The uproar over the outcome of the Milwaukee Brewers' "Where's Bernie" promotion is bizarre.
Should we be surprised that there are greedy, selfish people?
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Jeremy Schultz wants everyone to know that he played by the rules in the Milwaukee Brewers' "Where's Bernie" promotion.
He had every opportunity to snatch plenty of Bernie Brewer lawn ornaments as he was delivering the Journal Sentinel to customers early Tuesday on Milwaukee's south side.
Instead, he completed his route and waited for 5 a.m., just as the rules stated.
Schultz got his lawn ornament at Zablocki Park, one of the parks where lawn ornaments were left, according to Sue Black, Milwaukee County parks director. Schultz was able to nab a Bernie, but not without hassling with another man who wanted more than one, he said.
It turns out that Schultz snagged the lucky ornament. He discovered later that he had won the grand prize in the promotion: 20 tickets at a Miller Park suite for a Brewers game.
"There were so many people who were upset that others were grabbing all of the Bernie Brewers," Schultz said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "This puts a positive spin on it.
"I followed the rules. I didn't cheat."
The promotion, done in concert with the Milwaukee County Parks System and in other areas of the state, went awry when some people grabbed dozens of the lawn ornaments hours before the official hunt for the ornaments was supposed to begin. Some of those collectors then apparently tried to resell the suddenly hot items on Craigslist and eBay.
By his own admission, Schultz, 32, has had a rough year. His mother died last year. He has been involved in custody issues involving his ex-wife and their daughter. He was unemployed for a long time.
But Tuesday made things a little bit brighter for Schultz, who has been an independent contractor for Journal Communications for nearly three years.
...Schultz drove to Zablocki Park, near S. 35th St. and S. Loomis Road.
"I went over there and looked in the parking lot. Nobody was there. I'm walking through the park and I didn't see anything. Then I found one behind a tree," Schultz said.
Schultz wasn't alone. Another man apparently saw the same ornament, ran toward the tree, pushed Schultz out of the way and grabbed it.
"There were some expletives," Schultz said. "I said, 'Really? You have to do that?'"
The man ran back to his car and sped away. Schultz headed back to his truck.
Then he saw another Bernie Brewer. And he noticed the same man who had pushed him out of the way for the first one had also spotted the second ornament.
Schultz got there first and had his ornament.
Some people are such jerks!
I'm glad that Schultz won the big prize and the guy who pushed him didn't. Schultz took one lawn ornament, abiding by the rules of the promotion. Good for him. (I wonder if Schultz would have taken another if he had the opportunity. I like to think he wouldn't.)
Some people, like Erin McHardie of St. Francis, were hoarders.
McHardie ignored the "one per household" rule.
She decided not to play fair. Then, she was incredibly stupid to post photos of her haul online. She was asking for trouble.
When the Brewers chose to do the promotion, they had to realize that the Erin McHardies of the world and jerks like the guy who shoved Schultz at Zablocki Park were out there. The organization must have known the potential for "complications," that all might not go smoothly.
That was a risk they chose to take.
So what have we from learned?
---Some people are jerks.
---Some people are greedy.
---Some people are really stupid.
---Some people get way too upset over silly things.
Didn't we already know that?
I think it's insane that FOX 6 News considered the Bernie Brewer promotion fiasco worthy of being the night's lead story.
This has really been blown out of proportion.
Who cares?
You didn't get a Bernie. Deal with it.
Here's video from FOX 6:
Death threats against McHardie?
If that's true, that's terrible. She didn't do the right thing, but a death threat is not an appropriate response. Good grief.
The promotion was a bad idea.
It was mistake to trust people to play by the rules. It was a mistake to assume that people even knew the rules.
Without question, it was a big mistake.
Lots of people involved used poor judgment and behaved badly.
TMJ4 interviewed McHardie.
She doesn't appear on camera, but you can hear what she has to say.
Erin McHardie is speaking out for the first time, and says she is feeling the heat from Brewer's fans after she posted a picture on twitter of nearly 30 Bernie the Brewer gnomes.
"I can see where people are mad, but it wasn't just me. I didn't take 27 Bernies."
It was supposed to be a fun, promotional scavenger hunt to find 1,400 Bernie the Brewer gnomes in area parks. Even though the Brewer's posted rules saying only one gnome per household, Erin McHardie claims she and her friends took 28 gnomes.
"We didn't keep them all. We were giving them to our family, to people who couldn't make it. Just like anybody else was doing down there."
While McHardie explained that she and a group of friends were going to share the gnomes, she never once apologized, or said that she would return the gnomes.
"Everybody thinks I'm trying to sell them on E-bay. I'm not. There's no profit here. We just wanted them, like anyone else."
But several Bernies did end up on E-bay.
Brewer's fans are taking to social media to lash out against Mchardie. A Facebook page has even been created and more than 700 people have "liked" the page.
“There's no need for these people to attack me personally. Say what you want about me being greedy, but the Facebook page is ridiculous," McHardie said.
Here's a letter McHardie sent to TMJ4's Mick Trevey:
"I am sorry that I missed you this afternoon. I am writing to this to clear the air. I along with four of my friends collected all the Bernies, not just me. Between the five of us we split them to give to our families and friends.
"WE ARE NOT OUT TO SELL THEM ON EBAY OR MAKE A PROFIT OF ANY KIND!!!
"What we saw on Twitter did not say you can only take one, we never saw the official rules page. We are sorry for that misunderstanding.
"I don't wish to be on camera, This is what I am saying about the matter and I hope people can forgive me and my friends.
"We, like many other fans, also were only out to get gnomes for our families who could not come but wanted to have one.
"I just would really like to say that this was mine and my friend's fault and I wish that people would stop harassing my parent's home phone and to please leave them alone.
"Again we are very sorry this happened and I hope that Brewers fans out there can forgive us."
This is lunacy.
There's a Facebook page attacking McHardie: Erin McHardie is a Greedy Bitch.
I think people should take it down a notch.
There were only 1,400 Bernies planted for promotion.
Obviously, the vast majority of people would come away empty-handed.
Another lesson: If you're going to break the rules and tick people off, don't brag about it online. It will not turn out well.
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Watch this video. It's very sweet. I think this is what the Brewers had in mind when they came up with the promotion.
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