The AP reports that a man was bitten by a snake inside the garden center at Wal-Mart in Pembroke Pines, FL. The unidentified 42-year-old man was taken to the hospital and received antivenin for the pygmy rattler bite. Fortunately, these bites are rarely fatal. This is not the first time that a pygmy rattler has attacked a Wal-Mart customer.
Man bitten by snake in garden center [AP] (Thanks to Lee!)
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Unusual that someone was poisoned at Wal-Mart, rather than being sucked dry.
Is walmart the new Garden of Eden?
so this is the Eighth time someone has been bitten by a snake at Wal-Mart?
I think we need more posts that truely put Wal-Mart into shame. This could happen at any store with a garden center.
I would like to see consumerist posts with statistics on how much money each state pays each year to cover the medical bills of uninsured Wal-mart employees, or how Wal-Mart routinely neglects to properly secure poisonous fertilizers that find their way into local water supplies, for example…
@Quatre707: Those stories would be informative, sure, but would they be as entertaining?
The bottom line is that sure, it COULD happen at any store with a garden center- but as far as we can tell, its not. Its happening at WalMart… repeatedly.
@Quatre707: “I would like to see consumerist posts with statistics on how much money each state pays each year to cover the medical bills of uninsured Wal-mart employees”
I don’t think the standard web server can handle numbers that large.
wow thats gotta suck…..yeah
Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature in the gardening center. He said to the woman, “Pay for these pansies, but do not show your receipt.” And the woman said to the serpent, “But the Lord Sam told us ‘You shall not exit the gardening center without showing your receipt, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die. For Sam knows that when you hide the receipt your eyes will be opened, and you will think like the ACLU, knowing good and evil.”
So when the woman checked out and passed by the door-checker, the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they had stood up to a great consumer injustice. And then they heard the sound of the Lord Sam, who called out to them: “Who told you about the receipt which I commanded you to show?” The man hung his head in shame, and said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did his bidding.”
The Lord Sam said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all vermin. You shall no longer reproduce, and there will be no more except one puny pygmy rattlesnake in each store.”
To the man he said, “I will greatly multiply your troubles in customer service; you shall not be able to make returns without a receipt, and there shall only be 4 checkouts open at any one time.”
And to the wife he said, “And I curse your family, who shall eat nothing but high-fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils derived from your shopping at my store, and they shall grow old with bloat and illness, and your dog will eat nothing but Ol’ Roy and have an irritable bowel.”
He drove out the man and woman; and at the door of the garden center he placed a security guard to trouble all who attempted this deception.
Wow ! The power that most of you people assign to Wally World borders on the magical.
This happened in FLORIDA. 12 month growing climate,lots of reptiles.I want just one poster to tell me how WalMart (or KMart or Home Depot or whomever) could have prevented this.If it had happened in his back ayrd,would you blame is neighborhood association ? Sheesh.
The fact is , WalMart is a convenient sump for all of the dissatisfied anti -business zealots to vent and impugn.
You don’t have to shop there. Stop whining like you have no choice…
@Snarkysnake: Nobody’s blaming Walmart for this. Nice try, though. Consider it more a warning about visiting store garden centers while in Florida or other areas with similar climates than a specific attack on Walmart.
@Snarkysnake: Well I don’t see why WalMart can’t hire snake charmers to patrol the perimeter of each stores garden center armed with only a wicker basket and that clarinet-thing.
@homerjay: Yea, but if you get rid of the snakes, Indy comes in an steals all the artifacts.
Says more about the quality of Walmart Garden Centres if its attracting wildlife eh?
@timmus: hilarious!
Maybe the guy was trying to steal a ficus and the snake said no way…….
Great Picture
A garden center at pretty much any store is outside with many openings for a snake to go through.
At least he was’nt hit by the low falling prices! Har har har!!
@B: Doesn’t the fact that the story is even on here illustrate the blaming of Wal-Mart for the incident? It’s an unfortunate accident that could have happened anywhere. It’s not however a consumer issue. I mean it’s not like Wal-Mart is breeding rattlesnakes and training them to attack customers.
timmus that was the best thing I have read in months. Does this site have stars or anything?
@dewrock: No, this is clearly the OP’s fault, he should have distracted the snake with his AMEX Gold card that he pays the balance off every month. Then he should have taken the snake with him to the local branch of a regional credit union to open accounts before buying pizza at a hole in the wall which uses old dell catalogs for fuel in the brick oven.
But he didn’t, so he got what he deserved for buying genetically-modified death flowers from walmart (aka why do you shop here mart)
Even though this could have happened anywhere, I see a lawsuit coming.
@dewrock: No, the fact the story is on here illustrates that there was an incident at Wal-Mart of which consumers need to be aware. It’s informative and presents the facts of the incident. If you want to shake your finger at anyone shake it at the AP, the folks who originally published the story.
@homerjay: it’s called a Pungi… and I only know because it’s a not-so-common crossword puzzle answer.
@RetailGuy83: B+ : Next time please try to incorporate “Charegback” in your answer for the A.
Makes me wanna go around stomping anytime I go into any stores garden center, although I should be safe… Being in Maryland and all.
Here in Texas rattlers can show up just about anywhere. I can definitely see a garden center being a favorite place for one to curl up and rest. Someone comes along, shopping, moving things around. You know the rest of the story.
@homerjay: These kind of shenanigans would have never happened had Samuel L. Jackson been on the premises.
While this situation sounds bad, I really can’t fault Wal-Mart in the situation.
Pygmy rattlesnakes are sneaky little creatures, they stay pretty small. (note the name) The rattles on their tail are also very small so instead of the movie ‘rattlesnake’ sound, it is rarely louder than a buzzing insect. Pygmy’s are also pretty sneaky little snakes, they are well camouflaged, and I have on more than one occasion almost stepped on one while walking on a trail, and watching where I am stepping carefully.
@timmus: Coffee…. Out…. My…. Nose.
Awesome photo. And kudos to the person who posted the bible passage, the person with the Indiane Jones ref, and also to KarmaChameleon for making a snakes-on-a-plane reference. Well done, everyone – your work here is complete.
lawsuit time
I was in Wal-Mart last night and James Woods crawled out from underneath a shelf and bit my ankle. MUCH worse than a silly rattlesnake.
@timmus: AWESOME.
@timmus: BRILLIANT!!!!
@timmus: Genius!
I’m not really convinced this is the immediate fault of Walmart, but it sure is one hell (or seven as the case seems to be) of a story.
@dewrock: Try and prove they aren’t doing that! HAHA
@timmus: Best. Comment. Ever.
It should also be pointed out in defense of Wal-Mart that the bitten man was not charged for the snake venom.
@timmus: I spit out my coffee!
And that picture makes me woozy! Not a fan of snakes…..
@Snarkysnake:
Well well well, look who’s come out of the brush to strike unexpectedly at Wal-Mart/snake naysayers. Of course I expected you to be pro-snake, just look at that handle!
@timmus: You have earned your star, my friend.