I like my Fridays like my Women...Black.
Lets look at America from a foreigner's view for a moment. Let us view a single day of the year, say the third friday of November. Some of you may ask why I choose this day, of all days, thinking that I have some reason or another. Well the truth is that I do, this day is Black Friday.
To a foreigner it must seem crazy, getting up well before the break of dawn (and in some cases the break of dusk) to wait out in the freezing cold for hours before a shop opens. To a foreigner there is nothing special about this day, nor the day before it. Yet somehow, an entire nation knows this day for some reason. What a foreigner does not know is that this day signals the start of the Chirstmas shopping season. This is the day after Thanksgiving and it means SALES!
I too look forward to this day, but not for all the same reasons as everyone else. I do enjoy great deals on items that usually cost double what they go for on this day, but I do not shop for gifts. That is to say, I do not shop for gifts for other people. I shop for me. I find that this day is the perfect day to find myself a birthday present seeing as how my birthday is always in the same week. This tradition started maybe five years ago when my dad went out on Black Friday to buy christmas gifts for my brother, my sister and me. I wanted to tag along and natrually was denied the request. However, the year after I was brought with, I think to ensure getting double of an item (this is the result of limiting customers on the number of an item you can buy) the item I believe was a dirt cheap DVD player for my brother and sister to each have. Well, I figured if I was going to be there at the break of day, suffering in the cold, and it was right around my birthday, I deserved a treat. And so the tradition began, only me and my father brave the cold and crowds year after year, even if there is nothing to brave them for.
This year waiting in line was an expirience. After scoping out the sale papers for weeks online and the day before with a hard copy, my father and I realized there wasn't much worth getting, that is unless you are like me and want to have an enormous amount of storage space for your computer. So I treated myself to an external hard drive that was dirt cheap. My dad tagged along just for the fun of it, and in the process picked up some jewel cases and photo paper. We also managed to avoid the hellish lines at Best Buy (our usual place to go) and we defected to Staples (which is always the store we hit after we checkout at Best Buy). This seemed to be the right choice to make.
Here is the thing, my dad and I usually get up at 3:30 and get to the store between 4:00 and 4:30. We arrived at Staples at 4:23 and there were only twenty-five people in front of us. Well, I over heard the people infront of us saying to others around them that they arrived at 3:00. So my dad and I waited for almost an hour and a half an we got a slightly worse place in line...not bad if you ask me. This makes me wonder what time the people in front started waiting. By people in front I mean the five or so sitting in chairs bundled up, the large man in shorts and a long-sleeve shirt with his daughter in pajamas, and the person next to him wearing so many layers it was hard to tell if there was actually a person inside. I reiterate, how long were they there. Also, how in the world did that man survive the night in shorts and a shirt? Granted it was a warmer than usual Black Friday, but seriously?
Not much later in the waiting, and a few new-comers behind my dad and me, a man comes up and starts telling how he just walked over from Best Buy. Apparently this man got into the line at 11:00 the previous night...and was 103rd in line. Now Best Buy had a good deal on a so-so laptop, but if you get there at 11:00 and the line is immense already, I see no point in waiting. Well this guy did, and after he got his slip for his 32" LCD TV came over and waited for some deal or another at Staples. Idiot.
I must admit a lie. Before I said that my dad and I were 26th in line, well that isn't completely true. When I counted I was 26th, but when we got there we were farther back. about 5:15 the people that entered the line at 3:00 heard about some deal across town and left to go get it. They gave up a nice spot in line, a spot that could make or break waiting in line for other people, just to go across town and be last in line for something else. Well, I wasn't complaining because I moved on up.
Eventually the employees come through the line and hand our our insurance slips, and I get the one I came for. My dad grabs one for something he didn't need or want, "Just in case". There is some more waiting around until they let us in early. Like five minutes early. 'Twas nice. In reality my dad and I could have been in and out of there by 6:07, but I switched lines for checkout because there was a misleading answer to one of my questions to an employee. Either way, I think we were out by 6:15 and no later than 6:20. My dad also handed his insurance slip to the people behind us who needed one.
