Black Friday Shopping

Having worked in retail on Black Friday, I am merely going to say this to all you shoppers who insist on losing your minds by falling into the consumer trap:

Be kind to the employees. They are not being paid overtime. They are being paid minimum wage at best. Because they wear nametags, this does not mean they are to be treated like they are brain damaged nor to be used as babysitting staff nor are they to be the recipient of your frustration or anger. They are doing their jobs and they are human beings and are just as stressed as you are with an eight hour (or more) shift of dealing with the stress. Keep your children by your side so they don't tear up displays, pick up something if you knock it over by accident, and speak in normal conversational tones when asking for help. Yelling won't make YOU give faster service or pull a toy out of your ass, so why should it be different for other human beings?

Just ... be good to those in public service out there. Okay?

I went to KMart and Old Navy this morning. I'm headed to Walmart briefly at Midnight then Target at 5.

I refuse to shop on Black Friday, because I am not crazy, unlike my family members. Right now, my sister and my father have been standing in line at Walmart since 7 p.m. to get a TV, that they will not be able to purchase until 5 a.m. Crazy!!

I think I may be headed to Ultimate Electronics at 4 AM to get a TV. I had a good experience with them last year and am hoping that it continues. I don't like to fight the crowds at Walmart/Target/Best Buy.

I usually go crazy shopping on Black Friday, but I just don't feel like it this year. I'm saving the money and instead spending much less to get my hair done, go tan, and grab some new specs.

I might go to Target, BestBuy, and American Eagle if I do decide to go.

I've never gone Black Friday shopping. Sadness.

The only black friday shopping I will be doing is here.. No Black Friday in the great white north (And it is white. we got freezing rain and snow last night.. ugh)

I'm not leaving the house. If I can't order it online, I'm not getting it.

I don't think I have gone shopping on black friday yet, and it isn't going to start this year. Got home from the airport last night at 11, and have to be back there by 4 this afternoon. Of course it is a 2 hour drive without traffic, so not much extra time today.

Just shopping here, and that's all. I was going to do some shopping, but decided against it.

We bought a new dining table last weekend, and the supervisor told us to come back to get a 20% off adjustment, so we are doing that. Otherwise, it's all online shopping for me!

Went out last night to Target (CRAZY) and Meijer (AWESOME).

The tv's that were 50% off ($250) were LONG gone. I got a new TomTom (I had to...too much failed theoretical geography) and saved over $110 saved on that alone.

I went out to Target, Kmart and Walmart. People are interesting to say the least lol but got a bunch of stuff for the kids. It wasn't too bad but yeah I didn't get the tv's either lol

I've never been Black Friday shopping, nor do I have a desire to. It's just too damn stressful for little payoff.

I don't do Black Friday in the stores. Have to wake up at an ungodly hour to maybe get a deal not fun. Plus I don't have enough money to buy most of the deals anyway. Instead I just shopped EF's black Friday deals, easier and I can use gift-cards.

The only black friday shopping I did was on EF

I went to Wal-Mart at 4am. It wasn't too bad here in my town, and I got most of what I wanted. My mom and sister got their big sale items they went for (iPod Touch and Canon Rebel). We also hit up the mall, and I took advantage of the 60% off here at Eden as well!

I was pretty lazy. The stores here didn't have much I needed, so I Black Friday shopped from the comfort of my couch

My people skills are not refined enough to deal with people snatching items out of my cart- I would go to jail if I attempted to shop on Black Friday. For assault lol

We didn't go out this year and don't feel like we missed anything.

I have never gone shopping on Black Friday before. I only went because one of my cousins (each of us has "Christmas" once every NINE YEARS because there are nine of us, but they thought it was "too much" so had a half assed party Thanksgiving week, half their family had the stomach flu and they didn't tell anyone until we got there (I wouldn't have gone, my immune system sucks)and they "forgot" to make up a grab bag for the teens and young adults, so most of the kids over 12 got NOTHING and it sucked) so I had to buy gifts for this fiasco on Black Friday. Worst Christmas Party Ever.

However, I REFUSE to get up in the middle of the night, and one of my kids and I got to the mall at a decent hour when there was full sun. The people who worked at Sears seemed to think it was just an other day, the lines were 100000 people long, and they were S-L-O-W-L-Y turning over every item looking for price tags and asking people S-L-O-W-L-Y if they want to upgrade their credit cards, if they wanted to join the savings plan, if they were on the "Kids Club" and various shit. I left the store pissed off (some moron, when I asked where the Christmas decorations were said, "I dont' think we got none." WTF? They DID, he was just brain dead and didn't CARE about the customers. Really? Black Friday? You work at Sears? And you "don't think we got none" pertaining to Christmas decorations?

This amazed me because I HAVE WORKED RETAIL, all through High School and part of college and I worked Black Friday (and the Saturday before Christmas, which is actually busier) and we had to move our asses, work QUICKLY and get people out the freaking door and wait on the next customer AND smile and be polite and realize it was about THE CUSTOMER, NOT US, and certainly not act like it was a regular Tuesday morning in April and there was no one in line. I am appalled at the lack of quality workers at Sears in recent years. Most of the smaller shops have MUCH better service as do the high end stores like Nordstom's, but who can afford to shop there?

I have to say, though. The young women who worked at Claire's were absolute professionals. My Little One wanted her ears pierced, (and I thought, "Not if it's too crowded.") But, we got there mid morning and it wasn't too crowded in Claire's, and they had enough people manning the registers and the floor and those girls were working HARD! My Little One got her ears pierced and we were in Sears later and one of the earrings was GONE, I started to cry, (I was really stressed by the lack of people on the Floor in Sears and the idiocy of the workers there) so I called Claire's back and they apologized (even though it wasn't their fault sometimes things just happen) and we went back to the store and they put a new earring right back in, as soon as they finished an other piercing, (and didn't charge us) and they were SO sweet with my daughter and I was very impressed with the way these young women took their jobs seriously, kept their humor and WORKED hard.

I had planned on going out for Black Friday just for the experience (and hopefully an awesome deal or two), what would have been my first time. However, I came down with a wicked cold on Tuesday and I'm still not fully over it. No way was I going to go out and risk getting even sicker while my immune system was trying to fight the cold I had. Maybe next year will be the year I go out.