Black Thursday/Friday Debriefing Thread 2017

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I was off Thursday and only had to venture out once, and that was to Bojangle's to pick up my turkey and sides - their drive-thru line was wrapped halfway around the building when we got there around 10:15 or so.

Once we got thru the drive thru part (Mom just had to have a chicken biscuit and a drink) we parked so I could go inside to get our dinner. The dining room was almost empty and nobody waiting at the register to be checked out. The employees were working the drive-thru line down, so it took a minute or two to get someone's attention so I could get what I needed.

Other than that, it was home the rest of the day Thursday and still had to work on Friday.

And our store looked like the Tasmanian Devil roared thru the place! Holes on the shelves everywhere . . . . half of what we needed was out of stock and none in the back room.

At least half the wine I had in back stock went up on the shelf, which cleaned up things considerably in that little corner near the unloading dock. No beer trucks ran Friday to my store - so what we had in back stock is what we've got to run off of until Monday when we get back on regular schedule.

And we had a few customers coming in, a few more than we usually have on Black Friday (grocery stores are generally a ghost town on BF - slowest day of the year usually) but still not enough to keep us from trying to refill with what we did have left on hand.

Just don't come in the day AFTER Thanksgiving asking for the .37 cents per pound frozen turkeys - we sold out on Wednesday. No Kings' Hawaiian rolls either in the Deli - those were gone too. Frozen pie crusts we ran out of on Tuesday.

Had to pick up 2 items on my way out the door Friday and went straight home and haven't been anywhere since. From what I've seen on local news channels covering the BF madness, I'm glad I stayed home.

What little bit I'm buying will be this coming week and I'll just order it online and have it shipped to the house. No way am I risking life and limb over anything.

[Dreamstalker]

I was off work on BF, but going by the state of the store yesterday and today it was insane. Yesterday was super-busy even for a Saturday...it was nearly impossible to do QSR drink runs as often as J would have liked and we got a mini-lecture about it when the QSR manager wound up coming into the warehouse to get water. We know what we have to do, but...have you been out on the floor lately? Do you know how weird it is out there? The only way drinks are getting done at all is lugging them out there by hand, one station at a time. Tomorrow is going to be recovery, cramming as much product as we can on the shelves and preparing for giant deliveries (I've been posting all the Retail stockroom comics in the warehouse)

what on earth is wrong with people who bring Volkswagen-sized kiddie strollers into such a place, and/or let their toddler wander all over the shop??

I ask myself that every shift. I fully believe that all kids should be on leashes until they've achieved full body/spatial awareness...which I realize in some cases may be never.

I turned out just fine being stuffed into an umbrella stroller as a pup, but I guess those are "unsafe" now Also not well suited for stashing stolen goods...nobody thinks twice about someone bending down to get to the "under-seat storage" of the car-sized strollers and it's impossible to see what's actually in there.

[Mr Hero]

I posted a thread over at Fratching that talks about how people are actually trying to get their hands on the "uniform" for different stores (i.e. the vest for Wally-World, or the Blue polo for Yellow-Price-Tag). Then they pretend they're employees to "jump the line", then when the sale "starts" they're already in the store and can be "first" (or whatever), so they don't have to wait in line.

I don't know if I'm outraged or impressed by this. I'll definitely check out that thread.

Edit: Back on topic, I took advantage of some deals online. Mainly a game for Switch that I have on PS4 but wanted to get again but not at full price. And also a much bigger micro SD card for said Switch.

[Jay 2K Winger]

I was working on Brown Thursday-- albeit in IT Support, and only had three calls during my 12 hours-- but I did venture out on Friday for shopping.

However, I didn't go out until after 1pm, and even then, it was for a necessary thing. I dropped my phone earlier in the week, and while it was still working, the power button was sticking and I was having problems pressing it. (As I am required to turn my phone off when I get to work-- secure facility requirements-- this was an issue.) So I went to Red Checkmark to get a new phone. I was eligible for upgrading my phone anyway (had been since the spring), just hadn't done it because my current phone was still functional and I didn't want to have to shift all my files etc.

As I expected, there was a wait, but this gave me time to peruse the options available and make my decision on which phone I wanted, but once someone came to help me, I was able to get what I needed in I felt a very reasonable amount of time.

