Black Friday

I do not black friday shop. and this terrible trend of retail stores being open on thanksgiving, is just ridiculous. but uneducated people who think they're getting a steal on something will just keep enabling retailers with this atrocious behavior. Good Luck, and don't get trampled.

Starting to get a taste of black Friday here in Canada...Fun!

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I have fun on Black Friday. The people watching is part of the fun. I usually plan out trips for specific deals. The Thursday openings make me sad though. I worked enough crazy hours in retail in my life. This is crazy. It should be a holiday.

I hope this all back fires on retailers. This has gotten completely ridiculous. What happening to actually enjoying the holiday with our families.

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NO THANK YOU! I don't care to miss out on any of this Ridiculousness! I'll be Spending the Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend with my Family giving Thanks!!!

I usually try do most Black Friday shopping online if I can. I have ventured out for somethings I really needed (I have a huge project scheduled for the long weekend one year and no saw...). But I avoid the places I know will be a mob scene.

This year I have yet to see anything I might even try for online so I might be sitting out completely this year.

I really do wish the stores would stay closed on Thanksgiving (and most holidays) but sometimes those holidays are the only days free to shop for some people. But I won't be among them.

I started black friday shopping back when the sales started at 10pm. I was able to spend my time with my family and still have time to get to the sales. Now that it starts at 6pm i have to really want something to leave my family and stand in line. I enjoy the crazy people watching and have never been trampled or had to stand in to crazy of lines, but then i live in a small midwest city.
Good luck working on Black friday, enjoy the people watching!

All this black friday and now Thanksgiving stuff is sad and shows you how out of whack this country is with regards to what the meaning of Christmas should be. The massive rush on consumerism is disgusting. Stuff, stuff and more stuff. I'll only be happy with more stuff.......must spend, spend, spend to show people how much I love them.....@#$#%!! It all just disgusts me!

The positive for you is that you will get some exercise if you are on the sales floor, and you will be safe from trampling if you are at the counter/register.

I've done Black Friday shopping in the past, and most appreciate those stores that are very well organized and have a "flow" set up for foot traffic. I've gone to a few stores in various cities in the Midwest (mostly Omaha and Des Moines) and have never seen the crazy mobs and trampling like what they always tend to show on the news. Maybe it is because it is the Midwest, or maybe the news just shows the worst. Either way, the worst situation I've been in was waiting in a really long line for hours and then not getting what I had hoped to buy. In those cases, it is most ideal if stores give out tickets before opening the doors... they start at the front of the line and go back, handing out tickets to purchase big sellers. They only have as many tickets as they have items, so there is no need to trample each other going inside.

I have also personally gotten some great deals by shopping on Black Friday, on everything from a TV, a kayak, and smaller items like a blender.

This year, I'm hiking/camping/hunting/fishing with my brother over Thanksgiving and won't be leaving the wilderness until Sat. I'll be in the cold, but not in a line... which isn't a terrible alternative.

AgentOrangeJuice wrote: »

I do not black friday shop. and this terrible trend of retail stores being open on thanksgiving, is just ridiculous. but uneducated people who think they're getting a steal on something will just keep enabling retailers with this atrocious behavior. Good Luck, and don't get trampled.[/]

I agree
The LOW prices can be caught year round if you PAY ATTENTION to the sales. I once got a 46 inch TV from walmart in Feb for under $200 and I did not have to wait online or batter witht he crazies

We make shopping a FUN experience...by either shopping online or going to somewhere small a week or 2 after Thanksgiving is over...avoid the madness of Black Friday.
Our family tradition was always to decorate our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving and enjoy the time together...when I was in college I was working holiday hours to make extra money so I got wrangled into doing Black Friday hours...it sucked. It sucked a lot. People pushing each other...one little girl ran smack into a folding table (one I made SURE to cover in brightly colored sweaters so EVERYONE could see it was pulled out)...her dad was off in lala land and her mother was too busy fighting with me about why she couldn't use all of her coupons in one transaction...that neither of them watched the kid and she ran into the table and gashed her head open.
It was horrible. I hate Black Friday. I think people who choose to shop on Thanksgiving day and Black Friday are ridiculous...what a horrible way to spend the holidays. I'd rather wait, go to local shops instead of big stores that are doing this crap...grab a coffee and enjoy my holiday shopping experience.
*steps off soap box*

This will be my first year ever not working on Black Friday OR Thanksgiving. I consider myself lucky but will really miss working those 8pm-8am shifts (I'm not joking).

I worked Black Friday at Starbucks for 3 years as a shift manager. Oh the fun of it! The crowd would start really early on Thanksgiving so there was no preparing. I'd come in around 7pm with a Redline energy drink and have my Love on backup (We live less then a mile from both my old Starbucks job and my current job) with more energy drinks to bring by when needed. Last year was the craziest year of all. The line was around building and I was on double bar duty with my best friend and partner in crime. There were so many people piled into our cafe that we couldn't see the floor. The girl on Drive Thru yells, "Oh my god, they're fighting in the drive-thru!" Sure enough, a woman cut off another driver and they decided to hash it out with more then words. These women had gotten out of their cars and were fighting in our drive-thru. Did I mention my store was in the parking lot of a Walmart? A few hours later about five cop cars began taking up more space in our parking lot then we could handle. A man had left his keys in his car by accident when he went to wait in line at Walmart. Someone took his car as their present.

Then there were the girls the year before who came through the Drive-Thru around 4am and began showing me the bite marks on their arms and legs from the fight they had gotten into at Victoria Secret.

We always had fun. We'd have turkey and all the fixings and everything would slow down for a few hours around 3am-5pm. My family was nice enough to schedule our dinner around my work schedule, too. This year will be nice, though. We are going to Ren Fest for black Friday instead of working or shopping.