2014 Black Thursday/Friday Debriefing Thread

[Trixie]

Let's face it the people who give Black Friday shoppers a bad name are the ones that knock people over, scream when something they want is sold out and just be a general ass because they can. And the whole reason this site exists.

So the nice people enter and exit the store maybe with a kind word or not either is okay. Then the we come here and vent and complain about the ones that were just miserable old jackasses.

I'm hoping that this doesn't sound like I'm complaining about complainers because I'm not.

[mathnerd]

My older two boys wanted to go shopping, so I reluctantly dragged them out. They got a few things for their friends, and I took advantage of the sales to get them the boots they've been wanting. A couple places had pretty good sales on hiking boots, which was good for my wallet. I also wound up picking up a plastic food storage container set that was a really good price since we really needed them. That turned into a project, as I dumped out the cupboard were we keep those things and matched up containers to lids, and threw out what didn't match. Now half the outside recycling can is full of plastic containers and the cupboard is barely a quarter full, where it used to be bursting at the seams.

Anyway, the stores were crowded, but orderly. I almost got some kitchen gadgets at sears, but their computers went down right as I was thinking about getting in line, and I didn't feel like waiting. Also, the escalators and elevators broke at Walmart. There were a couple of very grumpy repair people there who were trying to get them fixed. Other than that, the day seemed to go pretty smoothly.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Your local Walmart has two stories? Never heard of one like that before.

[mathnerd]

All but one of the local Walmarts and Targets are two stories. There's also a Target in downtown Minneapolis that's two stories. That was the first one like that that I'd ever seen, but when I moved here, I realized that's just The Way It's Done.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I was "forced" into going shopping after work yesterday (I'm going to kill my brother for that.)

Seems as if I had to make an unscheduled stop at the local GameGo at the huge outdoor Neighborly Shopping Center after work to pick up a game they were holding for him (Grand Turismo 6 was on sale for $19.99 for Black Friday only) so I had to go pick the damned thing up.

Place was crowded and this was around 2:30 or so in the afternoon. Hell, the entire shopping center was crawling with cars, trucks, vans. Mom and I were trying to find a place to park and saw a shuttle van stop in front of us to let out a group of shoppers, who proceeded to gather in, of all places, the only Handicapped parking spot left in the strip of this section of the shopping center.

Van finally moseyed off, as it was waiting a couple of minutes for someone to figure out how to back out and get out of the lot, then the women still kept gaggling about, chatting.

Mom blew the horn at them and yelled at them to get out of the way. They finally wandered off and she got her parking space.

Got inside the GameGo store and I'd forgotten how small the place was. It's a long, narrow interior (kinda like walking into my office at home) and it was busy inside. They did, however, have signs and red arrows on the carpet pointing in the direction of the traffic flow and signs stating Line Starts Here (which helped me as I wasn't' sure how to get around in this place) as well as one of those black strip barricades to separate the checkout lane from the flow of traffic (and also to keep people from cutting in line)

Three registers open at the counter and all were helping customers. Luckily my wait wasn't very long, as I heard a young girl call me over and I slipped past the couple w/the infant who was at the nearer register and told her what I was looking for (had to call my brother b/c he didn't bother to tell Mom the title of the game and couldn't be bothered to call ME, who is the one who HAS to go in and get it) and waited.

Girl came back w/ a used copy that rang up for 39.99. I informed her that I was told it was on sale for $19.99 (and although I didn't tell her, I am NOT about to pay 40 bucks for a USED copy of any game for my brother.) So another guy who was helping checked the flyer for Black Friday and found it was on the new copies only.

They found a new copy for me, rang it up, and within a couple of minutes (waiting on change since I was paying cash for a change) and was on my way.

Then come the fun part: trying to get out of the shopping center traffic. That took longer than getting through just getting back out into the main road that runs through the complex and, as the traffic at the light was so congested, Mom noticed a shortcut in a lot where the Macaroni Grill sits, which led us back behind the big glass building that sits across from Sears and we got out onto a side street that took us back to a connecting road so we could get to Benjamin Parkway (which in turn will take you past the shopping complex to Wendover.)

Please don't ask me to do this again. Even though it wasn't that bad, I don't ever want to get out near a shopping center on Black Friday again.

[Javarod]

I worked it at my WallyWorld, and it wasn't bad actually for two reasons.

