2013 Black Thursday/Friday Debriefing Thread

[NorthernZel]

Times like this I'm glad I live in New Zealand and don't have to deal with stuff like this - only one store I know of here in NZ does anything along the lines of a Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal - a computer store not too far from where I live. Apart from that, Thanksgiving and the subsequent shop-deal-days are not really followed here.

A toy store over here also offers a "Cyber Friday" deal with 20% discount on all online purchases (game consoles and tablets are exempted).

[Kit-Ginevra]

Us Brits will be thinking of you when we get up and go home at normal sensible hours and are tucked up asleep away from all the rampaging customers :P

[gerund]

Us Brits will be thinking of you when we get up and go home at normal sensible hours and are tucked up asleep away from all the rampaging customers :P

Us Australians too. We don't have a dead bird day.

[Sapphire Silk]

The sane among us simply gorge on turkey, and fall asleep in front of the tv watching the football game.

Or, in my case, Dr. Who. Found out my middle niece is a newly converted Whovian

[BrenDAnn]

Now I'm just shuddering. I was looking at pictures and video that people have sent in from their shopping excursions to Tarjay and Walmart tonight. There is nothing in this world worth those anxiety-inducing crowds, people. Nothing. At all.

[Mike Taylor]

I will be going in at 5 a.m. on Black Friday and working all the way through to 5 p.m. that afternoon. I am going to make sure that I have a HUGE breakfast to power through the first seven hours. Also bringing along my painkillers and a fresh pair of socks.

[Mike Taylor]

Us Australians too. We don't have a dead bird day.

Your nearest equivalent would be Boxing Day sales, I think.

[bhskittykatt]

The Des Moines paper, incidentally, advertised on the front page that it weighed 6.1 pounds and had over 500 pages of ads. If yours were that big, bhskittykatt, then yes, they were obscenely huge!

Ours clocked in at a bit over 3lbs. Still quite large for our local paper. Trying to hold them in one hand while leaning out of my car and stuffing them in boxes was challenging.

The Turkey Day Buffet was incredibly busy. Ended up with over 500 reservations. It went smoothly, though. We also opened up a second bar in the lobby, had big screen TVs and couches set up to watch the football games in a couple other banquet halls, and had a bonfire on the beach with smores. Guests were pretty content.

[ADoyle90815]

Now I'm just shuddering. I was looking at pictures and video that people have sent in from their shopping excursions to Tarjay and Walmart tonight. There is nothing in this world worth those anxiety-inducing crowds, people. Nothing. At all.

I agree, there's nothing worth dealing with those crowds, so I stay home now that I'm not working in retail.

[Food Lady]

I just got home and I guess I'll make a longish post instead of another thread. I want to chronicle the failures (including mine).

Unnnnngh Some of you may recall I recently had a small accident at home and suffered a concussion (my third now). It's been less than two weeks, and I was getting better, but before leaving for lunch today I flung back my hair and probably shook my brain just a bit. Symptoms got worse throughout the afternoon. It's going to take a long time to heal because of my history. Went to work so I wouldn't get fired.

Parking miracle I left an hour before work, got there by 6:45, and wasn't due in until 7:30. I parked where I always do, and had my pick of spots! This is amazing, considering my store is in a mall. It was the one bright spot, that I didn't have to park on the other side of the mall and walk in the cold. (It's 14°F right now). I clocked in early, where the nightmare began.

Please, for the love of all that is holy, stop shouting As soon as I got in and got up front I heard the shouting and woohooing and cheering. Ugh. No one wanted to be there, really, but management was trying to hold a pep rally. It went on for half an hour until we opened. Every loud noise was making a nerve on top of my head react. Each lound sound or word was a pulse. I was getting a headache and starting to feel light-headed again. And everywhere I went coworkers were asking "Are you ready for this?" No, I really wasn't. I dread it all year. One of my nicest coworkers asked and I suckily snapped, "Why does everyone keep asking me that?? I don't know why y'all are excited." I apologized later, but I still feel so bad. I should've just said, "No, I don't feel well."

Why do you ask if you really don't care? I must've gotten asked by management 15 times how many credit aps I currently had in. One time the biggest offender asked me how I was doing, ignored my answer (in the negative, as I wasn't feeling well, and every manager should know why!), and went on about the stupid card. Another time he asked again and waved his fingers in front of me for the numbers, which taxes my brain. It makes me not be able to focus. I know he didn't know that, but it frustrated me. The last time he asked about it, he tried to empathize with how difficult it is to get signups (after I got three--is it never enough??). I simply told him what is difficult is a head injury. His response? "Just power through and keep asking." Seriously, they should've been glad I was there at all! I have trouble with my balance and simple things like picking up money!* Just let me get through these few hours with my brain intact! Arrrrgh!

What does it matter? I don't even know why customers needed to ask what time I was off. It didn't matter what time I was off because I still had to be there. And how was I doing? How could I answer honestly? If you're gonna shop, just do it and don't bring my attention to the fact that I want to be home right now.

At least no one was hurt Another bright spot: crowd control was awesome. They really do a top-notch job of that in my store. Our AP guy is fantastic at that. I felt less overwhelmed by customers tonight than on a typical Saturday. And most actually really were nice, and I did have a good time with them. I joked with them because it always makes me feel better, and they were loving it. But come 1:00 am, I wanted to be gone.

*Not all the time, and yes, I am planning to see my doc again if this keeps up.

[AccountingDrone]

We refuse to shop on Black Friday, the most we ever will do is drive up to Rochester for the weekend to be with family [thanks to Robs assorted either military or work schedule we tend to drive up thursday, pig out friday and drive home saturday] I absolutely hate crowds, and I feel that service workers should get a shot at staying home.

[Dreamstalker]

I've only ever gone out on Black Friday once, and that was pretty anticlimactic actually (the real chaos was at the VoldeMart across the parking lot, us 'serious gamers' at GameStop got treated to coffee and donuts as the manager brought in too much, anticipating a mob that never really materialized). As a bonus we got to see a major tantrum in the parking lot because someone didn't get their special-edition 3DS at Voldemart.

I do plan to do some shopping tomorrow though (Small Business Saturday)--a bead store down the street is having some nice specials.

[tenzilkem]

I really hate my job at the Mart of Wal at the best of times....last night wasn't the best of times. Our Brown Thursday sales started with a bang. HUGE crowds, items running out of stock long before the one hour guarantee was anywhere close to over. We had a man pull a gun on an associate for an IPAD, two women were buying the lovely cheap ass towels and there was one set left that they both wanted, the one lady threw bleach in the others face for it! We had a small fire and a fight broke out over a guys dollar bill that fell to the floor, was picked up and pocketed by another guy and when the first man wanted it back a fist fight broke out over it!

I really really cant wait to see how the rest of the weekend goes!

[Monterey Jack]

We had a man pull a gun on an associate for an IPAD, two women were buying the lovely cheap ass towels and there was one set left that they both wanted, the one lady threw bleach in the others face for it!

I hope some arrests were made...that is insane.

[raudf]

And this would be why I chose to do all my main shopping online. I don't have to deal with the crowds, the mobs and the parking. It is a lot easier to be cheerful and polite to the poor UPS, FEDEX and our new insanely cheerful USPS carriers. (She loves my parents' pack of dogs!) Unfortunately, I still need to go into the stores for groceries, but I shall double my effort to smile cheerfully, so that the associates will see at least one face that isn't willing to chew their asses at the drop of the 'nog.

I hated BF as a retail associate, and I hate it as a customer. The savings aren't worth the stress as far as I'm concerned.