My part-time job consists of distributing a free automobile advertising booklet which comes out every other Thursday.
Of course, this Thursday being a holiday when many of my 120 outlets chose to close, I had to be out on Black Friday.
What truly amazed me about the Black Friday “bargain hunters” was that I recognized many of them as the same people who went to our Kmart’s going -out- of- business sale and bought scads of stuff in WEEK ONE when the prices were only cut 10%.
They even bought shoes and underwear that were on sale at the area Kmarts that weren’t closing at “buy one,get one 1/2 off” (the closing Kmart wasn’t honoring the newspaper ad). These people are no doubt ignorant of the fact that there will be all kinds of “last-minute” sales in a few weeks where almost everything will be discounted–not just a relative few loss-leaders.
It’s been that way for the past 10 or 15 Chrismas seasons.
Another name for Black Friday ought to be Amateur Day.
Strange that I can be that creative at 7:AM on a Sunday morn, no?
Sometime I’ll have to tell you the tale of how I nearly had to get the 1st Marine Division to help me extract a box of Cocoa Puffs from Albertson’s.
Tripler
One wouldn’t think Froot Loops are a matter of national security. Oh how wrong you are. . .
What I do recall are the “Elmo Troubles” and the long lines, auctioning, theft, assault, and madness that surrounded that piece of recycled trash. Bleh. That obscene thing shaking and giggling with pre-recorded orgasmic pseudo-delight made me feel dirty every time I saw one, as if I had just witnessed a masturbating contest between two winos in the rear of a porn theatre.
Then, of course, there was the “Beanie Baby Buggery”, but I don’t recall anyone dying from it. I do recall that when McDonalds started offering Beanie Babies for sale, the line the first day of people for the drive-through was so long it went around the building, down the street a block, and onto the on-ramp of a freaking 6-lane Interstate!!! I prayed for the police to come by and throw all of the people who were parked on an Interstate Highway to get in line to get a Beanie Baby into police wagons to take them away, but alas, it never happened. Sometimes, God just says “no”.
Rant? Sounds like justice to me- after spending 3 hours pushing and throwing 'bows for a $29 DVD player, they get home and find out that its useless and they have to go back and drop another $30. It warmed my cockles.
I don’t go shopping on Black Friday; it’s not worth the aggravation just to save a few bucks. But a friend who went out to take advantage of the sales at Best Buy told me how they handled it:
Store is scheduled to open at 6am; my friend gets there around 5 to find that Best Buy has people in front of the store organizing the early arrivals into a line. Then Best Buy has people go down the line with coupons for all the “limited number” items, passing them out to the customers along with maps of the store which showed where all the sale items are located. When the store opens there is someone at the door who lets the customers in 25 at a time, thereby preventing the stampede effect. They also have extra registers set up in the electronics and computer sections to handle the peak sales areas.
My friend was out of the store and home by 8am. No injuries, no ulcers, and she got everything she wanted.
Tripler, thank you. Your Mission to Walmart brightened my morning. I’ll keep it in mind next time I venture into enemy occupied territory, aka the local shopping mall.
Wenever I get stuck behind a shopper frozen in place, I just reach over to them and hit control>alt>delete. Takes a few minutes, but usually they reboot.
In the very first months that the Montreal Casino was opened, tables were jam packed and there were people waiting for a chance to play.
Long story short, I was dealing at a Roulette table. Some guy drops dead right in front of me (of a heart attack). The guy is ON the FLOOR, HOLDING HIS HEART … Security and the Casino nurse are on the way to the table (wading through the mass) and the ambulance has been called.
WHAT HAPPENS? People are STEPPING OVER the guy saying: Can I play with his colour now?
(FYI: In roulette, each player has a colour chip that only he plays)
THE GUY IS DEAD OR DYING AND YOU ARE STEPPING ON HIS FACE TO GET A CHANCE TO PLAY WITH HIS CHIPS? HAVE YOU ALL LOST YOUR MINDS?
It’s a little late for a reminder, but Black Friday was (and will be again in a year) National Buy Nothing Day.
I can’t claim that I followed through religiously, as I did buy gas and cigarettes for the 4-hour trip to visit the folks this past weekend. I don’t know if that counts, though…
CheekyMonkey I’m not at all surprised. Back in the 90s, when I was still living in western KY, the Ohio flooded really bad and people were STILL going to the damn casino in Metropolis, IL. I can’t remember what exactly they had to do to get on the boat but I remember it was dangerous and thinking they were crazy. People with addictions will pretty much stop at nothing to get their fix, chances are the people stepping over the heart attack guy at your casino were regulars.
Michael Ellis, I don’t necessarily agree with the demonstrations, but I do agree with the day. I simply have no clue why people put themselves through Hell just so they can go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. I had half of my Christmas shopping done two weeks ago and will have the rest done over the internet by the middle of December.
There’s just no need to go into a frenzy over stuff. It’s just stuff! It’ll be there tomorrow. It’ll be there on December 26. It’ll be there in mid-January.
I try to avoid all malls from Black Friday to roughly the beginning of February. Yes, I miss sales. But I figure I add a year to my life by just avoiding the hassle and frustration of Holiday-time shopping. And that’s worth a heck of a lot more than what I’d save on discounts.
Really? Cuz I do have a small bag filled with CPK clothes… I have a couple outfits, one of those ‘bendy’ outfits… the ones with the wire in it so you could pose them… I have 2 or 3 records (ie CP Christmas)… it’s mere a matter of digging them out. I also used to have CP diapers (exactly like real ones) and the board game but those are long gone I think…