One was that i got assigned to a sheet sets deal which wasn't really in demand.
Two was that the hole Ferguson mess (don't get me started on it) had a good side for us, that store didn't open for the hole Black T-day thing (specials were 1800, 2000 and 0600), so their merchandise had to be sent to other stores. The regional decided that since we're such a well run store, we get two trailers which was most of their merchandise. For many items, we had more than we could sell.

Still, a twelve hour day is way too long.

[Ben_Who]

First time I did a midnight Black Friday sale was about ten years ago. Only about half the stores in the mall were open for it, so the crowds weren't really all that...savage. I got an Orange Julius and took some notes, and the Roommate and I had a really good time.

A few years later I did a midnight Black Friday at Target. The place was a mob scene. The employees had set up a sort of traffic pattern on the floor, so there weren't the sort of riots that gives Wal-Mart a bad name, but people were trudging along these traffic lanes like the Living Dead, as the store clerks stood and scowled at them. Not one single person in that building wanted to be there.

That was it for Black Friday for me. It went from a fun thing that a few stores volunteered for but were under no obligation to participate in, to some sort of requirement of runaway consumerism, in just a few years. I haven't done Black Friday since.

[Slave to the Phone]

I worked on Thanksgiving and BT and it wasn't that bad. I'm thinking that having the stores open for both days spreads out the crowds. There were long lines and we were busy and they left the shelves a total mess, but nobody was mean.

I did hear from people who said they wouldn't even consider WalMart because the cars were lining out on the street...and that place has a football sized parking lot.

[Jester]

I did some shopping on Black Friday. Please don't kill me, and consider my story before you grab the pitchforks.

First, I casually wandered into the local Sears, which was open all night from Thursday night through Friday, at about 6:00 am, as I was up early for some godforsaken reason, knew they'd be open, and definitely want a new laptop, as I hate my current one. Sadly, they were already out of all buy one brand of laptop, which was a brand I'd been warned against in the past by multiple people, and that one was only a slight savings over the regular price, and more than I cared to spend anyway. I did some more shopping in the store (it was rather quiet, as I guess most of the people had been there around midnight), and picked up two pairs of $60 dress pants for $20 each, plus a brand new pair of sneakers, exactly the same kind I have now that I love (Skechers with Memory Foam) for a small savings. And out the door I went.

Later that day, I went online and got three football jerseys from an online retailer that was offering some killer savings. So that was just a few taps on my iPad. Got an ASU jersey and two Raiders jerseys. And.....that was my Black Friday shopping. No muss, no fuss, no fights, no arguments, no lines, no problem.

[Javarod]

First, I casually wandered into the local Sears, which was open all night from Thursday night through Friday, at about 6:00 am, as I was up early for some godforsaken reason, knew they'd be open, and definitely want a new laptop, as I hate my current one. Sadly, they were already out of all buy one brand of laptop, which was a brand I'd been warned against in the past by multiple people, and that one was only a slight savings over the regular price, and more than I cared to spend anyway.

Pay close attention to what they're selling you if you're buying a laptop. I've one that i bought Black Friday 09 IIRC, might've been 2010. According to the box, it was manufactured Feb 09. Extra special good price, ifn you don't mind last year's (or knowing the brand, 07) technology.

[Catwoman2965]

My BF experience wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. We opened at 7; i was there at 6. just getting ready. At 7, about 5 more came in, so we were fully staffed. Opened the doors, but only a few people wandered in. Didn't really get busy until 10 or a little after. But even then, not even super crazy busy. Just normal busy when we have a good promotion or sale.

I was scheduled until 11:30 but fully expected to work longer, and was ok with it. Our manager is good; so if she asked me stay, it would ahve only been another hour or so, but 10 minutes after my finish time, my replacement came over, and i double checked with the manager, and yes, I was free.

It was busy in spurts, I heard, and I was thankful I didn't close since it was apparetnly totally trashed.

[KuariKaydrith]

I ventured out to one of the Walmarts here in town on BF, but didn't get there until after 12pm. I did not want to deal with crazy crowds that I knew would have descended upon the store when they first opened for the day. I only went in the first place to see what they had for Monster High dolls and pick up a couple for a co-worker's daughter. If they didn't have anything in stock I wasn't going to worry about it much. And the lines weren't that bad either when I went to pay for my items.