ARE YOU SHOPPING ON BLACK FRIDAY ?

11/25/2009

Hi Everyone...

Are you shopping on black friday ?...

Me, I don't think so .....I shop all year round..


Cheers..Joe..

I never go to the stores on Black Friday. In fact, I try to avoid them the whole month of December.

Waiting in line so I can save five dollars on an electronic gadget holds no allure for me. Wonder if there'll be another stampede this year, where a bunch of shoppers ran over and trampled a Walmart employee to death in their frenzy to buy cheap TVs.

I never have nor will.

Carol

I don't understand the attraction of black Friday. Standing in lines and looking for parking places in a crowded lot is not my idea of a good way to shop.

Of course, 134 million Americans disagree.

Malcolm

Well, they would, wouldn't they? LOL!

In a word, NO!

Black Friday = stores so crowded you can't get around without bumping into people and when you get to what you want you find it's sold out and that's assuming you've found a place to park the car in the first place!

Some people go to stores at like 5:00 AM to go shopping. It's quite hard for me to get up that early and not be so sleepy I'm virtually half dead.

11/25/2009

The reason I dislike Black Friday is I worked
in retail , let's just say this Dept. store starts
with a K , come to your own conclusions, no
it's not K Mart...I had to get up at 2:00 AM in
in the morning to be there at 3:00 AM for that
day , I have never seen a store in my 25 years
of being in retail open that early , in New York
Macy's and Lord & Taylor never, ever did that !
Many of the customers were abusive and the
management there was very nasty towards the
employees , it amazes me how companies like
this get away with it and if you say you'll take
them to court, their answer is " You'll Never Win!"
I'm so happy that I'm retired now , no more dealing
with the public, today it's like a horror story..

Cheers...Joe

What rational person goes shopping at 3:00AM?

If I were told that the only day I would be allowed to Christmas shop were the day after Thanksgiving, nobody would get Christmas gifts from me.

Ann

11/25/2009

I don't know any sane person who shops
at 3:00 AM in the morning, even though
here in Santa Fe, NM they line up at
Walmart at 2:00 AM ...Totally NUTS !

Shelagh..

Do they do Black Friday in England ?

Cheers..Joe

Black Friday? No, We have the January sales. Some people sleep in sleeping bags on the pavements outside department stores to be first in line for special big reductions (reduced to draw the crowds).

three words...no way baby.

It's really amazing what people will do to save a few bucks.

In my 70 years, I have never heard the term "Black Friday." In the past few days I saw it on various posts. What the hell is it? I've heard of "Good Friday" and "Friday the 13th." To me, the "black" in Friday makes it sound bad - like "Bad Friday."

11/26/2009

Abe..

I take it you have never lived in the United
States , I see you live in Germany, that's where my
ancestors came from in 1865 , here in the USA it's
the biggest shopping day after Thanksgiving, stores
have crazy sales for the Christmas Season, it's kind
of nutty to know people stand outside stores to get in
at 3:00 AM , me no way, never have done it and never
will do it , I shop all year round , easy on the nerves...

Cheers..Joe

Abe, Black Friday is supposed to put the retail merchants in the black, financially speaking, from the rush to begin Christmas shopping by taking advantage of special sales prices. In this case, as you can see, "black" is better than "red."

Ann

In Germany there was Octoberfest - a celebration of the harvest I believe. Thanksgiving is specifically a U.S. holiday. Because it always falls on Thursday, somebody started offering sales on Friday since many people had it off. Then, they went nutzy with it from my perspective. For some people, it is a stressful day of disappointment by missing the bargains (for which they may be as few as 5 with hundreds of people in line all night) to making it a family fun day including breakfast out and assigning stores. It has become sort of a bellweather to the fate of retail for the holiday season shopping.

Joe,
yes I've lived in the U.S. I was born there. I moved around a lot within the US, Canada, Europe and the Middle East. I moved permanently to Germany in 2001 when I retired.

Ann, I now understand. Black certainly is better than being in the red. I think a "green" Friday would also represent buying and not the depressing connotation of black.

DK. I don't believe the October Fest has anything to do with Thanksgiving. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oktoberfest
As you know, it was started in Munich and the main theme is beer, although all the other goodies to eat are consumed as well. The festival has a carnival atmosphere.
As for the mad dash for bargains, I can't imagine participating in that. Besides, I don't believe everything advertised is a bargain. I've seen too many retail gimmicks. People are gullible and the merchants know it.

The original "Oktoberfest" occurred in Munich, on October 18, 1810: For the commemoration of their marriage, Crown Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig I) and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen (namesake of the Theresienwiese festival grounds) organized a great horse race (the marriage took place on October 12; the horse race on October 17 — therefore, there are different dates named as being the first Oktoberfest). per Wikipedia - I was way off about the harvest part -

No problem DK. One can live in a place many years and still not know the why of things.
I don't know if it has happened to you, but with me I would be in an area and think that "someday" I would visit certain places, and then after I moved, I had to return to see the things I had missed.

There used to be a movie long ago called Black Friday. It was a B or C Horror movie that only Casa Grande, Arizona could get. hahah.

I think Dick would like the sounds of Black Friday. It is a city thing. My grand-daughters were out all night. They had a spread sheet of gifts that the kids wanted, where they were available and for how much. Off they went. The crowds were part of their fun.

There were fights at the Brandon Walmart over some toy and the police had to settle that one. Merrry Chrisssssstmas!

I do not have the energy and I cannot be up past nine or ten and that is if I am in my house and not driving and I prefer it that way.

To each his own fun, however.

I did go get the tree today and took my big blue monster Dell to a lovely geek. I will come home with a nice IBM with everything I need for 80.00. That Big Blue Thing cost me 2339.00 and is now so antique that even Dell has no parts for it. It is four years old. Go figure.

Love,
Betty