I am more surprised the couple did anything!

What does this have to do with consumerism?

Glasscock? [www.bootsandsabers.com]

This is just sad. But, I am not surprised that this would happen either.

@jcostantino: Quick, dude. You're going to be late for algebra!

Alright, I laughed too.

Next week:

Family of woman who died at Walmart sues for $10 million.

It'd be more newsworthy if she died IN the store, say in the bathroom or a booth at the Subway in the store.

If she parked way out near the RV's, no one would have found her until she started stinking worse than the customers.

eh, better than being beaten to death, stripped naked, then left in a mcdonald's parking lot in an SUV and going undiscovered for 3+ days:

[www.nbc13.com]

This does not shock me at all.

A few years back, my boyfriend's brother went to a 24 hour walmart and walked out to find that his car was gone.

Only a few months later, a walmart employee called saying, "your car has been parked in our parking lot for months now. can somebody come pick it up or we will have it towed."

Turns out, his brother was really drunk when he went to walmart.

Always keep in mind that Walmart security cameras are in place for the security of the goods and store not the safety of the patrons. I remember that there was a story about Walmart dragging their feet in releasing tapes of a woman's abduction to the police.

@HiPwr: It does say something about the alerteness and security at walmart that a car could be left, with a person in it, for two days

I guess the only consumerist issue is that Walmart security didn't find her earlier than that. But with shifts changing, it's possible that the same person didn't see her twice in the car.

@HiPwr: Obviously Wal-Mart killed this woman. Revolt!

Here in AZ they wouldn't have noticed the smell over all the dirty diapers left in the carts and all over the parking lot.

@HiPwr: In a very general way it speaks to a side effect of our consumerist culture and how a 24 hour store affects our lives in unanticipated ways.

@BuddyGuyMontag: I also posted it because it provides an interesting, alternate-angle view of what it means to live as a consumer in the modern world. You can die in plain sight in a busy part of a town--in the parking lot of a superstore--and not be noticed for two days. Not because people are heartless or because Walmart sucks. Just because that's how the environment has been developed.

@HiPwr: It points out that we all of us end up consumed in the end.

@HiPwr: Anything with "Walmart", "Target", "AIG", "BoA", "Comcast" and "Capital One" (and some others) is fair play.

Though personally I love Target.

@kissinggames: Something tells me I dont want to click that link.

@edwardso: Does it? How big was this parking lot and how many cars are in it on average? Does the security at this Wal-Mart do some kind of patrols, or is it just cameras? Was the car even in the camera coverage area?

I think there are too many unknowns to be leaping to conclusions.

@econobiker: I can understand it up to a certain point (obviously they aren't the police), but not releasing the tapes of a woman's abduction to police?! That is effed the fuck up.

@TVGenius: Oh, please. Having grown up in AZ and currently living in Phoenix, I see no dirty diapers and very few carts (and those carts would lessen if we had decent public transportation; not everyone has a car to go grocery shopping with). *eye roll*

@TVGenius: And what's ironic is that whenever anyone out of state visits Phoenix and the surrounding areas, they comment on how clean our city is compared to most.

It would be more remarkable if someone was never found dead in the parking lot of the nation's largest chain store. The odds are someone was going to die in their car at WalMart one day. Happens elsewhere all the time. My neighbor's husband died in his car of a massive heart attack in the parking lot of a 7-11. Several people saw him get in and lay his head back. Everyone assumed he was resting. It took about an hour before anyone checked on him.
Having said that: Wal-Mart sucks.

@TVGenius: i think that's a universal wal-mart phenomenon--the wal-marts around here (delaware) are always littered with diapers. i don't get it. is there a sign posted somewhere that says "this is a septic system as well as a parking lot, please dispose of your human feces here"

@HiPwr: I think floralposte puts it best. In the end, we are all consumed.

