Wal-Mart employees kept inside store after bomb scare

[Andrew]

[CNF2002]

I don't see the problem.

There was a report, the manager asked employees to search for suspicious objects, the police never told the employees to leave... there was no bomb... everyone went back to work. How is it different from asking employees to shift pallets of filled propane cylinders or lead-acid batteries? I'll tell you how: looking under the racks in the women's underwear section for a bomb that isn't there is a heck of a lot safer.

Well for one, they'd be using forklifts and they wouldn't let the cashier who hasn't been trained on the forklift go start it up and ride around!

No one knew that there wasn't a bomb...Walmart is lucky there wasn't. Some dumb cashier probably would have found it, picked it up, and shook it or something trying to figure out if it was the bomb or not Bombs rattle, right?

Coulda been in an ordinary looking retail box. Some salesguy picks it up to look behind it on the shelf, and kablam!

Really, they should have announced the bomb threat on the intercom and asked the customers to lend a hand, too. First customer to find the bomb gets 10% off their next purchase of $100 or more. Any customer blasted gets $10 of free Hallmark sympathy cards (restrictions apply, customer is responsible for tax).

The real problem is these people don't read their employment contracts. At the bottom under "Duties" in fine print it obviously lists:

"Temporary act as deputy bomb squad technician in store-wide search for explosive devices and/or materials."

Its obviously right under:

"By signing this contract you waive all rights to sue Walmart if any injury were to come to you during the normal workday, including being blasted by bombs when asked to become an explosive expert, being burned when asked to act as voluntary fire fighters, or acting police when a robbery occures. You are required to throw your body in front of any manager should a bullet endanger them. Welcome to Walmart, during the time you were reading this your pay has been cut by 5%."

[dieziege]

First, you've failed to adapt to the modern abuses of the English language... "Bomb" now includes plastic soda bottles that have been shaken vigorously or contain baking soda and vinegar.

Second, if the police had thought there was a credible excuse they would've cleared the place and brought in people from 50 area departments to do the whole "bomb scare" drill... they love that because it amounts to training funded under the operational budget... and larger operational budgets in years to come.

Third, I'm pretty sure wal-mart employees are given basic loss prevention training which includes recognizing out-of-place packaging material and the like... which is what they were asked to do. They were given on-site training by the LEOs directing the search which included not disturbing whatever suspicious objects may have been found.

No laws, labor standards, moral principles, or employee rights were violated.

You're emoting and trying to build a non-issue into some major event. The reality is that if the police wanted the building cleared it would've been cleared. If the police had thought there was any credibility to the "scare" they would've cleared the area. As it was, they were doing the "due diligence though we know it's dumb" dance and the best resolution for everyone was to search the building with all available hands and re-open the store to paying customers as quickly as possible.

Employees are not customers. They are not uninvolved innocents... they are routinely expected to do jobs, such as cleaning toilets, lifting heavy loads, climbing ladders, changing light bulbs, and so on, that are risky in comparison to anything a customer is expected to do. Cleaning a toilet can result in contracting a disease. Lifting a heavy item can result in back injuries or even collapsed lungs and other life-threatening conditions. Climbing ladders can result in falls. Changing light bulbs can result in burns. Customers are usually expressly asked not to perform such tasks in stores because the stores do not want customers injured. Employees are asked to do those tasks. Employees are also expected to service equipment (e.g. large industrial trash compactors) and do other dangerous jobs. That is why they are paid... because they are expected to do things customers cannot or should not do.

[CNF2002]

I never worked at Walmart. I did work at Target.

I worked in every department, and was trained in every section. None of it involved recognizing and dealing with explosives.

In that situation, you clear everyone out and send in professionals.

Yes, the employees ARE innocent. Their job is not to locate bombs. In emergency situations, unless they are specifically trained to handle that situation, their 'job' is to clear out and let someone who knows what they are doing handle it.

They are 'paid' to do their job, some which might dangerous - cleaning toilets, operating trash compactors - but unless Walmart is now selling or stocking bombs, identifying and dealing with them isn't part of their job and they aren't paid for it.

I don't know anyone who would go looking for bombs for $5/hr

[dieziege]

Wal-mart stocks far more dangerous items than Target. Firearms, ammunition, a broader range of fuels and chemicals...their employees are of a higher standard than Target's.

And that's sayin' something!

As for training... as I said, they were trained on the spot by uniformed professionals.

You don't "clear everyone out"... LEOs have procedures for dealing with these types of threats... and those procedures include using available information and resources on site. LEOs aren't familiar with every part of the store... don't know where the bathrooms and back stairs are... If the LEOs didn't clear the employees out it is because they wanted the help and felt the risk was acceptable.

Who are you to, from a thousand miles away, say that those officers were wrong?

[CNF2002]

Wal-mart stocks far more dangerous items than Target. Firearms, ammunition, a broader range of fuels and chemicals...their employees are of a higher standard than Target's.

Have you ever been to Walmart? Besides that most of them are just a tad cleaner than my local dump, most of the employees couldnt count to 3 without the buttons clearly labelled on the register. Their 'job skills' are right alongside McDonalds employees. A good fit since now McDonalds are in Walmarts.

We must be paying the Bomb Squad too much if you can on-spot train a Walmart employee in 10 minutes how to identify and handle a bomb.

I don't think the right decision was made here. If it was a manager who volunteered to escort police around to show them the little areas of the building while the cops searched for bombs, thats one thing. But thats not what happened, all the employees were forced to stay and participate and many of them considered the whole thing traumatic. That doesn't sound like they were happily helping police with the situation.

Who are you to, from a thousand miles away, say that those officers were wrong?

I'm some guy on the Internet, thats who!

[dieziege]

I've been to Walmarts and Targets... Targets are cleaner but Target employees are a vacant bunch. Walmart couldn't afford to have your typical Target employee dealing with firearms or the like....

From what I've been able to tell, the police wanted people to help. The store employees weren't just told "go, find bombs, and don't set them off"...they had LEOs with them. It wasn't "all the employees"... it was about 40. They weren't forced... they were asked. Again, you seem to be letting your emotions rule your opinions... the facts don't support your level of outrage.

As for the other stuff...

I have a friend who lives in an apartment. A week or so ago another unit in the building had a fire...the tenant who caused it had paperwork piled up next to the water heater and the papers caught fire... now my friend is saying he thinks he has PTS because he's having flashbacks to the fire and the fact that when the alarm went off he just sat there for 10 minutes waiting for it to shut off... then finally put on socks and shoes and wandered out to see what the fuss was about.

People claiming PTS don't impress me...

The fact is that people think they can score anti-walmart points with this story so they are using it to manipulate people like you, and the employees, to serve their own ends. Those ends don't serve the employees, don't serve the communities, don't serve ANYBODY but a few Target Fanboys who want nothing more than to see walmart die.

[CNF2002]

Well the article doesn't manipulate my opinion of Walmart. Its not the same. It could have been an article about Walmart giving all its employees fuzzy baby bunnies for Easter and I still wouldn't like Walmart