Black Friday

So, I went shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. This day is known in the retail industry as "Black Friday." I have worked retail before and I have worked on that particular day. I have gotten up early to open a store to the mass of crazy people that seem to think they are getting a deal worth losing sleep over. I have never been one of those crazy people. That is until 2007. And, yes, I am still going to refer to all people willing to do this, including me, as crazy people.

First, I got up at 3:45am. I can only think of two or three other occasions in my life when I awakened, on purpose, before 4am in the morning after going to sleep at around 10:30pm. And those occasions were to catch planes to go on vacation and I promptly slept on the plane once I was buckled in. I did not go about doing a day's worth of activities. Once I was awake - or semi-conscious - I did not go to great lengths to get ready to go out. For instance, I did not style my hair. I put on a Mets cap and pulled my curls through the back. I would soon learn that I would be an exception in the crazy people world. Many of the women I encountered, including my aunt, had taken the time to fully style their hair, apply makeup, and put on jewelry. All to go shopping at 4am. It really must be true that women dress for other women and not for men. My Mets cap hairdo came in handy though - men in more than one store asked if I needed help finding something. Including a Yankee fan in Staples when I couldn't find the Blue Tooth that was on sale. And they say NY fans don't get along. Pshaw!

Anyway, we ventured out and went to J.C. Penney's. You maybe unaware, as I was, that good ole Jacque Penne' gives out snow globes on Black Friday but only so many. We missed the cutoff - entirely my fault for taking too long to get out of the house - and didn't get a snow globe. We passed Circuit City on the way out and I felt like shouting at the people lined up all around the building that they were crazy but I remembered, except for standing in the cold outside a closed store, I was one of them. Then we went Kohl's. Both JCP and Kohl's were open at 4am. We hit Kohl's at around 4:10 and it was crowded. We made our way through the store picked up the things we wanted and got in line. We left the Kohl's at around 4:30 with a good haul for 20 minutes.

As we were walking out of the store another woman was walking in front of us about 25 feet ahead of us. Now it was 4:30am so it was still dark but the parking lot had lights in it. We watched as a car pulled out from one of the parking bay aisles, turned to go in front of the store, and struck the woman in front of us. Yes, he hit a pedestrian. I was stunned! I recovered and immediately shouted, "are you okay?" She was not knocked over and her packages appeared to absorb most of the force but still she'd been hit by a car. She was also stunned by what had happened but managed to recover enough to say something to the driver of the vehicle. His defense was that he was concerned about hitting a car coming from another direction. She responded that she was more concerned about him hitting her than another car. I then loudly stated, "if you hit another car you get a ticket, if you hit a pedestrian you go to jail." She did not insist, as I would have, that he stay and they call the police. (Who knows how swollen her knees must have gotten later in the day - that's where the bumper hit her.) And everyone went on their way.

Our way took us next to Modell's and then to Old Navy. Both of which were in the same shopping center as a Staples. Staples did not open until 6am and there were people standing outside at 5am. Did I mention it was only in the mid-20's? Crazy people. The lines at Modell's and Old Navy weren't bad and everyone we encountered was very friendly. We experienced the same thing in the line at Kohl's. Overall most people seemed happy and full of the holiday spirit. That is until we went to the other Staples in time for it to open. It was a madhouse and people grabbed things so quickly that they were hard to find. Thus, why I looked lost and Yankee fan graciously offered his assistance. Staples was the only place where I saw people get testy with one another and it looked as if there could be problems. Office supplies, who'da thunk it?

After Staples we only had two more stops and I was hungry and tired. And if you know me or have read this blog you know I was also grumpy. I don't need a lot to be easy going but sleep, food, and attention from a boy when I want it are essential. As long as I feel pretty, am well rested, and not hungry I'm pretty easy to get along with. If any of those are out of whack, look out. Such was the case by 6:30am. So, I went to the bagel shop in the shopping center of our last stop while my aunt searched Bob's for a purchase. All that was left after our food stop was Ulta and it didn't open until 7am. We hit Ulta right as it opened, purchased our wares, and headed home. We weren't in the house five minutes and I went upstairs to take a nap.

I can honestly say it was an interesting and fun experience. I can almost understand why crazy people do it every year, especially if, like me, they have fun shopping companions and aren't buying something everyone else wants. However, I'd have to be talked into doing it again because I really love sleep. And next time there'd need to be coffee and good snacks.