Black Friday

just because I feel like it needs to be documented, I want to share our Black Friday with you.

I LOVE Black Friday. As soon as we wake up on Thanksgiving, hubband dashes out for paper and then we spend the day with family, tasty food and leafing through the ads. In the evening, by wonderful tradition, we end up at the "aunties' house" for pie and family time. My very talented cousin sang and played guitar, playing songs written by his very talented but presently injured mother, delicious pies of various flavors filled the counter (especially loved the apple and the chocolate creme), family gathered throughout the house to talk, laugh and play. But in the front sitting room, the floor was covered with ads, surrounded by would-be shoppers filled with hope, anticipation and excitement. Comments rang through the air "let me know if you see...", "does anyone have the ad for ..." "ooh, how about one of these?", etc. We shop, we dream, it's wonderful. Even the children join in as the excitment is contagious, looking through the toy ads and showing moms what they want and sometimes even "now mom, DONT get me this" (you probably had to be there to appreciate just how cute that was, this particular toy really was hideous).

My little Butterfly didn't understand or care too much, she was more excited to play with her cousins. But she did run around excitedly to play and occasionally stopped to look at pictures of the toys. Ladybug on the other hand, demonstrated her ever increasing mischevious streak. She would (stolen from the auntie who described it so well) "quietly sneak into the room, look around to see if anyone was watching and then bend down, grab a piece of paper and run out of the room, tickled pink that the adults would all cry out "no, i need that ad!" as she ran faster away from our grasps." I love that kid.

So this is how my husband and I, hopefully but realistically realizing the unlikelyhood of our chances, decided to brave the one place we have always avoided on Black Friday... Wal-Mart. (don't judge). In past years, we have throughly enjoyed places like Best Buy, Home Depot, Kohl's, Target, Office Max, etc. for their killer deals and for the fun crowds. No really, it has been FUN. Hanging out in line in the freezing cold at 4 am tends to create a really great atmosphere. People joke around and chat with strangers. You teasingly discuss your goal items and strategies. Sometimes there's a little competetive attitude but it's always been fun.

But this year, the WalMart Black Friday ad featured a deal too good to pass up and something I would really have liked to have been able to give my girls for Christmas. So we headed to WalMart, about half an hour early, knowing our chances were slim but willing to try. silly us. Fortunately this WalMart was open 24 hour, so we knew their BF items would be sitting on pallets, wrapped in tarp, sitting in the middle of the aisle, not to be opened until midnight. The parking lot was packed (no surprise) and the store was choas (no surprise). But the feeling was nuts. People had poked holes in the tarps to identify and locate items and were hovering, often sitting, on the boxes. They had been there since noon (who gives up the Thanksgiving dinner for a side effect Thanksgiving sale?) and had counted off the recipents. Gathered together they protected their find, giving dirty looks to ward off any newcomers and quickly declaring them all "taken" should anyone ask. I realize that tensions were a little high, but there's no reason to be rude. So we quickly gave up on the long-shot hoped for (realizing the ad had been misleading anyway) and moved onto a couple of less popular but fantastically priced items.

We found the pallet and to our relief, saw many more items available than the number of people waiting. We joked with people standing nearby, even poking fun at the madness consuming other areas of the store. Suddenly, someone called "go" and pandemonium errupted. The crowd morphed into a scene from "Lord of the Flies" and like piranas, dove into the pile, shreding the tarp and grabbing at the products. We stood back for a moment, flabbergasted at the dignity being flung aside with the discarded tarp. After the inital rush, we were able to get a box and I headed for the front of the store. Hubband headed in a different direction, to see if another item might be available.

Turns out, I was first in line at the register, but only because it was not yet midnight. Our corner of the store has started prematurely. So I waited, talking and joking with the cashier (sale prices couldn't be rang up until midnight). She was, by the way, terrified as this was her first Black Friday. The store had already kicked out customers on two different occasions for their behavoir. From where we were standing, I could see into the bakery area, were a throng of people stood so thick, I couldn't even tell what they were waiting for. Cardboard began to fly, being pushed to the outer edge of the crowd and employees were standing on top of the piles, trying to restore order. It was no use. A fight began. And over what you ask? A $3 movie. I wish I was kidding. Hubband joined me quickly, the item he was seeking was no longer available. As he had passed the toy department, he had heard people calling for security as another fight errupted. We joked with the cashier, gave her a last minute pep talk and exited quickly.

Now to be fair, "scuffle" is probably more accurate than "fight" but the sheer volume of people and choas is overwhelming. Sadly, these are working class families, trying to provide those much desired Christmas wish items for their hopeful children, things they could probably not otherwise afford. And that part really does pull at my heart. But their behavior was disappointing too.

So we went to bed. Hubband woke a few hours later to find a few more "door buster" items at stores with more reasonable crowds and then we slept in, had a nice breakfast with our wonderful cousins whose house we had crashed. Then the men took the babies home where both men and babies napped while me and my cousin (the "women") went to Target. It was around 11, well past the door-buster choas and we had a great experience. The store was busy and full of people, but the crowd was courteous, saying "excuse me" when we bumped elbows and the employees were helpful (rather than seeming terrified and confused), greeting us and offering assistance. We found some great deals, enjoyed our shopping excurision and headed home for our own naps (and more online shopping).

here's to another succesful Black Friday. *cheers*