One thing that the hubs and I do not have in common is a love for shopping on Black Friday. He loves it, I don’t. Last year he convinced me to come along, and it reminded me of the many reasons why I don’t shop on Black Friday. Tonight, he’ll be going again, although I can’t fathom the idea, and I will be staying home and getting some extra snuggles with my kiddos.
Why I Don’t Shop On Black Friday
When I worked retail, I had to work on Black Friday. It was miserable, and I was able to see how the very day after people are celebrating everything that they are thankful for, they turn into greedy monsters who fight over the craziest things just because their prices have been marked down.
The very first Black Friday that I ever worked, I worked at a small jewelry store in the local mall. It was very crowded, but thankfully no severe craziness. We had a drawing for a gift certificate, and we marked everything down 25%. The only thing that I remember was when I tried to leave to get something to eat, not being able to walk through the mall because it was so crowded. I literally starved for most of the day. Oh, and I remember being cussed out because I wouldn’t sell a $2,500 ring for $250. That was fun.
Fast forward to being an assistant manager at Walmart. This was my one and only Black Friday in a large retail chain. I had to get there at 3:00 a.m., and it was already crowded. I worked electronics, which as you can imagine is VERY crowded on Black Friday. We got all of our Black Friday deals in place as quickly as possible, and before the sale started at 4:00, a fight broke out over a place in line. Little bitty 5’4″ and 110 pound me (note: I am not that small anymore *sigh*) went to break it up. I was thrown into into an SD card display, and got a few small cuts on my back from the metal rods that they are hung on. I got back up, and then got shoved into the Kodak photo printing kiosk. The rest is a blur, but I know I left with two cracked ribs and a sprained ankle that day.
Fast Forward To Last Year
Last year, after a lot of prodding from the hubs (then boyfriend), we left Thanksgiving dinner at his parents house, and went into the city to start gearing up for Black Friday shopping. The main reason that I wanted to go was to get a Skylanders game for my little bambinos at a deeply discounted price. Although I will admit that I had a few things that I was very interested in getting for myself as well.
You see, every year the hubs’ grandma (MawMaw) gives us money for Christmas to spend on ourselves. This money has been affectionately names MawMaw Money. I wanted to spend my MawMaw Money on some new clothes at Old Navy for 50% off. I bravely walked into the store, got 15 feet past the door, and then started feeling like a cow being led into a crowded trailer headed to a slaughter house. The hubs was sitting outside laughing, because he knew how it would go. You see, I don’t do crowds very well, and I may just be a bit claustrophobic… I spent almost the rest of the trip sitting in the safety of my car.
We did make it to Toys R Us to to attempt to get the game, but they wouldn’t honor the deal that had been advertised online, and I got upset and left everything sitting at the register. We quickly went to Best Buy (it’s around 2:00 a.m. now, in case you’re wondering) and they were nice enough to honor Toys R Us’s advertised price. After that, I told the hubs that he could shop all he wanted, but he had to take me home first.
Why I will NEVER shop on Thanksgiving
So, I truly didn’t think about it last year when we were out shopping, especially since it was night when we started, but all of those poor employees had to leave their families to come in to work and prepare for these sales, AND to have to deal with greedy, miserable, self-indulgent people, on a holiday that should be all about family.
I don’t understand why stores have started having their Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving, but the hubs and I have firmly agreed on one thing, we will not be supporting any businesses that are open on Thanksgiving and taking their employees (and customers!) away from their family.
What I do instead…
In case you haven’t figured it out, Cyber Monday is much more my speed. I carefully combed through the Black Friday ads and showed the hubs what I would like for him to get if possible at the in-store sales, but I already have a full list of things that we will be ordering online…. And I, well, I’ll probably be steering clear of major retail chains until January.
