Nothing says family like gathering around a table with your closest family members to share a meal and give thanks for all that the past year has brought. Thanksgiving is quite a beloved holiday due to the fact that it’s the one day out of the year where it’s considered acceptable to put on your fat pants and stuff your face with mashed potatoes and dark turkey meat (go dark, or go home). However, for many, the joy of Thanksgiving break comes the day after Thanksgiving when millions of Americans flock to their favorite stores, wait in line for hours, and trample one another to save hundreds of dollars on electronics, clothes, and anything else their heart desires. To many, Black Friday is the most wonderful day of the year.
There’s nothing like waiting for line in hours on Thanksgiving night to get into the select stores that open before midnight and then shopping without dropping into the wee hours of the morning. After hitting the best stores early Friday morning, many opt to head home for a few-hour power nap and then hit the remaining sales later on.
A couple of years ago I made my first Thanksgiving night trip to Target, and it was bizarre. Upon arriving at the store a good two hours before doors opened, my posse and I found ourselves circling the building to find the end of the line. Eventually, we found it almost three-quarters of the way around the store. When the clock struck trampling time, the line didn’t budge. It took another half an hour before we even started to move and almost an hour after opening before we stumbled and shoved through the front doors. From there, we panned out. I headed for the DVDs. After I found what I wanted and couldn’t take any more, I headed for the checkout line, which zigzagged across the store twice. Along the way I met up with three of the others from my group, leaving just one out there alone. Eventually, we spotted him over in the CDs. Referencing an inside joke based on a story that had been told over the Thanksgiving dinner table just a few hours earlier, we gave him the signal (an obnoxious “hooty hoo”). He glanced over grinning, waved, and made his way upstream to us. After close to another hour of waiting in line (have you ever seen all of the checkout lanes open at Target??), we all checked out and headed for the car.
On another Black Friday evening occasion, I headed to the mall with my sister. We decided to enter through one of the smaller entrances, hoping the crowd there wouldn’t be as large. I guess everyone else had the same idea because there was quite a gathering of people there when we arrived a little over an hour before opening time. The second the doors open, people tripped over and shoved each other out of the way. We made our way to Forever 21, which was impossible to even enter, already overflowing with girls who were clawing and kicking over clothes that weren’t even really on sale. It was like the mall fountain scene in Mean Girl.
Then we heard yelling and chanting from the food court. We stood on our tip toes and peeked over the mob of people that had gathered to see two men throwing it down over purse.
My uncle likes to tell the story of the time he was walking out of Walmart on Black Friday after hours of waiting. He saw a small woman struggling to lift a TV box into the trunk of her car, so he went over to help her out. She started yelling at him and yelling for help, claiming he was trying to steal her TV.
The point here is that Black Friday is crazy. Is it really even worth it? Why storm the mall in the middle of the night only to get trampled and be disappointed with the results when you can shop online from the comfort of your home on Cyber Monday (Hello free shipping when you spend $50+! Sorry, Mom!)?
If you decide to venture out on Black Friday or even Black Friday Eve, take caution and maybe some pepper spray. Many stores are already having deals, and many others will have deals the entire week before Thanksgiving, so be sure to check online and in their weekly ads. To all of you Black Friday soldiers shoppers: good luck, be smart, and be safe!