Normally all the women in my family go Black Friday shopping together. We wake up early, have a nice breakfast, drive to our favorite mall, and drink lots of coffee while we hunt for the best deals. However, this year we decided to not participate in the hustle and bustle that is Black Friday shopping. After last year’s catastrophe of a shopping trip my family collectively decided to participate in Black Friday from the comfort of our own home, in our pajamas while sipping on fresh coffee.
Last year on Black Friday, we headed out early and when we arrived at the mall there was no parking. We circled the parking structure for almost 30 minutes before we were able to snatch a spot. I hopped out of the car and entered through the Nordstrom doors. I had never seen so many people in the mall before. The counters had horrible lines, and there was nothing worth buying when I finally got called up to the shoe department. We left empty-handed but still had hope that we would be able to find success at the other stores. After that, I experienced the effect that online shopping had on the mall. Most of the stores that we went into did not have a good selection or nearly half the inventory that they had online. If we were able to find something we then had to be deceived that what we wanted was worth waiting in line for. Most of the lines wrapped to the back of the store and had at least a 45-minute wait.
With some luck, I was able to finally get a bag in my hand but what I thought was worth the price, but I soon realized the wait wasn’t worth the already barely discounted bag. However, the cherry on top, the main reason why my family is not partaking in Black Friday anytime soon, is that there was no cell service in the whole mall. This was not a problem until we decided to split up in Victoria’s Secret. I got done trying on everything in the dressing room and went to go find the rest of my group. I sent a few text messages, but none of them went through. Then I tried to call them but the calls would not go through. I tried to circle the store and look for them but I could not find them anywhere. Finally, I decided that it was best to wait in one spot, which would have been a good idea if they had not decided to do the same. It turns out that while I was on the Pink side they were on the Victoria’s Secret side for almost an hour.
After we were able to find each other we decided that we had enough and we were going home. We took the few bags that we had and headed home, unhappy, very tired, and unsuccessful. In previous years we would have left with armloads of bags, but not last year. That year the mall had gotten the best of us. It chewed us up and spit us out.