Black Friday

[hoog62]

Well, another Black Friday has come and gone. Some folks absolutely love the day after Thanksgiving, and I have to admit, I used to visit my wife (she's a retail manager) just to watch some of the stupidity. Luckily for her, she hasn't had much more than a regular customer or two who felt they should be catered to, over the "Christmas crowd" to deal with.

Maybe I'm just getting older, but the day now brings more aggravation than amusement. I sit here watching the carnage that took place at several local stores on the local news, and wonder just what the hell is going on in these people's minds. Common sense seems to go completely out the window for the employees as well as the customers. Here's a couple lowlights from the Orlando area:

The Wally World closest to the house is supposedly the busiest in Florida and 3rd in the nation. A customer used his cell phone to capture the scene in Electronics, as a blue-bib stood on top of the counter, randomly tossing $387 lap-tops out to the mass of humanity surrounding him. If you didn't catch it clean, a struggle ensued. If you did get one, you'd better tuck it away tighter than Emmitt Smith or it would get snatched away as you made your way out of the scrum.

News crews watched a young lady walk up to a Best Buy just before opening and try to take her "rightful" place at the head of the line. When told to take her ass to the back of the line, she starts yelling "you don't have no right tell me what to do!" The sheriff shows up and it turns out she had tried the same crap down the street and got tossed.

Then there's the national news showing a lady in Grand Rapids getting trampled after falling in the rush as he doors opened (again, WallyWorld). Looked to me like she was more worried about getting her wig back on then getting stepped on, but she got a ride to the hospital and a potential lawsuit out of the deal. Maybe her day wasn't a total loss. :rolleyes:

WTF people? Is it really worth it? On the bright side, no one around here got killed this year. How was it around your area?

[bmwrider79]

I stayed away from the stores alltogeter. I do not care if I can get a DVD player for $20.00 I would rather pay $120.00 than wait in line at 4am.

My wife & some friends and family went out yesterday at Gurnee Mills. A big mall just north of Chicago. There moved around the mall like waiting in line at the amusement park. Like cattle herding.

I did drive to the far south side of Chicago to take back a family menber to their home. What is with hitting the breaks in the middle of a GREEN light in the middle of the intersection? This happend 3 time on Thanksgiving picking up the family member and 2 time yesterday. I am not the best driver but GREEN means GO and the left lane is for faster moving traffic and passing. The right lane is for slower moving traffic. OH not not in Illinois.

One more beef who the heck though it would be a good idea to block off 1 lane of traffic on the busiest traffic day of the year right by a major shopping center. Pure genius.

Now I am going to shoot sporting clays with my friend. I will shop on line as much as possible.

A final thought. How about saying and doing to heck with consumerism and just spend time with family and helping others over the Thanksgiving and Christmas season? yeah right!

[Daman858]

"...and peace on earth, goodwill to men!"

The real reason for the season.............

[hoog62]

To sell nativity scenes? ;)

[meese]

To sell nativity scenes? ;)

LOL! That was great.

We went to my Aunt's house in Arkansas a few years back for Thanksgiving. It was good to see the family, but my wife dubbed the place "The House Where Christmas Exploded." Every square inch of the house was covered in nativity scenes, snowmen, tinsel, ornaments, and several highly decorated and flashing trees, some of which spun around. There was almost no place to sit, or stand for that matter. I lost count of the nativity scenes alone at somewhere over 2 dozen.

We had a nice family gathering, but my wife and I confirmed that we could never live in the bible belt. And my Aunt? Not only is she an avid WalMart shopper, but she even worked for them for a while. I guess that employee discount was worth something.

I kinda like the decorated palm trees that you see around SoCal much better.

[Steve_R]

We had a nice family gathering, but my wife and I confirmed that we could never live in the bible belt.

Now Ken, Not everyone in the Bible belt does that. Aren't you classifying everyone when you do that?? ;) :)

BTW, I like decorated palm trees too.