Apart from that, however, I avoided any other retail visits on Friday. Not least because I was expected at the parents' house for belated Thanksgiving dinner with the family.

[Victory Sabre]

It was a normal day at my restaurant, far away from the big box stores, on Black Friday. I did do some shopping Black Friday, and waited in line at Total Wine to get my Black Friday specials.

I've never gotten so much Goose Island Bourbon County Stout. 3 stops and 5 bottles.

[Daskinor]

I only ventured out to the local Home Depot for some wood and to check the cheep tools they put out for Black Friday. I think I was in and out in 20 minutes.

I then was like lets go to harbor freight, I have coupons, and I been eyeballing that Abrasive Blast Cabinet for months. OMG it was like they were handing out free booze it was so busy. But I had not real issues other then no room for a personal bubble.

[Ghel]

I went to Wally World Friday after work (around 5pm) and it was pretty quiet. The employees seemed a little punchy, but I don't know if that was because it had been busy earlier or because it was too darn quiet.

[Racket_Man]

Pizza delivery on Friday (it rained here) and Saturday was busy as per usual T-Day weekend.

I have been looking at new TV's for a couple of months. I found several models I like BUT the prices were a bit high. SO I went to Voldy-Mart for regular shopping on Sunday and found a GREAT post Black Friday deal (like $150 off) one of the models I have been salivating over. SO I can haz a new TV. I am hoping I can hook my old one up to my PC.

[protege]

The only thing I'll go for is groceries. There is no reason for me to be near that mall.

Same here. I try to stay far away from any shopping areas during the holidays. Traffic normally sucks on certain roads, but also having to deal with stupid people from across town isn't my idea of a good time. As for the mall, there's usually not a problem over there. The place's management company managed to drive out most of the stores with high rents and not maintaining the place. What once contained nearly 100 stores and was *the* place to be on a Friday or Saturday night...is now a ghost town.

[Minflick]

There's a mall like that where my IL's lived for 30 years. It had many major stores over the years, and at one time had 3 bookstores! All of them gone. Sears is still there, and highly depressing. I can't begin to imagine how much money they have lost over the years, and it's not just that there's a bigger mall 20 minutes away that did this.

[Food Lady]

I then was like lets go to harbor freight, I have coupons

I wasn't aware that was a nat'l. chain. There's one a 5-minute walk from my apartment and they were hiring last year but since I have no idea what I'd even buy there I didn't apply.

[Racket_Man]

I wasn't aware that was a nat'l. chain. There's one a 5-minute walk from my apartment and they were hiring last year but since I have no idea what I'd even buy there I didn't apply.

We have one up here on the east side of Cheeseheadland Central. They have all kinds of on-the-cheaper-side tools and power tools and hardware type stuff. I am planning on looking them over just for Tim Allen sake MORE POWER!!!!!! but they most likely will have things I want/need at a better price for the cheaper stuff.

[Dragon_Dreamer]

I worked 1-30 to close on Black Friday. Busy, but not horribly. Saturday saw a bigger influx, and Sunday was decent. Big event was a thief (caught on camera) accusing me of "harassing" him and pulled the race card because I asked him if he needed help finding ink after my manager told me to go over there. We both just rolled our eyes after he left, sans the massive $100 box of Canon ink he'd been trying to steal.

Also, my tech bench went from empty to 35 PCs in 3 days. Only a third are setups. One redo, customer bought a 15 inch i7, they setup a 17 inch i3. This was discovered at pickup.

Same coworker had the balls to text me on Tuesday, while I was IN CLASS, to complain that the desk was full and "messy." I'm letting management set him straight.

Welcome to the busy season!

[EricKei]

RM - Any TV made in the last decade or so should have an HDMI input (if not three), so hooking up to your PC should not be a problem. If you have an older video card, the TV might even have a (blue) VGA input, so take a look.

[Dragon_Dreamer]

Update: Yesterday, a customer got angry I wouldn't give him a discount for calling me "gorgeous," and another looked at me and asked, "Not to be rude, but what race ARE you?"

Given that I have a Mediterranean complexion, and my ancestors came from every country in Europe, plus Russia and Ukraine... human, dammit.