2013 Black Thursday/Friday Debriefing Thread

[Dreamstalker]

I did pop into S-bux during my normal errands (yummy gingerbread latte) and shot the breeze with my favorite barista for a bit. Other than that I didn't spend any money, unless you count making a creditcard payment via cash.

Most of my holiday gifts were acquired earlier in the year, now I just have to figure out who gets what (and find where I put some things).

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

After three ibuprofin (screw you liver, take one for the team), a reasonably good night's sleep, and some leftovers from yesterday, I can report that while the lead up to Black Friday Thursday was more hectic than years past, the day itself seemed to go better. Security outside the store was beefed up, line control inside the store was better, we had a better plan for restocking the store after the initial rush died off. Now if only my manager would've banged out a break schedule for his floor people....

Thievery Most Lousy:
A customer got tired of waiting in the long line to checkout. So she walked out the doors with a body pillow, valued at some twenty dollars, without paying for it.

AFAIK, LP didn't attempt a pursuit.

How To Lose A Job In 5 Hours:
We have this one guy, I've mentioned him in another thread, I'll call him Ralph. Because to hear him talk, he's either about to ralph, or just finished ralphing. He's had at least one call-out a week for as long as he's been working at the swamp. It's always for vomiting or upset stomach because he knows nobody will challenge this.

Ralph called in sick Tuesday night, requiring the people who did show up for their freight shift to work 11 hours just to get the truck stocked. He called in again Wednesday, saying he had visited the doctor and gotten a doctor's note about his stomach. We told out manager we probably wouldn't even need Ralph Thursday, but he showed up for his scheduled shift and generally kept at his work.

Until 7:00, an hour before we opened for the doorbuster. At that time Ralph decided his gastrointestinal turbulence was too much to tough out, so he sought out our manager and asked to leave work early. Manager told him to take some Pepto-Bismol and get back to work.

A short time later, I observed Ralph in the backroom, talking to somebody on his phone. I told him he had to either put the phone away or go outside or to the breakroom to take his break. He argued with me, and I told him if management saw him in the backroom talking on his phone, they would shit. At the time, the store manager was taking a couple corporate dignitaries around the store, including our newly-hired CEO.

The doors opened at 8, Ralph came back inside from standing outside acting as security as the crowd poured in, and then spent most of his night wandering the backroom with his hands in his pockets. Every hour he pestered my manager, begging to go home. Manager refused and kept giving him things to do, which he generally did not do. About all I saw him do all night was toss some empty boxes in the compactor. Oh, and talk on his phone a couple more times. I don't know who he was talking to, but I suspect it was his mother, to complain about the mean manager guy who expected him to keep working through his supposed stomach ailment.

Finally, at 11, an hour before he was to leave, Ralph asked to go home early one last time. This time manager said he could. Ralph wished us all a happy Thanksgiving and departed.

If Ralph did not get himself tossed out the door last night, he sure got himself closer to that happening.

Finally, as I finished my shift and picked up a few things, something was going down that resulted in three police cars being dispatched to the store. I saw police officers talking to a couple girls, a couple adults who must've been related to the girls in some way, and one of the cashiers.

And that's 15 Black Fridays for me. Think I can get a medal or a merit badge or something?

[Food Lady]

A custy told us there was something going on at the Vicky's Secret last night. Mall security was all over it. Did a fight break out over underwear?

[justhere]

My husband and I had to stay at a hotel last night (too many people, not enough beds at my parents' home and we were the lucky winners). We drove past the line of big-box stores and the traffic was insane and the stores hadn't opened yet! We joked about stopping but really just were grateful to turn off into the hotel parking lot instead.

We also don't do Black Friday shopping, though in a funny way we did take advantage of a Black Friday special! My oldest had to go through some medical testing earlier this week and as a reward for doing so well when he was being poked, his reward was a fountain soda (major treat in our family). So, my DH took him to a gas station this morning to get gas for the car and a soda for our son. Turns out that they were having a Black Friday special where my son got the largest soda they sell for $1. So, we tried to avoid it, but we still did some Black Friday shopping.

[skeptic53]

How To Lose A Job In 5 Hours:
We have this one guy, I've mentioned him in another thread, I'll call him Ralph. Ralph came back inside from standing outside acting as security as the crowd poured in, and then spent most of his night wandering the backroom with his hands in his pockets. Every hour he pestered my manager, begging to go home. Manager refused and kept giving him things to do, which he generally did not do. About all I saw him do all night was toss some empty boxes in the compactor. Oh, and talk on his phone a couple more times. I don't know who he was talking to, but I suspect it was his mother, to complain about the mean manager guy who expected him to keep working through his supposed stomach ailment.

Is Ralph the long-lost cousin of Numbnuts? http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...ad.php?t=49660

[DGoddessChardonnay]

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.

I vaguely recall working retail one BF way back in the late 80's (Bradlees department store, first job right out of high school) 3-12 shift the entire weekend (huge 72 hr sale IIRC.)

Only thing that made it bearable was the fact that I worked the snack bar and only had to work front end register the last couple of hours of my shift (snack bar closed down by 10.) But still bad enough to leave a permanent taste in my mouth . . .

As far as savings go, I find I get just as good a deal if not slightly better after Christmas - usually around March when income tax refunds start being handed out. That's MY Christmas.