Ride safe

[messenger13]

"...and peace on earth, goodwill to men!"

The real reason for the season.............
Amen Dave. Amen...

[pkpr1998]

As with Dave and Joe; AMEN!

As I have a high disregard for wallyworld, it just floors me that ANYBODY would "camp" out at a store the night before to be first in line just to save a few bucks on anything. They are crazy. I hate to see "these" people get trampled on but what do you expect? People to be nice?

Black friday is exactly that, BLACK FRIDAY!

[BMWphreak]

Gee, there was no one trying to trample me as I sat in front of my computer doing my Christmas shopping...

I did go to a local store, off the beaten trail, to buy a couple of odds-n-ends and was able to donate to the local food bank, (which the store matched me 1-for-1). That just seems a whole lot more like Christmas to me!

[grifscoots]

The nice thang about internet shopping is oft times there isn't any sales tax. And using Amazon or the such, free shipping.

Bought our son an 8 piece, 18v DeWalt set for $629.00. They have it at Home Depot, but add tax. No tax, no shipping. That feels good as I'm smoothe being taxed to death, or is that taxed to debt?

[Lynn_Keen]

All this camping out and then fighting over merchandise is just one more good reason in my book to shut down all Walmart stores. Ya can add Super Target and most of them other BIG BOX stores to list as well.

[Daman858]

I hate to beat a dead horse, but I belong to three of these forums...BMW LT, Mercedes diesel owners and Ford 7.3 diesel owners and the theme is the same...everybody hates WalMart until their favorite Mobil 1 oil or a hunting rifle is on sale and then there are threads galore about it. Personally, I go to the Super WalMart all the time......I like the low prices on groceries and socks for the kids and oil for all my toys. When people behaved badly at the stores on Black Friday it is mainly becasue no one ever taught them manners and respect, not becasue of $300 lap tops.

[pkpr1998]

Hey Dave, I don't care what wallyworld has, we do not patronize them! Besides them taking advantage of the weak (employees and patrons), they are killing this country with all of the imports. Now I know that most of us have bought German motorcycles, but we don't contribute a large amount to the gross domestic product.
We are allowing China and South American countries to eat our lunch, and we are enabling wallyworld to do it. As far as prices, they are not as "inexpensive" as most people think.
I have cost-compared their groceries to our local Ingle's, most of the time I can buy items at Ingle's for less money (on the same products) as I can Sam's ( I also don't need to pay for a membership) or wallyworld. I hate the traffic at ww and they make me sick! The ONLY thing that I can say about ww that is an advantage is this; if you want to buy your milk and a pair of cheaply made chineese socks, you can do that at ww!
That's all I can say before I get on my soapbox! LOL

[jtalbot]

No Black Friday here in Denver. The wife and took our lives into our hands and went riding throughout the city. WOW! We thought it was Sunday afternoon with Denver Doncos playing a home game. There were two maybe three people in line at most stores we visited and the employees were standing around doing nothing... "it all pays the same" one employee said who had been called in for the multitudes that never showed up. We buy our stuff online... free shipping and no tax, which in some cities is almost 9%

[meese]

But Cheney calls WalMart an American success story. Apparently, all businesses should be run like that. The government, too. What deficit? 220 Billion and more for a useless war? We'll just cover it with Social Security money. Americans should be responsible for their own futures anyway. But if you don't pay your taxes on time, we're coming after you.

So much for that bake your own bread story we were subjected to earlier.

[Daman858]

Hey Ken and Brett.....This morning I put on my expensive leather jacket from L.L. Bean, the great American icon, only to find that it was made in Turkey. I parked behind my co-worker's new Chevy Equinox, you know, the one with the V-6 engine made in China......so it ain't just Wally World!

[pkpr1998]

Engines made in China? That's a load of crap! Are we going to allow China to own the good ol'e USA?
REVOLT!!!!!!!