@Chris Walters: I think it's less about being a consumer and more about being a human being. If she were parked in her own driveway, in many neighborhoods it might have been a week before someone noticed her.

i sleep in my car all the time (i get to class early and take a nap in my car pretty often). i've only been bugged about it once, by a campus security guy who tapped on my window to see if i was ok. i'd probably walk right past someone who appeared to be sleeping in their car, too.

Or the girl in Montreal who was left lying naked in the rain in a parking lot outside an office building, and the employees who could see her from the windows were forbidden by their supervisor to call 911... right around the corner from me, actually, and a friend of mine is a social worker who knew the girl well. Very sad story and a definite corporate bastard angle there.

@Cocotte: They would have had to fire me.

What the *)#$%! was wrong with that supervisor?

Any time I go to Walmart I play the "Walmart checklist game" Before leaving I have to spot - a guy with a mullet (extra bonus points for a family where the male and the child have a mullet - because this demonstrates a serious multi-generational commitment to the "bad ass" life style) a woman who has shaved eyebrows and draws on large arching eyebrows - seemingly with a sharpie, A fat woman in spandex, a guy wearing a wifebeater shirt, A man wearing fake jewelery that would cost in the 6 figure range if it were real (You get mega-bonus points if fake jewelery guy is standing in line to get a money order or cash a welfare check - sporting his 16 ct. "diamond" to show what a winner he is) A man with a "rat tail" hair style. A woman with atleast 5 children, and last, but not least, someone who pays using food stamps and is later seen loading up the trunk of a car that costs more than $30,000.

The fun, and sad, thing about playing the Walmart checklist game is that you always win.

@Josh_G: Or if an employee died in the store. How long would it take someone to notice? Cashier - probably quickly. Greeter - could be weeks.

so.. the guys gathering up the shopping trolley's did'nt notice her?

Too bad she wasn't in a Louisiana Wal-Mart. In the little rural area where I live, a famous high-school football coach (who won like 3-4 straight AA championships) was caught in the throes with a very thankful fan...all in the backseat, all caught in glorious, grainy black and white... wife's divorce lawyer-to-be was quite happy

@kissinggames: better than being beaten to death, stripped naked, then left in a mcdonald's parking lot in an SUV and going undiscovered for 3+ days

In that order?

@KhaiJB: They were probably too busy talking to each other about "WTF is a trolley? And why does our boss suddenly have a British accent?" ;-)

@HiPwr: Why bother with the comment? just pass over it and go on with your day.

Maybe there was some Walmart employee that saw her or should have seen her. Maybe it was just an odd story that occurred at one of the businesses that ends up on here so much.

@1234tu: You might finish the list, but I'm not sure that counts as a "win".

@Rectilinear Propagation:

No kidding. That's a great time to tell your boss to shove it up his ass and probably get away with it when all is said and done.

@jdmba: As am I, epically with opening the car door to check on her.

@Murph1908: Just. As. Planned.

@1234tu: OMG that is so funny!! The sad thing is that it's true! I am pretty sure I have seen each of these people that you mention when I used to go Walmart. Now I just pay a little more to shop at Target so I don't have to be disgusted anymore...ugh!

@Cocotte: Why on earth would you be forbidden to call 911? I can't think of any corporate protocol that would deem that A Good Idea.

@1234tu: You forgot "Meth Addicted Mother Buying Cleaning Supplies" and "Overweight Person in Twisted Up Sweatpants".

@kissinggames: I suspect neither of the deceased in these incidents are comparing stories.

@korybing: And why the hell would you follow that arbitrary order? Screw the boss, screw the company, get help for that poor kid...

@Chris Walters: I guess, really though it's kind of inevitable. The automobile is a somewhat private space. So people tend to be deferential to privacy, and naps in cars aren't all that uncommon.

I don't think it's about being a consumer so much, had this happened on a main street with a bunch of small shops it still could have happened just like this. Private spaces engender large benefits to us, but they necessarily imply that there won't always be a person checking that things are alright.

@1234tu: You also forgot "Jerk ashamed at being at Wal-Mart hiding it with condesending 'tude."