I HATE BLACK FRIDAY

Pffft. You losers are missing out on these fantastic deals of a lifetime. I had to smother an old lady and push a child in to traffic to get my perfect camping spot (coming to you from the wonders of my soon to be replaced smartphone). I rented a box truck just to fit all the useless junk that I'm going to buy because all the prices are slashed to oblivion! And while you wallow in your possession-less lives, never feeling the warmth from that 80 inch flat screen TV that you paid almost nothing for or the completeness of having kicked seven children, three women, an elderly man, and a crippled man just to get that set of toys that reminds you so fondly of your childhood. Yeah, it may be a little chilly sitting in my camp chair covered with a jacket I bought last year for 25% of the actual price (which I'll replace this year), I'll soon be enjoying true happiness. True happiness that you un-materialistic freaks will never and can never know.

Excuse me, I have to plan my death charge in to the store. There's a fat guy in line in front of me, he may be useful.

Rebecca Black Friday...I just thought that was an interesting and horrible coincidence.
I do not think anyone died from that song, I'm not sure though, a few may have blown their OWN brains out.

We've never shopped on that day either. My wife shops from home, a little at a time, throughout the year. So the financial effect is fairly negligible. Usually by August, she is done. And she has time to look for the best prices, and put thought into each gift. A thoughtful gift can also be a lot cheaper than something purchased on a whim, because it's on sale, or that other trick "limited quantities".

There is nothing good about it and there isn't meant to be anything good about it. It's a disgusting, crass and exploitative marketing ploy that has soiled Thanksgiving, a holiday they have never successfully been able to all-out commercialize. It represents the worst of America and brings out the worst in humanity.

I journeyed into the Black Friday Crowds yesterday and I survived unharmed.

True story:

We celebrate Thanksgiving on Saturday and watch the Bedlam game afterwards. My hubby and I went to WallyWorld yesterday to buy all the food for this weekend and while we were there, the workers were starting to set stuff up. I happened to see the little 4 pc. bedding set for $26 and a few other things I wanted to get for family, so we decided to return a few hours later. (As a side note, I am always on the lookout for a great deal on things we need. I have spent months looking for a warm comforter set for our baby girl and the cheapest I could find on ebay was $95. So this really was an awesome deal)

It was actually not bad at all. Yes, there were a lot of folks there, but everyone I came into contact with was very polite and helpful. We all helped each other arrange the bedding sets we wanted so everyone could get what they came for once the plastic was cut. The lady across from me helped me out by handing me a suitcase from the other side of the display since she knew that I was wanting to get one of those as well. Folks were helping each other at the PJ bin to find the right sizes they were looking for. Young adults were helping the elderly lift some of the heavier stuff. . I could go on and on.

I think we hear all of the bad stories, but for the most part, I think people still have love and respect for others. Most folks around here don't have much money, but I don't know anyone who doesn't want to give their children a nice Christmas. I think any parent understands that. What a lot of you may be seeing as greed, is actually just Sally Sue seeing a great deal on something that will bring great joy to her child on Christmas morning.

So while being extremely materialistic is never a good thing, like it or not, Christmas is a time of giving. Giving normally requires buying. Some may want to brave the crowds to do their buying on Black Friday, some may want to do it all online, or some may be more like me and buy a little here and there throughout the year. I figure to each thier own, and I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas this year filled with family and friends, love, and lasting memories.

~OkieDokie

reply to post by Echo3Foxtrot


LOL, thanks for the laugh!

It's a wonder some people don't strap small children to themselves as human shields before they go forth into battle over some cheap electronics.

reply to post by spacedoubt


Your wife sounds like a very smart woman.

Shopping all year long, a little at a time, is the intelligent thing to do, but I just can't bring myself to buy Christmas gifts until December. It's a mental block, I know, but we do budget for the December buying, as we buy nothing on credit, it's all cash.

reply to post by 0001391


You and I are on the same page about this. I know that not all cities have fights, trampled people, and crazy scenes, but something about the way people sit outside, waiting to get into to spend money, and they'll push each other to the ground to do it, just sickens me.

The videos of people pushing the doors off their hinges and rushing in remind me of a cattle stampede. There's no thought process involved other than "Me first!' and "grab all you can!". The merchants love it, but I have to wonder, at what cost? With a crowd that big, how many things are stolen, hidden away in jackets and purses, and their anti-theft chips removed in the bathroom before they are taken out of the building?

