Black Friday

Here we go again. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the States.  And while I think it’s a wonderful holiday, full of good food, family and friends, I have a big problem with what it unleashes in our society.

In a word: commercialism.  It kicks off what is probably the biggest sale day of the year in the US. 

If the turkey were still alive on Black Friday
- and understood the meaning of the day -
I guarantee this would be his reaction.
 Because they're smart creatures.
And it's the only logical reaction

And it comes right after a day dedicated to being thankful for what we have.

And football. I cannot forget football.   And food.  Especially the food. *drool*.

But seriously.  Thankfulness one day, chaotic running around, fighting, and who knows what else the next? Something doesn’t seem right about that.

Clearly some person out there thought that there was no better way to spend the day after the day spent stuffing oneself silly in order to commemorate the pilgrims landing on a big rock that became the namesake for a car than to … hit up the shopping malls, biting, kicking and screaming your way to that “I can’t believe how little it costs! I have no idea what it is but I. Must. Have. It!” deal.

And in the past few years, because retailers here cannot bear to lose their customers to a country that somehow manages to have lower prices than us year-round on most merchandise anyway, the concept of Black Friday has come to Canada, in hopes of keeping their clientele in-country.

I have never gone south of the border for a Black Friday shopping trip. Or any shopping trip, for that matter.  And I really don’t think I will ever step through the doors of a store here that advertises Black Friday deals.  It just strikes me as too intense. 

Today I received a flier from Tiger Direct informing me that, on Friday, the store will open at 5 AM.  There ain’t no deal good enough to get me out of bed early enough to be there for 5, nor is there enough incentive anywhere to spend the night in the parking lot. Alone. In my car.

Yeah, there’s a recipe for something bad to happen.  That is, if I don’t freeze to death first.

I mean, who comes up with this stuff?

Oh, I know. They want to get the people whose consciences won’t let them call in sick to take advantage of a good deal.  Gotta milk every single penny out of Canadian shoppers, eh?

Having worked retail in a past life, I pity the sales associates who have to be there before the crack of dawn and who need to deal with the mad crowds.  Not to mention, the clean-up afterwards.

Salesperson: “I’m sorry ma’am, but we don’t seem to have your size anymore.”

Customer: “What? But I drove 5 million hours to get here! I haven’t slept, peed or eaten in 3 days!  Come on, you gotta help me!!!”

Salesperson: [in their head] “And this is what I got up at 3 in the morning for?”

Salesperson: “Sir, let go of the [insert whatever toy is considered hot this year that I don’t know about because I don’t have kids].  The little girl over there had it first.”  [in their head] “ You’ve already broken her arm; do you want to break her heart, too?”

Salesperson: [at the end of their shift] "Goodness.  Did our store name get replaced with a trash can sign? Who raised these ... animals?"

Okay, maybe I’m getting a little too carried away here.  Point is, is it really worth going through all that for a good deal?  I don’t think so. 

Though I must admit I did look at the Tiger Direct deals to see if there was anything I was interested in at a decent price...

Disclaimer: I totally made up the customer/salesperson lines.  Any resemblance to anything any real person ever said or any dialogue that has taken place is entirely coincidental.