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Friday Bloody Friday

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Dufresne, Nov 20, 2009.

  1. Dufresne

    Dufresne
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    One week from today is Black Friday, when American citizens everywhere gather together to celebrate brotherhood by killing each other over Blue-Ray players.

    There's a Target within walking distance from my house, so with the requirement of finding parking negated, I'm considering a descent into the maelstrom to see what they've got.

    Focus: What are your Black Friday plans? Camping out in front of your local Best Buy? Or barricading your front doors and windows?

    Alt. Focus: Tell your best story of the time you braved the crowds and survived.
     
  2. effinshenanigans

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    I was going to dive into some Black Friday madness last year to get a new flat screen, but a week before, Best Buy was having a great deal on a 32" LG so I got it then without having to deal with any hassle.

    This year, I'm getting up at 4am, layering just in case it's cold out, and grabbing my gun...


    ...so I can kill some ducks and geese.
     
  3. taste_my_rainbow

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    I have done major Black Friday shopping exactly once. My mom dragged me along with her to Wal-Mart one year and no deal is worth that bullshit. My "job" was to guard the cart since you couldn't move amongst all the rednecks.

    I avoid Wal-Mart like the plague on a normal day... fuck all that Black Friday nonsense.
     
  4. Renholder

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    What day is Black Friday? Monday?

    Typically, my mom and sister go shopping all that weekend and my dad and I go up our camp for deer hunting. We aren't going until Sunday this year so I might go just to see what all the fuss is about. But I assure you, it will be out of sheer morbid curiosity, kind of like watching a donkey show.

    What is this year's hot gift so I can buy it and auction it off to the highest bidder.
     
  5. shegirl

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    I've never and have no plans to ever. I have a friend that does every year. There is not enough Vodka in the world to make me want to participate.
     
  6. Tuesday

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    I don't know. I think getting loaded and wandering around belligerently hassling shoppers could be amusing. Or randomly grabbing the in store intercoms and announcing ridiculous deals on items.

    Hell, if it's a place like walmart, wander over, grab a case of beer, than push your cart around and see how many you can finish before someone says anything.


    Drunk shenanigans aside, you couldn't pay me to do actual shopping on black friday. unless it's online.
     
  7. dambee

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    I work for the largest shopping mall developer in the world...you COULD NOT pay me enough to stand outside one of our shopping malls at 6am. on Nov. 27th to be the first inside for whatever deal is to be had....

    Focus: Instead, I will be waking my ass up at 6am on the 27th to drive an hour and half south on I-74 to root on the Mighty Cincinnati Bearcats vs. Illinois... Nothing says Black Friday like getting off from work, Bloodies in the morning and Senior Day for UC football!
     
  8. Currer Bell

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    Last year was the first time I ever participated in Black Friday in terms of the whole getting up early thing. My daughter and I were heading home on a flight leaving later that morning. My mom wanted to buy a portable DVD player for us to use on the trip, and I wanted to take her up on her offer. It actually worked to our advantage that Target was going to be open super early, because otherwise we might not have had time to get one before our flight.

    Mom and I set out early and stood in a long line, chatting good-naturedly with our fellow shoppers. Employees handed out flyers showing the items on sale and a map of their location within the store. The doors open and we filed in. I made a beeline to the back and got the DVD player, along with a movie. We paid for our purchases. We left.

    I'd like to say it was crazy, but this was a piece of cake in comparison to Northern Virginia malls on pretty much any day of the week during the holidays. Now that will make your blood run cold.
     
  9. konatown

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    I've never participated but I did work at BestBuy one year.

    Shift was 4AM to 4PM with a half hour lunch break. It was fucking insane. We gave out all the tickets to our sale items 2 hours before opening and still had a line around the building behind them.

    I hated every one of the customers and wanted to kick them all in their shins.
     
  10. Moose

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    I've waited 4 hours in line at Best Buy, and the next year I waited 5 hours in line at Circuit City. For the CC trip, my friends and I brought a boombox, a card table, and a set of poker chips. We were the 18 year olds sitting in chairs in line, playing poker, and smoking phillies.

    This year, the Saranac Brewery is hosting a Keggs & Eggs on black Friday, starting at 8am. Now there's something I might wait in line for this year.
     
  11. jordan_paul

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    What is this Black Friday you speak of? Is it a sale ontop of a holiday? Or just some sale?
     