My eldest daughter had her identity stolen in November years ago, and the theives were two women, one who opened up credit accounts at Target and WalMart. They went wild with stolen credit on Black Friday. What did they buy? A bunch of expensive toys for their kids. Their sense of entitlement, and no sense of shame or remorse, was nauseating. I could just picture the gifts under the tree, and them feeling smug that they gave their kids a "good Christmas" with stolen money and somebody's ruined credit, still nauseates me.

The spiritual side of this holiday is dead, it's all about the bling, I guess. Ugh. Count me out.

reply to post by OkieDokie


Thanks for your imput. I'm glad that your Black Friday experience was a good one. In some of the smaller towns, people still behave decently. I'm also glad that you got the good deals that you were seeking.

My rant was specifically against the insanity that happens in the larger cities, in which people are hurt, and fights break out. I know there are good people out there who wouldn't dream of hurting somebody just to get a $2 waffle iron, but the materialism of it is a big tun-off to me.

Yet, I do want to give my family gifts, and so I'm caught up in it too. However, I cannot bring myself to deal with the crowds and the craziness. Plus, the nearest big box store is 50 miles away from where I live. I do it all online. I can't deal with the crowds, and the smarmy Christmas decorating the stores do, with the emphasis on BUY BUY BUY, makes me hate the holidays.

I guess I can remember back far enough when the decorations alone made the season special. I seem to remember something more intangile, more magical, and more reverent. Either I've become old and bitter, or the holidays have become something unholy. Perhaps, it's a little of both.

reply to post by FissionSurplus


To say we've lost our way as a country because a tiny percentage of people are shopping/sale-crazed lunatics is ridiculous. Just stay home and leave the insanity to the insane. Most of these people aren't even getting great deals. They get a 50" plasma tv for $500 and think its a big score, when really its just a clearance sale of outdated technology.

This is the worse i seen think of how people would act in a real shtf scenario



youtu.be...

To say we've lost our way as a country because a tiny percentage of people are shopping/sale-crazed lunatics is ridiculous.

reply to post by dogstar23


Is it? Is the mindless consumerism and desperation not symptomatic of the soulless materialism that is sinking us all? The same zombie mindset that these people display is also the same that folks display at airports, where they line up to be groped and irradiated, it is the same mindset that allows our government officials to engage in high treason while none of us does anything about it, and it is the same mindset that allows our constitution to become trampled. As long as we can get cheap junk at what we consider a good price, even though it's bought on credit, we're content to sit back and let the world fall down around us.

It's not just about shopping, it goes so much deeper. Thanks for you input, though.

reply to post by FissionSurplus


The commercials ive been seeing is now sales and door crashers are starting during thanksgiving as well, so it looks like in few years thanksgiving will also just be dedicaated to shopping

reply to post by ker2010


Wow...thanks for posting that. People were getting nasty for a bit, pushing and shoving so they can "get theirs".

I just saw the national news, the CEO of WalMart was on bragging about how this was their most lucrative Black Friday ever. How super for them.

reply to post by connorromanow


Naturally.....there's very little money to be made on Thanksgiving, so the retailers are going to push it out of the way all together. By next year, you watch, the big box stores will open Thanksgiving morning. Eventually, Thanksgiving will be eclipsed all together, and it will be known as the first shopping day of Christmas.

Why give thanks when you can go shopping and get MORE MORE MORE...??!!

I guess people lose their heads when there's good bargains to be had. News from yesterday;

news.yahoo.com...

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Police say a Massachusetts man left his girlfriend's 2-year-old son in a car while he went shopping for Black Friday bargains, then went home with his new 51-inch flat screen television and left the toddler behind.

www.huffingtonpost.com...

Black Friday shopping got out of hand at the Woodland Mall in Grand Rapids, Mich.

At least two teens were arrested following an altercation early Friday morning, Fox 17 reports.

It was a "chaotic scene" with people running and pepper spray being used, according to WoodTV.

“I was actually fearful for my life,” Heise told Fox 17. “There was glass flying everywhere, they shut the store, I thought I was like locked in there. I thought there was, like, gunfire, but it wasn't. It was apparently just things hitting glass or walls or floors.”

www.huffingtonpost.com...

