Many years ago, when my sister and I were still in junior high and elementary, we’d travel to Dallas to have Thanksgiving with my dad’s brother. The Friday after Thanksgiving, we’d drive to Service Merchandise and he’d get us something cool – like an air popcorn popper – and we’d wait excitedly with the 40 or so other shoppers.
That’s right… 40 or so other shoppers. Black Friday was not the majorly crazy-comes-to-town event that it has become!
I’ll admit that a couple of years ago, I caught the Black Friday bug and just couldn’t not resist making my way to the local mega-super-shopping store in order to snag myself a $15 coat and a couple of pair of $7 jeans for The Daughters. I sat my alarm for 3:45, since we live six blogs away from the mega-super-shopping store, I wouldn’t need that much time to get there. I pulled out of my driveway, turned the corner and parked the car, hiking the four and a half blocks to get there because the parking was just that full!
I walked in and a woman was STANDING in a bin of collage frames yelling out, “Who needs a brown one?” Women, men and even children were standing outside bin clamoring for the frames. Crazy as it sounds, when the woman hollered that she found a black frame, I found myself elbowing my fellow shoppers to get at the black frame! I had absolutely no need for the frame. The frame wasn’t on my list. And still I purchased it. That year, I also purchased Lara Croft Tomb Raider on DVD for $5, a mini-chopper that was the exact same make and model of the one I had in my cabinet at home for $9, and four towels in sage green – which didn’t match any of our bathrooms.
I admit it; I was sucked in. It was kind of fun to get out and get crazy for that one very early morning that began at 4 AM.
The next year, however, the frenzy began at midnight.
This year, the madness started before the turkey scraps were even put in the fridge!
Every year the news reports dozens of situations gone awry on black Friday. Whether it’s lack of sleep or tryptophan overdose, people lose their last sense of humanity when faced with the option of purchasing a video game for $5 cheaper than they’ll get it during regular store hours!
I’m not sure why the stores decided to cut Thanksgiving day short (not just for the holiday itself, but for the employees who have to cut their family time especially short to get in that extra nap). It seems to me that if they can offer that price at 1:15 AM on the Friday after Thanksgiving, they can offer the same price during regular store hours without the bedlam and chaos that ensues during the early morning hours of Black Friday.
Maybe it’s time we take back Thanksgiving and refuse to participate in the Black Friday mayhem… at least until the gravy has developed a skin on top.