  12. Crown Royal

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    I do what every other sensible Canadian does. Namely: driving over to the United States in mid-October and doing all my Christmas shopping in one weekend. Hey, I love my country. However, our friends to the south have all the GOOD shit, and usually at about half the price (with the exception of peameal bacon and cigars). Shopping is a breeze in the States, where in Canada the malls are just stores that have the EXACT same shit as the store next to them.

    One question/complaint, though: What's with all the umpteen different family restaurants that are just fucking EVERYWHERE? Are you guys trying to kill yourselves or something?
     
  13. Sicnevol

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    I work an open to close at my retail game store. So I get to deal with all you crazy bastards that don't have the sense to stay home and be with your family. Something I am in fact denied because I have to be at work at 4AM, so I can't even go home for Thanksgiving. I swear to god if anyone bitches at me about how long they had to wait in line, I will stab them in the throat!

    I fucking hate christmas.
     
  14. theking23

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    The day after Thanksgiving is considered to be the beginning of the holiday shopping season and has big sales. Stores open really early and people line up for hours to make sure they're the first ones inside to get the hot item of the year. People have rioted and stampeded at stores before and I think some people have even died.
     
  15. kuhjäger

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    My mom and I went once to FedCo, which was a store for California government employees back in 1997. This was at a time when the Black Friday bullshit was starting to become really big.

    We were there at 5am. We could barely find parking. We got out of the car and saw a surging crowd trying to get in. We looked at each other I said, "this is crazy".

    We got back in the car, and we tried to find a place to get breakfast.
     
  16. theking23

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    That's pretty much what happened to me last year. My buddy picks me up from a Thanksgiving party at like 3am and tells me he's not taking me home, we're going to get in line for Black Friday. "Best Buy. $1 DVDs. Must" Away we go. We get there and the line goes all around the outside of the store. And it doesn't open til 6. We stand in line for about five minutes in the freezing cold, before saying fuck that. Blunt. Crave Case from White Castle. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia episodes at my place as we pass out on couches.
     
  17. jordan_paul

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    Thats pretty intense. Our busiest shopping day is boxing day (the day after christmas). Thats probably the canadian equvilant to black friday
     
  18. MooseKnuckle

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    Me and some people in my family make it out every black friday. Not to buy shit, that's lame and way too much work to save a few bucks. We watch the crazy bastards. Best Buy is by far the most entertaining. The first year we did this, we walked into the building and saw that the line was only about 30 feet from the cash registers. My dad made some comment about it not being as long of a line as he expected. A good samaritan quickly informed him that he was a dumb ass and that that was in fact the tail end of the line that wrapped around the entire fucking store. 10 minutes after it opened.

    I saw some kid, maybe 6 or 7 years old, rummaging through some video games. I watched him frantically ransack the section for a few seconds and then grab a game. He then proceeded to get a walkie-talkie out of his pocket and proudly exclaimed "DAD! I FOUND IT! I CAN'T BELIEVE I FOUND IT!" From the other end I hear his dad, who is just as excited, say "FUCK YES! BRING IT TO YOUR MOM, SHE'S IN LINE BY THE AUDIO EQUIPMENT! GO SEE IF THAT CAMERA IS STILL THERE!" I have never laughed so hard in my life.

    Another time we were at Wal-Mart just wandering around when an employee gets on the intercom and says "Ummm, please try not to hurt any of the other shoppers, but we found five more of the laptops that are on sale. They're in the electronics section now". Some old dude next to me starts shaking as if there was an earthquake, looks at me in a panic and says "I can feel the stampede a-comin', and we're directly in its path. It's every man for himself at this point."

    I saw a fight between 2 middle aged women break out when one of them stole a DVD player from the other one's cart. This day is completely fucking crazy. It doesn't matter how civilized we think we have become, on black friday we are slaves to our most primal urges, and it's fucking hilarious.
     
  19. TPapp

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    Do you work for Westfield? If so be sure to thank them for installing a 2 story Forever 21 in the mall I grew up down the street from, but it's okay I told my girlfriend I would never go in there with her.

    I've never even seen a Black Friday event in person, only on the 10 o'clock news. Seems like a silly waste of time especially when the retailers know there's a thousand idiots vying for the same product; why would they discount anything if they know you're gonna buy it anyway? Better deals are found during the crappy shopping seasons or on the internet, duh.
     
  20. TPapp

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    Gov't employees? My mom used to take us to the one on Rodeo and LaCienega back in the day and she didn't work for the government. It's also the one that was looted and burned to ground in the riots. Now it's a Target.