This year, my shopping is done. Just have one item to pick up in a couple of weeks out of layaway and I'm done except the wrapping and making my brother sweat it out until the 25th.

[wolfie]

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

From the way the customers behave, you'd think it would be renamed "MMA Day".

Our Brown Thursday sales started with a bang.

Do you call it "Brown Thursday" because being called in to work on what should be a holiday is a pile of shit?

A custy told us there was something going on at the Vicky's Secret last night. Mall security was all over it. Did a fight break out over underwear?

Probably just a bunch of guys who misunderstood what "Lingerie half off" meant.

Seriously - why is everyone talking about Thanksgiving now? Don't you realize it was last month? (Resident of Canuckistan here).

[mathnerd]

My dad loves black friday sales. He doesn't get involved in all the craziness though. Nothing's worth fighting over. Though he does enjoy searching the sales ads and plotting his strategy and waiting for whatever it is he decides to get. This year he decided he wanted a couple of the laptops walmart had on sale for my youngest brother and sister. Our walmart gives armbands for specific items. So he left the house at 1pm for the stuff that would go on sale at 8pm. They got armbands 11 and 12 out of 14. They spent the hours wandering the store, not really buying anything else (mom picked up some yoga pants for me...my belly is way too sore to wear jeans and I needed something comfy to wear), but otherwise, that was it.

This morning Dad (who got out of the hospital on Sunday) wasn't feeling well so he sent Mom to Lowes to get some tool sets for my sons. Later in the afternoon he took himself to Harbor Freight for some additional tools for me and one of my kids. He came home and now both Mom and Dad took all the kids to the movies, leaving me home alone to enjoy my misery in peace and quiet.

[Mytical]

I think I've seen one of the signs of Armageddon.. a town that was near a ghost town Friday Morning. No, not at the stores..the lots were near empty...just quiet... very very quiet....

[Victory Sabre]

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013...he-day-so-far/
Here's some of the horror stories from Brown Thursday.

I did go out shopping at the Wally for reasons I won't go into here. If it weren't for those reasons, there's no way I would've gone.

The only stupid thing that occurred where I was was some gal trying to jump a line to get some electronic thing. I didn't know what it was, too busy with what I was doing to care, but she was told to get back in line by the lady running that sale.

Also, I'm sure, seeing the boys in blue, right there, convinced her to get back in line for said product.

[Jack T. Chance]

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.

-=SNIP!=-

-=SNIP!=-

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

What a bunch o' goobers!

[XCashier]

Thankfully, we were closed Thursday. This morning, we opened at 6:00 AM. I was there at 5:45 AM, we had a brief morning meeting, got our schedules. I ended up on cutting counter most of my shift.

The customers were generally nice, but the flannel was on a ridiculously cheap sale and we sold a lot of it. My hand is still sore from all that cutting, nearly two hours after the end of my shift!

We had a bunch of protesters come through our store. At least, I think that's what they were. About six or seven people, ringing jingle bells and wearing signs saying "Give Love" walked through the store, around the cutting counter and back up towards the registers, where they did a little chant that I didn't hear clearly (the store was very noisy with all the Black Friday shoppers) and left. Okaaayy...

There was a potluck set up in the breakroom so we wouldn't have to leave the store to get lunch. Lots of tasty things. I brought pumpkin cookies with chocolate chips. (I used a fresh pumpkin instead of canned) My coworkers looked at the package, thought , then the few who actually ate them found them very yummy! Other items included meatballs, macaroni and cheese, a couple of crockpot casseroles, devilled eggs and the usual chips and soda. Definitely a tradition worth keeping; food does wonders for employee morale.

Apart from the protesting weirdos, nothing unusual happened. We even managed to keep up with the fabric restocking. It was easily the most orderly Black Friday I've worked.

I go in tomorrow at 7:00 AM, with the fleece on sale. I hope that shift works out okay, too.

[Android Kaeli]

I just got home from working my shift at The Warehouse. I was only supposed to work a very short shift today, ended up being around a nine hour shift (lunch is included in these hours) and I got home not even an hour ago.

It wasn't the long hours that was tiring, it was non-stop hassle from the time I clocked in until about 7 or so before it died down to a crawl. It took about three hours to clean up, partly because everything seemed to be a mess and a half.

[Dark Psion]

All my years in retail and I have managed to avoid Black Friday till this year!

And just to make it more interesting, Oklahoma changed its laws so that stores can now do the deeply discounted pricing everyone else does. The law previously prevented any company from having a sale price less than 6% above cost.

But luckily the changes Wal Mart made after the last few years made things go very easy. My store is open 24/7, so there is no "door opening". A few hours before 6pm we started giving out wristbands to the people in line. Once the wristbands ran out, we gave out Price Guarantee vouchers that allowed people to purchase the item at the sale price and get a gift card that can be redeemed online and the item is shipped Site-to Store.

We had a few people get rowdy in Electronics at 6pm, but overall everything went fine. We had a full parking lot and sales were up 60% over last year. Our store did over $300,000.00 in sales in one day!

The thing I found most interesting was how many people there were just shopping before 6pm. I think some of the people complaining about "Black Friday" don't realize there are many people who don't do anything for Thanksgiving.

[Food Lady]

$300,000? Our goal was $750,000 or so, from 8:00 pm Thurs to 11:00 pm Friday. I have no idea how much we actually did.