Black Friday Debriefing Thread 2010

[Wenchie]

In the name of Gravekeeper, and Khiras and the spirit of Jester (E nominae Dei, et Filii et Spiritu Sanctii).
My teachers would be happy to know that I retain a bit of what they tried to teach.

It means "In the name of God and the Son and the Holy Ghost". I think the trinity is fundamental in most branches of Christianity, the language may vary.

And, yes, very funny , but then I'm not Christian .

I am honored, touched, flattered, and humbled that I would be considered part of any "holy trinity" in here, by anyone, anytime. Just....wow.

My apologies if I offended anyone. I was feeling a bit silly when I wrote that.

I LOVE this... Panacea, can I steal it for my signature? 'Cause GK, Khiras & Jester are my holy trinity on this site... whenever I need to be cheered up, I look for one of their posts. Irv is also one of my heros. And Lupo's shopping posts.


Now, I didn't work on Thankgiving, but I had a caller rip into me today because we weren't open on Thursday to provide phone support. Irv knows how bad my callers are... but I managed NOT to strangle myself with the phone cord and the call disconnected before I could hunt down and wood-chip the caller... so yeah, you can expect a full post on that later.

[wagegoth]

I was checking out Friday morning at a temporary checkstand in the department store that gives away little Disney snowglobes to early shoppers every year. It was about 9:30 am, and I'm sure some of the people in line had been there pretty early; they may have even been on multiple trips.

I'm ignoring the whining, cranky kids, because what else can you do? Then I hear a POP! of an explosion and feel something hit my leg. I look down to see that one little girl had decided to thrown the snowglobe on the tiled floor in a tantrum, shattering it over my feet, my purse on the ground, and my coat that was sitting on my purse. The watery filling, glitter and glass were everywhere. Her mother kept telling her, apparently, to apologize to me (she was speaking Spanish; I picked out a few words), but the girl had caught the look on my face when I was shaking the glass out of my coat and wouldn't come near me.

[ShinyGreenApple]

I was hoping it wouldn't be bad in the pharmacy, but someone got the bright idea that the less busy store in the next town would be busy, so they sent one of our three pharmacists over there, leaving us one. ONE. He came in at 8 in the morning and was still wrapping up when we left at 9pm. It was freaking insane since I guess none of the SCs realized that if something was promised at 11AM on the 25th, it wouldn't get worked on until Friday because we were closed on Thanksgiving. Lines backed up, we tried closing for a half hour lunch for the early shift, put the grilles down and people still kept lining up like entitled dumbasses. I was ready to cry and walk out, and it's been a LONG time since I felt that way at work. We were all getting really snappy and short-tempered with each other, and it was just horrible.

As far as Black Friday madness, I understand that at midnight, two women got into a fistfight between electronics and hardware over a $10 waffle iron, and there were similar scuffles over the $1.33 towels we had on sale. A diabetic man showed up at 11pm-12am, intending to take advantage of both the midnight and 5am sales, and ooops, apparently forgot he was diabetic. He passed out and hit the floor headfirst and left in an ambulance.

[Sapphire Silk]

I LOVE this... Panacea, can I steal it for my signature? 'Cause GK, Khiras & Jester are my holy trinity on this site... whenever I need to be cheered up, I look for one of their posts. Irv is also one of my heros. And Lupo's shopping posts.

By all means! Now it's my turn to be flattered

[Brojekk]

I've been hearing on the radio/news that stores are becrying the fact that people aren't spending "as much as they should/used to" on Black Friday and its bad news for the economy. Some stores are saying if sales don't pick up, they'll have to lay off people in the New Year.

Personally? I think the reason this is happening is NOT the economy but its the fault of the very same stores/businesses that are doing the complaining. They start bombarding us with Christmas stuff earlier and earlier in the year, and by the time the holiday DOES roll around, people are so fed up with it being shoved down their throats that they decide to just pack it all in and not buy gifts or they get gift cards instead so they don't have to deal with the crowds. They're also doing stuff like being open on Thanksgiving and other holidays and basically saying to the public "We don't care about the people who work for us or their/our families, the only thing that is important to us is your money, so you better come out and shop!" - that turns me off shopping completely.

Correct on ALL counts.

[Brojekk]

Believe it or cram it, the Christmas music at the swamp got even worse this year.

It's all moldy old Christmas music by mostly dead people. Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis

Thats the good stuff I grew up with. Much better than some of the stuff they put out nowadays.

[ShinyGreenApple]

Thats the good stuff I grew up with. Much better than some of the stuff they put out nowadays.

Indeed. I'm almost positive that employee violence will occur if we are forced to listen to yet another cover of "Santa Baby" anytime soon. I swear to Eru I hate that song most of all.

[Indigo]

As far as Black Friday madness, I understand that at midnight, two women got into a fistfight between electronics and hardware over a $10 waffle iron, and there were similar scuffles over the $1.33 towels we had on sale. A diabetic man showed up at 11pm-12am, intending to take advantage of both the midnight and 5am sales, and ooops, apparently forgot he was diabetic. He passed out and hit the floor headfirst and left in an ambulance.

