Are They Crazy?!?!?
I had mentioned earlier that my oldest daughter was scheduled to work today at 4:45 AM…….or dark 0’clock as I like to call it. She works in retail and this is the largest retail day of the year….. Black Friday. You would think Black Friday gets the name because of the reputation this day has…..people fighting over bargains, people getting hurt in the rush to get in the stores. Actually it comes from the fact that retailers hope sales on this day will push them from red ink to black ink, or profitability, on their ledger sheets. I’m a bean counter, I know these things. 🙂
Alanna did very well with getting up so early…..I had my doubts, she is a teenager after all and we all know teenagers have the sleeping habits of vampires……up all night, sleep all day. The drive from our house was quiet….no cars in sight. The closer we got to the mall, the more cars we began to see. When we turned the corner and got a view of the lot, I was floored. I could not believe how many vehicles were there…..and there was still 20 minutes to go before the stores opened! I dropped Alanna off, and drove around until I found the closest parking space….just to give you an idea of where people who were streaming in to the parking lot had to park. This is not one of my best photos ~ I opened the door and stood on the edge of the doorway to take this.
To make this even more amazing, when I took this it is raining lightly, the temperature is 43F with winds at 24mph, which gave the outside temperature a wind chill of 34F……and there were hundreds of people waiting to shop……..at dark o’clock!! Are they crazy?!?!?
3 Comments
Jennifer
I hate, hate, hate sales and stay well away from them. I was talked into going to one yesterday at a very prestigious store. Outside there was a huge marquee with rows trestle tables piled high with expensive designer goods. The car park was marshalled with numerous bossy stewards and when we finally parked we were handed a black bin sack to contain our now slightly less expensive goods so that we could take them to the main building to pay for them. I just took one look at the melee of bustling bodies thronging around, handed back my black bin liner to a shocked assistant and promtly left. Ye Gods, these people are crazy! 🙂
Good for Alanna, she was the sanest of the lot, turning up and actually getting paid for it. 🙂
Gina
This is a new concept to me. I had never heard of Black Friday before..?! I know of one store in the UK called NEXT that do amazing sales twice a year and people queue all night to be one of the first into the store on opening morning. I think they even open the doors at an unusually early time like 6am too. I love bargains but I hate shopping in crowds. I am always happy to hit the shops towards the end of the sales for the very marked down bargains. Nothing makes my wallet happier than the 90% off rack! I hope your daughter wasn’t too exhausted coming home and that people were kind to the shop staff in their quest for bargains.
Magikal Folk
I believe the term Black Friday may be used solely in the USA because it always seems to be about how much the stores can sell on that particular day. They talk about it for weeks prior to the actual day and you can get fantastic bargains. You can also get into fights with others who may want the very item in your hand, and if you are not careful, you can also get trampled when they open the doors! I have never experienced this myself, but I have heard horror stories from others and on newscasts. I love bargains as well, but not enough to go through all of that. Alanna survived her shift that day with little problems from the customers….it was a co-worker who was making her crazy with her anxiety over the crowds. 🙂