The Holiday Season’s Ugliest Moments

Shoppers, workers, needy kids, the fashion world, and even Santa have had a rough go of things this holiday season. Here’s a look at some of the uglier scenes.

BLACK (AND BLUE) FRIDAY
Among the disturbing scenes from the annual gluttonous shop-a-palooza that is Black Friday:

When crowds waiting outside a Wisconsin Toys R Us tried to stop a woman from cutting the line, the woman threatened to get a gun, and was later arrested.

Shoppers at a Walmart in Sacramento had to be forced to evacuate by Sheriff’s officers because customers were shoving each other in anticipation of a new sale starting at 5 a.m. on Black Friday.

A 100-year-old greeter was shoved by a customer at another Walmart, leading to the customer’s arrest.

When one woman in Atlanta, who said she’d driven three hours to go shopping, found the perfect parking space, she wasn’t going to let anyone else take it. As her husband drove around still on the hunt for a place to park, she sat in the space and refused to move until a security guard told her she could get hurt. Her husband, meanwhile, had already parked somewhere else.

And, after being trampled by a crowd at a Target in Buffalo, the bruised and battered shopper overwhelmed by crazed bargain hunters had to this to say:

“I don’t think it’s worth standing out there all night to get trampled, or trample somebody else.”

SANTA GETS FIRED, DOWNSIZED, HEAD BITTEN OFF
Santa’s hard a rough couple of weeks, and he hasn’t even pulled his annual all-nighter yet. He was fired from a Macy’s for telling slightly off-color jokes, his workload decreased as fewer companies hired him for parties and events, and when Santa can find work, it’s often at half the rate he used to make. No wonder Santa is a cheapskate, preferring to save money whenever he can.

As if all of this, and as if Santa’s job wasn’t thankless enough, Lady Gaga felt the need to  bite his head off to amuse her fans.

(Read: Favorite Holiday Season Rants.)

DANGEROUS CAROLERS
A mall in California had to be evacuated because police worried the building wasn’t structurally sound enough to handle a huge crowd drawn to the food court for a performance by the Sacramento Choral Society. The holiday concert wound up being performed in the parking lot instead.

TRY EXPLAINING THIS TO KIDS
Earlier this week, thieves broke into a Toys for Tots storage unit in Massachusetts and made off with thousands of dollars worth of toys that were intended to be given out to needy families.

DEAR SANTA, PLEASE SEND ME A COAT
The U.S. Postal Service reported an increase of letters sent to Santa from children and parents asking for basics, including socks, coats, and shoes rather than video games, action figures, dolls, and other toys.

WHITE CHRISTMAS? HOW ABOUT PINK SLIP
Among the companies that determined right before Christmas was the best time for layoffs are Yahoo and a Pennsylvania benefits management firm called Express Scripts, which laid off 365 workers when it shut down one of its facilities in mid-December. Also fired: J. Money, a blogger who offers a demo on how to handle getting canned right before the holidays.

CONSPICUOUS DECORATION
In Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates—where Islam is the national religion—a hotel decorated a 43-foot-high fake Christmas tree with $11 million worth of gold, rubies, and other precious stones.

I’LL BE HOMELY FOR CHRISTMAS
Many fashion trends are ugly—$300 ripped jeans come to mind—but here’s one that’s intentionally so: the ugly Christmas sweater. And where does one wear such a sweater? To an Aren’t-I-cool-by-looking-dorky Ugly Christmas Sweater Party.