Black Friday
Since I was at my parents house & had a built in babysitter, I decided to do something I swore I would never, EVER do. Flipping through the sale papers on Thursday got me so excited about Christmas that I broke my solemn vow and planned to get up before the light of day on Black Friday.
“You’re crazy,” my mother lamented.
No! I was inspired!
So I laid out all the sales flyers & planned my attack. First Target, then Wal-Mart, Sams Club, Home Depot, Circuit City & various drugstores on the way back to the house. “I’ll be back by 9:00am,” I told my mother. She laughed at me. She LAUGHED at me! Unbeliever! Ye who do not believe! Ye who does not behold the power of a woman with a CREDIT CARD. Oh, sad day.
Alex actually gave me a head start, coughing untill all hours of the night. So I got up at 4:00am, got dressed, & set out to my first destination with sales flyers in hand. When I reached Target at 4:45, I was surprised to find only a dozen people standing in line. It was unseasonably chilly, and I only wore a sweatshirt, so I blew on my hands to warm up. Only a few minutes & I would be at the front of the line. Christmas mecca, here I come! People began to slowly fall in line behind me. I actually felt excitement as I watched the workers pour into the building at 4:55. And then I saw the holiday hours posted on the door.
SALE STARTS AT 6:00AM
What???? Everyone knows doorbusters start at 5:00am! Now I was faced with an awful dilemna… do I stand in the cold & wait for an hour while all the items I wanted to get are selling out somewhere else? How could I make such a huge mistake? Here I was, making my first attempt at Black Friday at 31 years old, and I have already failed. (Sigh.)
So I resigned to my fate, and waited it out at Target. When the doors opened, there was such a rush to the Electronics Department that I didn’t get everything I wanted. I picked up what items I could get to, and headed to the checkout. When I reached the car, I decided to just “go see” how bad it was at Wal-Mart. Amazingly, there were no lines. The 5:00 rush had descended & gone, like a hoard of locusts on a crop of sweet corn. But all the items I had wanted to get were still there! It gave me such hope that I decided to push on to Sam’s Club. Again, no crowd, and everything I wanted was there! By now, my Starbuck’s Frappaccino had kicked in full speed, and I was deep in the throes of Christmas Spirit. So I shopped. Oh yes, I shopped.
I walked in the door of my parents home at 8:45am.
“Didn’t get everything, huh?” my mom said sympathetically. I held the pause for a moment, savoring the ensuing drama before I lifted my hands high over my head, Balboa-style.
“I rock! I got EVERYTHING on my list! On SALE!”
And that, my friends, is how Black Friday is DONE.