My mom didn't even try for the towels. She was afraid to get near the towel pallet and decided that she didn't want towels THAT badly. I got bruised by a woman ramming a box into my arm in an attempt to get through me to the luggage that was on sale. I'm pretty sure my thigh/hip is bruised from someone running into me with a cart. Surprisingly, the line I was in for the Nintendo DSlite wasn't that bad. Everyone was really calm, and we actually had a system set up so that those of us without extra people could step out for a restroom break or a smoke without losing our place in line. However once I had the system in hand and was headed for the checkout, someone decided to try and reach for it. At that point I think I snarled something about them pulling back a bloody stump.

[Andara Bledin]

Second woman picked bag up, gave to her 14 year old son and sent him out to put in their car. Then continued to shop in our store. Yup, dumb cow got arrested.

Ooh, a happy ending! At the first line, I was sure that someone had walked off with her stuff that she was foolish enough to not hold onto. I didn't think they'd be stupid enough to stick around.

Domestics: some ghetto-Shuggie blanket/wrap/throw thing.

Even if they were the greatest blanket, ever, I would never own a Snuggie or anything like it. I'll get a robe if I want to wear something, and regular blankets work great for everything else.

The boyfriend went out at midnight to hit a local Game-Schlock for a PSP deal they had going on. The shop he went to was across from a mall, and there was a huge line of cars headed in at midnight. He ended up waiting in line for an hour for it. I stayed home and slept in a nice warm bed, myself.

^-.-^

[wraiths_crono]

I hid indoors, but after work (0500) I noticed the wal-mart next to my house setup a valet service where people were lined up behind the store handed their keys to an employee whom then went to find them a parking place.... new car anyone? er I mean.. uh... (/flee)

[venroses]

"

Housewares: Keurig Single Cup coffee makers.

These things actually sell ridiculously well in my store, we are also one of the top sellers of our chain for their coffee pods.We can hardly keep the things in stock.

We don't have black friday here in canada, but i am not looking forward to working my first boxing day ever.

Also: our satellite radio station has started to creep in christmas songs...but just today i heard the worst version of baby, its cold outside. i have no idea who does it and i've never heard it before but its terrible.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

My apologies if I offended anyone. I was feeling a bit silly when I wrote that.

God created laughter, didn't he? I'm sure it can be forgiven, or worked off if you believe in that sort of thing. / (look at what I've done!) minor threadjack-- sorry

EDIT: In case y'all are wondering, I haven't been into work for months, nor do I deal with customers-- and I haven't even been shopping except for food in the last ... 3 weeks! Do I get a prize?

[dalesys]

EDIT: In case y'all are wondering, I haven't been into work for months, nor do I deal with customers-- and I haven't even been shopping except for food in the last ... 3 weeks! Do I get a prize?

Sanity.

Be gentle, it's in a strange place.

[Treasure]

Turkey day - stayed the night @ the bf's house - temps dropped to near freezing, and his mom asked us to make sure the puppies got to sleep in the garage.
meanwhile - sister is installing Warcrack on Dad's comp - she leaves to attend a 2nd tky dinner, and dad calls her cause its hung up some how - she comes back and doesn't leave til 130 am so mom looks at dad, and says "its only another couple of hours, why don't we go for the 4 am deals?" they went to the bullseye - LINE! not sure if she actually shopped or skipped it - went to the Big yellow Tag store, and not only was there a LINE! but it also started sleeting - so mom and dad went and waited in the car; of course by the time they got inside, the 1 item mom was looking for was sold out... she said they came home and went to bed and she will NEVER again go for Black Friday sales!
I got up and took the boyfriend to work by 8:30, even snagged him something for breakfast, and then headed home - where i crawled my butt back in bed until nearly Noon!

I went and picked Boyfriend up from work by 230pm, and met Mom and Brother at movie theater for Burlesque (awesome move btw!) - as i was ordering refreshments, i started looking for my CC, and almost couldn't find it - but luckily i had not actually ordered anything yet, but i did find it, placed order, paid and went to enjoy my movie.

My brother had to get out for black friday, b/c the item mom wanted (to match what he got her last year) was on sale 1 day only for like 10.00 - reg. 40-50; He went to store about 1030am ish apparently he asked an assoc. where said item was - or even just the dept. (he is handicapped, has mobility issues, and walks with a cane, it is fair for him to NOT wander all over hells 1/2 acre just to find 1 item!) he was directed in an "oh, you should know if you're bothering to be in here where everything is" attitude with a finger pointed off "that way"....
he said that once he found the display and after calling and waking me up to confirm which metal to get, that he had some rude shopper that is apparently the type that is used to getting her way cause she's pretty, push by him to get to another display, and muttered about it polite to move, to which he responded, "yeah, i was taught that its good manners to say 'excuse me' first and give the person an opportunity to do so" - but she didn't ask, just kind of eyed him with an expectant look as she approached - this is a NO NO w/ the Kuthax (my bro).

[Jester]

'Cause GK, Khiras & Jester are my holy trinity on this site... whenever I need to be cheered up, I look for one of their posts.

Okay, people....stop this. Seriously, just stop. I don't blush almost ever, but y'all are seriously getting me close to that point. So just stop it.

I will say that it's a good thing GK and I are such humble guys, or this could lead to some seriously warped egos on our part. (I don't know Khiras all that well, so can't really comment on that part of the "trinity.")