Black Friday, according to urbandictionary.com: "should be renamed "black eye friday" due to the fact that thousands of americans forget the spirit of the holiday season by trampling ppl and giving black eyes while buyin stupid gifts that you didnt even mean to buy from stores who purposely hold sales the same day as everybody else. yet another example of how greedy americans are."
No offense to investorwords.com, but I'm pretty sure urban dictionary nailed it. They had some other definitions, but this one had the least amount of curse words :).
I was always one of those people who thought black friday shoppers were absolutely insane. Why in the world would you want to get up at 3 in the morning, stand outside for hours, just to get a good price on a tv? Screw that- I'll pay the extra hundred bucks, and keep my sanity.
Then, I kept having kids. And prices on stuff kept going up. And Walmart opened at 10 on Thanksgiving night.
So I became a black friday participant. Kind of.
In 2007, I attempted to black friday shop. Me and my friend Adam went to check out Best Buy, noticed that there were hundreds of people standing outside, in the cold, and said screw it. Then, he had the brilliant idea to video tape people, and try to interview them. I thought we were going to get jumped. We went to Walmart, got a sweet deal on an iPod, then called it a night.....until my friend Ashley called, then we went to JC Penny's and got a crapton of kid's clothes.
In 2008, I skipped it.
In 2009, I was pregnant with Mason...barely. I got up at 4, went to Mcdonald's for breakfast (if we're being honest, its the only reason I got up- I wanted breakfast), then went to Menards. I got a Christmas Tree, and the kids a few toys, then went over to Walmart (by this time, it was 8am, and there wasn't many people there). I figured that since I lived in a small town, our stores wouldn't be busy. Wrong.
In 2010, I skipped.
That brings us to this year, when Walmart lured me in by saying they were opening at 10pm. Dang them. So I went, again, under the impression that our Walmart wouldn't be busy since it wasn't a super Walmart.
Wrong. Again.
I have never seen so many people in one place (this coming from the person who went to the Mall of America on Christmas Eve one year...). It was BANANAS (Props to Gwen Stefani for helping me spell that). Every parking space was taken, even in adjoining parking lots, like the Wendy's. The side streets next to it were also packed (which amazes me, since there aren't any street lights.) I thought about parking there for a brief minute, then realized if Scott found out I parked on a dark side street alone, he'd kill me before the crazy murderers who abduct moms would. So, I drove around for 10 minutes, until I
Then I went in. Holy madness. There were people throwing clothes, looking for the right sizes. Throwing boxes, movies, toys, you name it, to the side, hoping to find their prize. They were bumping in to people, cutting, ramming each other with carts. It was ugly. Grandma's Gone Wild.
At this moment, I decided I would be patient. I would remember my manners, remember that everything is just material items, and realize that nothing in that store was worth hurting someone else.
So I patiently walked the store, without a cart (cause they were all taken). I picked up things I thought I'd want, ignored things I didn't. I said excuse me when areas got tight, or when I had to reach something next to someone. I let people with carts by, and even let an elderly man cut me while looking at the movies. He even said thank you.
Then, I got in line. The line was insane. Suddenly, there is my old man I helped (obviously, he wasn't mine, I didn't own him cause I was nice, but I felt a bond with him- like he was the only other non-psycho in the store besides me). Anyways, he came up to me, and told me to go to electronics- that the line there was far shorter, and he managed to get through in less than 2 minutes. I said thank you, and dashed on over. Then, even though I was holding 20 items, I let a guy cut in front of me who was just buying a video game to kill time while his wife went shopping. After standing there for 3 minutes, I was holding my bags, ready to leave.
On the way out, I decided I would attempt to pay it forward- let someone else in line know about the powerful electronics department. As I approached the lady, she balled up her fist and told me the line started back there. I had 3 bags, clearly I wasn't looking to cut. So I told her that. Then she said I was trying to trick her, which I wasn't. At this point, I should've walked away- but I didn't. I tried to tell her about the electronics department, but she thought I was lying to her. All in an attempt to steal her spot in line. Finally, my brain kicked in, and I walked away- but not before watching the woman in front of her head to electronics.
I had done pretty well, and it was only 10:45. I thought about heading over to Target, since they opened at midnight. As I drove by, I noticed the line was already a block long. I passed.
I went home, cuddled with my husband, and went to Target that afternoon- where they still had plenty of black friday things up for grabs.
Early bird fail.
Since this was my first true experience with black friday shopping, I may be slightly jaded. It wasn't a nightmare, but it wasn't desirable either. I did appreciate the adrenaline rush, and the shopping without kids (at least I was shopping without kids- others were not, which boggled me. 4 year olds should not be up at 11 o'clock, shopping at Walmart with their crazy mom).
Will I go again? Who knows. I didn't punch anyone, nor did I get arrested, so I say this was a good day.
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