The evening was particularly intense for one shopper who allegedly pulled a gun on a man who punched him in the face while in line at a Sears store at the South Park Mall in San Antonio, TX, police told San Antonio Express-News.

Sgt. Rob Carey said that a man was trying to cut his way to the front of the line, which didn't sit well with his fellow shoppers, according to San Antonio Express-News. Arguments escalated to name calling before the alleged line-cutter punched another shopper in the face.

www.nbc11news.com...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CNN) -- A shopper in California threatened to stab people in line as the doors opened at a K-Mart ahead of Black Friday.

The overflow crowd at the K-Mart in Sacramento took on a mob mentality.

Hundreds of bargain hunters camped out for hours and were wrapped around the building. The mood turned sour when store workers came outside to give vouchers to those in line.

Some shoppers got raucous, screaming obscenities and cutting in line. Police were called in to keep the crowd under control.
.

www.wctv.tv...

Two people were shot outside a Tallahassee Wal Mart this afternoon. It brought Black Friday shopping to a terrifying halt.

The shots were fired in front of the store on Apalachee Parkway just after noon.

Just minutes ago, police confirmed the folks were fighting over a parking space.

The shots were fired on the sidewalk right in front of the parkway Wal Mart.

www.huffingtonpost.com...-says-no-one -was-hurt-in-frenzy

MOULTRIE, Ga. -- Walmart says no one was injured in a frenzy over a Black Friday deal at one of its stores in south Georgia

A video of the incident circulating online shows a large crowd of people pushing, yelling and grabbing boxes off a shelf at the store in Moultrie.

Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove says a deal on a cell phone with a prepaid, unlimited usage plan "led to excitement among our customers." He called the incident unfortunate, but said it was isolated.

www.huffingtonpost.com...-boy-robbe d-outside-mall

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Anne Arundel County police say a 14-year-old boy was robbed of his shopping bag outside Arundel Mills mall after a Black Friday shopping trip.

The Baltimore Sun reports the victim told police he was accosted by five men as he walked out of a Bed Bath and Beyond store about 2 a.m. on Friday. One suspect punched the boy, and another stole a bag with merchandise he had just bought before running off toward the mall’s Bass Pro Shops entrance.

www.huffingtonpost.com...-lot-acciden ts-spike

Insurance company Progressive Corp. said that Black Friday is one of the worst days of the year for parking-related accidents.

On the day after Thanksgiving last year, claims from parking-related accidents increased 37% when compared with other Fridays, the company said. A year before, claims were up 17%.

edit on 23-11-2012 by FissionSurplus because: (no reason given)

reply to post by FissionSurplus


You know, I'm no longer surprised by any of this. That's sad. I just laugh at the stupidity of these people and enjoy sitting at home recovering from a hang over. From turkey. You're buying that, right?

reply to post by FissionSurplus


It is a pretty smart thing to do. there is ONE small drawback.
I can be asked at any time throughout the year: "do you think so-and-so would like this?"
It gets a little annoying sometimes. Particualrly if I'm half asleep, and she's shopping on Amazon, on her phone, and the picture is one inch by one inch..

Originally posted by MidnightSunshine
Why is it everything that I think is important is over looked? I added my lil flag to this important message.

I never have and never will participate in this nonsense. I am poor and could use the great deals, but i refuse to compromise my dignity, morals, or safety to buy people 'stuff'

edit on 21-11-2012 by MidnightSunshine because: (no reason given)

Hi MidnightSunshine,

The thing is, they are not great deals! You are not missing anything. Walmart has a bunch of off brand and or really cheap items special ordered just for black friday. I went to Walmart's black friday once, and have never gone again. The same goes for the upscale stores.

Blessings,
yesterdaysreality

S+F OP, being new to the forum as of this year, I was not aware of Black Friday and was shocked to see some of those videos. You seem like such a good person, I could almost feel the sadness from your post on what has become of people and society. As you say, it sums up the state of America.

If people act like that to grab a bargain, there's no wonder the government has stockpiled millions of rounds of ammo because if the economy collapses, it doesn't bare thinking about

All the best

reply to post by OkieDokie


I just want to say thank you for posting your experience. I think it's important that we see the good stories as well as the bad. My problem has never really been with the consumerism itself, but rather with how people treat each other. So your story was very inspiring.