black. That the customers before her had more than twenty items and I hadn't said anything to them. I told the managers what had actually happened and they wouldn't believe me. I even remarked to them if they'd ever seen who I sat with in the lounge. That most of the time I am the only white person sitting at a table in there with my friends. When I told my friends this they were upset. They even went so far as to look up in the system if the customers before that lady had more than twenty items (and of course they didn't). But the managers wrote me up anyway. When I was typing my response into the computer, one of them leaned over me and told me that I wasn't writing anything about how what I did was wrong. To which I replied "Are you trying to put words in my mouth? I did nothing wrong." Then they told me that I would have to take the next day off (which was Sunday- their busiest day. LOL) and that when I came back to work, I would have to have written a page detailing how I was wrong and how I was going to better myself. So, when it was time for me to go back to work, I called and told them that I quit. I was not going to apologize for something that I didn't do. Then when I went to sign my quitting papers, my store manager was quite ugly to me. I was told by personnel that I needed to call a certain number on the paper to find out something. So a couple of days later, I looked at the paper I'd signed, and saw that my manager had scratched out the "quit" and put "fired" instead. He wouldn't even let me put a reason why I quit. I called personnel immediately and was told that I had indeed quit, it said so in the system. She immediately sent me new papers saying I had quit. Thursday, I went into the store and found out that they have several new managers. And the new guy over the front end is the worse they've ever had. He is calling them into the office constantly. Nobody is allowed to call in sick. So now they have employees going there with the flu and such because they are afraid of losing their jobs. I also found out from many of the cashiers that my customers have been asking for me. LOL. I was one of their fastest cashiers and customers would get in my line even if it was longer cause they knew it would move faster. I even miss some of my regular customers. I really miss my friends there, but I don't miss all the stress and ugliness of the managers. I ran into one of my customers while I was eating out one day and he asked where I'd been; that he'd been looking for me but could never find me. He was rather upset to find out that I'd quit. It made me feel good to know I was appreciated. My CSMs were especially upset because they knew I was one of the best. I was always on time and hardly ever called in. I think I may have missed six days of work in five years. I was one of the few they knew they could count on. They even told me they would give me a reference wherever I applied for a new job.

Well, excuse the rant, but I needed to vent. Walmart is just a horrible place to work and I wouldn't recommend anyone to work there.

[stresseater]

Gee glad our walmart isn't like your.

[mabby89]

Walmart treats their employees like garbage because they really don't care about anything other than making money. The longer an employee stays -the worse they treat them. They do their best to try to get that employee to quit so they can hire a new person for cheaper pay. That's why you're always seeing new people at your Walmart. Most of the managers are bullies who call you into the office for every little thing. I was a cashier there for five years. As a cashier, you get treated like garbage by the customers and management team alike while getting paid next to nothing for it. There are certain customers known for making up complaints about anyone who checks them out. Management there never takes their employees word for anything. Cashiers are written up if a customer thinks they looked at them the wrong way. One day the cashiers are told to do things a certain way, and the next they are told something else. We never knew what was what. Everyone is always complaining about coupons. Well, some days we are told one thing and then the next they change it on us. That's why your cashiers never seem to know what's going on. At our store, the cashiers are trained for two days and then thrown on the register to fend for themselves. If certain things do not come up while they are being trained, they have no idea what to do. I was working next to one lady while she checked out her customer. The customer was cursing her out and the cashier was extremely polite to her. The customer then went to management and complained that the cashier was cursing her out. Management called her into the office to talk to her. When I found out about it, I went in and told them what had really happened. Customers know they can say anything they want and management will let them get away with it. The last time they pulled me into the office, it was about something that was totally untrue. I was working the express lane and a customer came up who had more than twenty items. As is custom at our Walmart, we politely ask them if they have twenty items or less. If they stay in our line we take them anyway. Well, when I asked this customer if she had twenty items or less, she replied, "I don't know, I can't count. Do you want to count them for me?" I replied "No, that's ok," and proceeded to check her out. Well, she certainly knew how to count when she counted her cash out to me. Later I got called into the office because she had complained that I was rude and insulted her. That I had yelled at her that she had more than twenty items and demanded she count them. That I was prejudiced against her because she was black. That the customers before her had more than twenty items and I hadn't said anything to them. I told the managers what had actually happened and they wouldn't believe me. I even remarked to them if they'd ever seen who I sat with in the lounge. That most of the time I am the only white person sitting at a table in there with my friends. When I told my friends this they were upset. They even went so far as to look up in the system if the customers before that lady had more than twenty items (and of course they didn't). But the managers wrote me up anyway. When I was typing my response into the computer, one of them leaned over me and told me that I wasn't writing anything about how what I did was wrong. To which I replied "Are you trying to put words in my mouth? I did nothing wrong." Then they told me that I would have to take the next day off (which was Sunday- their busiest day. LOL) and that when I came back to work, I would have to have written a page detailing how I was wrong and how I was going to better myself. So, when it was time for me to go back to work, I called and told them that I quit. I was not going to apologize for something that I didn't do. Then when I went to sign my quitting papers, my store manager was quite ugly to me. I was told by personnel that I needed to call a certain number on the paper to find out something. So a couple of days later, I looked at the paper I'd signed, and saw that my manager had scratched out the "quit" and put "fired" instead. He wouldn't even let me put a reason why I quit. I called personnel immediately and was told that I had indeed quit, it said so in the system. She immediately sent me new papers saying I had quit. Thursday, I went into the store and found out that they have several new managers. And the new guy over the front end is the worse they've ever had. He is calling them into the office constantly. Nobody is allowed to call in sick. So now they have employees going there with the flu and such because they are afraid of losing their jobs. I also found out from many of the cashiers that my customers have been asking for me. LOL. I was one of their fastest cashiers and customers would get in my line even if it was longer cause they knew it would move faster. I even miss some of my regular customers. I really miss my friends there, but I don't miss all the stress and ugliness of the managers. I ran into one of my customers while I was eating out one day and he asked where I'd been; that he'd been looking for me but could never find me. He was rather upset to find out that I'd quit. It made me feel good to know I was appreciated. My CSMs were especially upset because they knew I was one of the best. I was always on time and hardly ever called in. I think I may have missed six days of work in five years. I was one of the few they knew they could count on. They even told me they would give me a reference wherever I applied for a new job.

Well, excuse the rant, but I needed to vent. Walmart is just a horrible place to work and I wouldn't recommend anyone to work there.

Wow what a bad WM. I am an employee at my local WM, but it is NOTHING like that. I absolutely love the store I work at and get along really well with most everyone there. It sounds like corporate needs to do something there.

[meltodd69]

It sounds like you did better yourself bonniejeanne. You quit WTG! LOL

[fairydana]

Lord have mercy! Why on earth would that poor man set himself on fire to commit suicide. I can think of quite a few less painful ways to go than that. Bless his heart. I feel so sad for his family and loved ones.

I too am an employee at walmart and I love it most days! Its work and I get paid well to do what I do. I do have benefits.

I am sorry to those of you who dont get treated well at your store.

[galeane29]

I've worked at Walmart two different times two different locations. HATED the first one. I worked there a year and went on maternity leave before my daughter was born and never went back. The second time was great but it was just a part time job while we were setting up the store to be opened.

[sea-shell]

I think he had more problems than I couldn't take it anymore