To a foreigner it must seem crazy, getting up well before the break of dawn (and in some cases the break of dusk) to wait out in the freezing cold for hours before a shop opens. To a foreigner there is nothing special about this day, nor the day before it. Yet somehow, an entire nation knows this day for some reason. What a foreigner does not know is that this day signals the start of the Chirstmas shopping season. This is the day after Thanksgiving and it means SALES!
I too look forward to this day, but not for all the same reasons as everyone else. I do enjoy great deals on items that usually cost double what they go for on this day, but I do not shop for gifts. That is to say, I do not shop for gifts for other people. I shop for me. I find that this day is the perfect day to find myself a birthday present seeing as how my birthday is always in the same week. This tradition started maybe five years ago when my dad went out on Black Friday to buy christmas gifts for my brother, my sister and me. I wanted to tag along and natrually was denied the request. However, the year after I was brought with, I think to ensure getting double of an item (this is the result of limiting customers on the number of an item you can buy) the item I believe was a dirt cheap DVD player for my brother and sister to each have. Well, I figured if I was going to be there at the break of day, suffering in the cold, and it was right around my birthday, I deserved a treat. And so the tradition began, only me and my father brave the cold and crowds year after year, even if there is nothing to brave them for.
This year waiting in line was an expirience. After scoping out the sale papers for weeks online and the day before with a hard copy, my father and I realized there wasn't much worth getting, that is unless you are like me and want to have an enormous amount of storage space for your computer. So I treated myself to an external hard drive that was dirt cheap. My dad tagged along just for the fun of it, and in the process picked up some jewel cases and photo paper. We also managed to avoid the hellish lines at Best Buy (our usual place to go) and we defected to Staples (which is always the store we hit after we checkout at Best Buy). This seemed to be the right choice to make.
Here is the thing, my dad and I usually get up at 3:30 and get to the store between 4:00 and 4:30. We arrived at Staples at 4:23 and there were only twenty-five people in front of us. Well, I over heard the people infront of us saying to others around them that they arrived at 3:00. So my dad and I waited for almost an hour and a half an we got a slightly worse place in line...not bad if you ask me. This makes me wonder what time the people in front started waiting. By people in front I mean the five or so sitting in chairs bundled up, the large man in shorts and a long-sleeve shirt with his daughter in pajamas, and the person next to him wearing so many layers it was hard to tell if there was actually a person inside. I reiterate, how long were they there. Also, how in the world did that man survive the night in shorts and a shirt? Granted it was a warmer than usual Black Friday, but seriously?
Not much later in the waiting, and a few new-comers behind my dad and me, a man comes up and starts telling how he just walked over from Best Buy. Apparently this man got into the line at 11:00 the previous night...and was 103rd in line. Now Best Buy had a good deal on a so-so laptop, but if you get there at 11:00 and the line is immense already, I see no point in waiting. Well this guy did, and after he got his slip for his 32" LCD TV came over and waited for some deal or another at Staples. Idiot.
I must admit a lie. Before I said that my dad and I were 26th in line, well that isn't completely true. When I counted I was 26th, but when we got there we were farther back. about 5:15 the people that entered the line at 3:00 heard about some deal across town and left to go get it. They gave up a nice spot in line, a spot that could make or break waiting in line for other people, just to go across town and be last in line for something else. Well, I wasn't complaining because I moved on up.
Eventually the employees come through the line and hand our our insurance slips, and I get the one I came for. My dad grabs one for something he didn't need or want, "Just in case". There is some more waiting around until they let us in early. Like five minutes early. 'Twas nice. In reality my dad and I could have been in and out of there by 6:07, but I switched lines for checkout because there was a misleading answer to one of my questions to an employee. Either way, I think we were out by 6:15 and no later than 6:20. My dad also handed his insurance slip to the people behind us who needed one.
posted by Danny at 11:24 AM
1 Comments:
Middle class America... how I love thee. The only place where people get up 3 hours before a store opens for plasma TVs and MP3 players.
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