We had a nice Thanksgiving with Grandma over at 2:30 for the big meal. Before that there was lots of playing, running last minute errands and other things needed, plus a little football.
The newspaper yesterday morning must have weighed 10 pounds with all the black friday ads included. In the Sears flyer they had 50 inch flat screen tv’s for $299 which is about $800 off. Just for kicks we decided to drive over there for the 8pm opening. The misses guessed 75 people would be in line, I said 200. When we arrived, each door had a good sized line with probably over 2000 people total. The doors soon opened and people were sort of running in to get where they want. We came through the back entrance where the tools are and headed over to electronics. When we arrived there, there were hundreds of people in a line from coming in that side of the store. It didn’t take long before one guy in particular was yelling at all of us, more than 100 strong, telling us we can’t come through the store this way and had to go out and get in line. Of course nobody listened and the misses and I instantly knew this had the potential to turn into a really bad situation fast. All it would take would be one guy, like that guy yelling, to throw a punch, or pull a knife or a gun. The misses and I made eye contact and knew right away, we had to get out of there. Now first off, and I’m not trying to offend anyone, but I’ll bet that no one there had over a 9th grade education. It wasn’t a good crowd. You could see the potential for violence escalating every second, so I grabbed the oldest and Mom had the youngest and we headed out as fast as we came in. The youngest said he never wanted to go back there again as it was flat out scary.
On top of it, the store’s ad said they could have as few as 4 of the advertised tv’s meaning there would be a bunch of unhappy people very soon.
On the way home we decided to drive by the scourge of the earth, Walmart, to see what kind of crowds were there. We were not going in, just going to see the crowds. Turns out they too were already open and the parking lot was chaos. We quickly drove through and headed home.
So this was our first and last time ever going to any kind of black friday event. It makes you wonder what are these peoples priorities, are they just buying to buy? Do they really think they’ll get that much better of a deal at midnight? Don’t they know the stores use a few loss leaders to get you in hoping you then buy the other regular price items. They had a study on the news saying many things in these sales have been less expensive earlier in the year, oh well, I guess it’s all in the perception.
So today, without a new 50 inch $299 tv, we will be putting up Christmas lights, playing some football and eating some turkey. Our bird was a little dry in the breast but overall not bad. We’re on a mission to find some giant pinecones for the misses. Turns out they really only grow in Oregon on sugar pine trees. Hope I don’t have to drive up there!
Tonight we’re supposed to go to some friends who have kids in school with our kids. We skipped all 3 invites yesterday and decided to just stay home. It’s tough to go out after the big meal. I’m trying to stay completely away from work until Monday as we all need a freakin break. It was great to have my Mom over as we can’t seem to get her here much.
No articles on the dangers of our World or society today, I’m giving you all a break from your continuing education but don’t be lulled into sleep, the issues are still out there. Hope everyone has a great day, take care, stay safe and God Bless.