Black Friday madness

[Saroyan]

Are you kidding me?!! $2 waffle makers!!! I'd be in there kicking and throwing elbows and barking like a dog to grab as many as I could!!

Who knows when you will ever find waffle makers for $2 (at least now I have a dream worth living life for- the chance I might find a $2 w.m!) !!!

Why just this morning I woke up thinking damn, if I only had a $2 waffle maker I could make some kickin waffles!!!

OR- if I could grab 10 $2 w.m I could have a whole platter full of waffles in a matter of minutes......


mmmmmmm.........waffles.............

[TEXASFETT]

I was at Walmart here in town and they had a map where all the products where gonna be at and you had to stay in line. I got there at 6pm it was worth but very under controlled here. The waffle maker and the bloody chopper went quick. There a lot of people that get out of control but lucky us there was a chet load of sheriffs on site.

[Duncan]

The wife's friend called her from TRU at 9:30 and asked if she was joining, so the wife drove over to check it out. She said the line wrapped around the back of the building & there was nowhere to park, so she bagged it. She went back out at midnight to Kohl's, and it was actually worse. Again, didn't even park the car. As an aside - we won't even consider WalMart on Black Fri. Soo not worth it around here. You just can't check out.

I went out at 5:30 on Black Fri, and headed over to Meijer. Their sale had started at 4:00. I got the first space in the pretty much empty lot, got what I was after, and had my choice of empty registers. I then went to another Meijer & repeated the process for an item the 1st store was out of. Next stop at 6:30 was Target - also pretty empty. Got a good space, bought my stuff, and got back out with no problem.

Then I hit TRU around 7:15, which had not yet recovered from the night before. It was kind of crowded (but not crazy crowded), and some shelves were empty. Bagged it. The mall across the street was a zoo, which was OK since I didn't need to go there. Hit McD's for breakfast and went home. The wife went out later to Kohl's and got what she wanted.

So, it looks like the best shopping time going forward will be 5-7, and the strategy is to go after the crowds have moved on. Forget the doorbusters. It's not like you're fighting over a cure for cancer (I stole this line) - it's just a couple of bucks off of a TV, or something.

Also, we did great on-line. Kohl's had their sale prices up on Wed night w/ free shipping; Crocs.com was buy one, get one & free shipping; calendars.com was 1/2 price w/ free shipping; Target, Amazon & BBY had great deals on line. I even found some site that was selling the mini donut & cake pop makers for $9 shipped. Can't beat that. Who needs to fight the crowds?

[Duncan]

OR- if I could grab 10 $2 w.m I could have a whole platter full of waffles in a matter of minutes......

mmmmmmm.........waffles.............

I like the cut of your jib.

[Random Axe]

That video was amazing. I didn't even know people made homemade waffles anymore. Reminds me of something like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIX0EBurrJg


Humanity is freakin dead

[UnderdogDJLSW]

My wife and I just go out to look at the lines...Kinda like how one would go out driving to look at the neighborhood Xmas lights on the houses. We get my mom to watch the kids and we are on the road. We do go to buy a few things and are tactful and wait for catching the calm in the storm. We did go into the Wal-Mart to see what it was like and the one near us was surprisingly organized and not a circus. They had "tickets" they were handing out for the doorbuster items and folks had to stand in designated lines for each item, once they had a ticket. We didn't stay very long there. The funny one to us was the long line at the Target which stretched approx the length of two football fields. That was at 11:50. At 1 p.m. we drove back that way and saw no line whatsoever, so we parked, went in, and saw that there was pretty much everything advertised still there. Kudos for them having enough stock and Ha Ha for those who stood in line for so long, when they could have relaxed and come in an hour later. It is all about the hype ain't it?

[jwyblejr]

The funny thing is? Watch how many of those Black Friday deals you'll still be able to find at Wal-Mart later on.

[Werewolf]

I wouldn't get too worked up about this sort of thing.

The jerks are always the loudest and get the most attention but most people really aren't like that. The obnoxious, greedy and violent ones are obviously scalpers trying to buy up everything to flip stuff. Not families looking for a few gifts. The holidays didn't bring at the worst of them. They obviously had some screws loose to begin with. Normal people don't behave like that.

The media loves to highlight this sort of crap to put a downer on the holidays and try to make us all feel bad. Showing normal people shopping for gifts doesn't grab headlines. For every jerk fighting for some stupid waffle iron or nutter spraying people with pepper spray there are tons more people that don't act like that. But nice people, don't make headlines.

[torgospizza]

WalMart just seems to bring out the worst element, the human trash, on Black Friday.

Fact: Not everyone that shops at Wal-Mart is a loser, but every loser shops at Wal-Mart.

[Hector]

Waffles? Meh...I prefer pancakes...

[alex]

I dont really know much about this "black friday" apart its some crazy sale. I spoke to a friend yesterday if she had been, she just laughed at me saying, you have to be crazy to go to one of those, saying people die every year, I just couldnt believe it.

[ctc]

>is this really what this country has become? a bunch of drooling, coniving lunatics just to get a good deal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVKaemIz860

Don C.

[Nostalgiabuff]

Fact: Not everyone that shops at Wal-Mart is a loser, but every loser shops at Wal-Mart.

well said. I very rarely shop in WalMart, but only because the nearest one is 45 minutes away......but after this kind of crap happening every year and always at Wally world, I think i will boycot the store altogether

Target is better anway

[The Toyroom]

Our local Wal-Mart (Rome NY) was one of the ones that made national news because of some violence....apparently one shopper was stabbed but left on their own before EMTs and police arrived. An employee and a customer were shoved to the ground and were taken to the hospital for back pain. One person was arrested for disorderly conduct. All of this was over those pre-paid touch screen cell-phones for $35 that went on sale at midnight.

We were in the store from 10:00 to about 11:30 and it was ridiculous. People were setting up camp 25 to 50 people deep all around the electronic pallets that were tapped off. You couldn't cut through a good portion of the store without taking the long way around the perimeter. I would say that about 75% of the people in the store at that time were scumbags from the little hick towns that are about 10+ miles away that don't have any retailers in their area. So it doesn't surprise me that this went down...

[Cmonster]

is this really what this country has become? a bunch of drooling, coniving lunatics just to get a good deal?

Pretty much.

This compulsion people in this country seem to have with buying things is truly staggering. I'm sure this type of behavior has gone on for quite some time, I've just never been to a Black Friday sale to see it first hand. To a large degree, I think the United States is quickly becoming a nation of insular, unhealthy, self indulgent, technology mongers, with no REAL idea of the trouble this country truly is in as a result of this behavior. The younger generation is the worst; The 13-19 year olds with the ipods, iphones, headphones, video games, etc, who as long as their phone works and they can text with their friends 24 hours a day from their car, school, taco bell and the mall, life is good. These kids are so content being mediocre and getting by with the least amount of "work" they need to do to become a decent, upstanding member of society, I seriously-- SERIOUSLY, fear our future as a nation. It's not only the kids either-- What about all their parents who had NO business whatsoever buying a 350k house when they make 40 grand a year??? Why are you getting foreclosed on? Why is the housing market so bad? The economy in general? Hmmmmnnn??? Bueller, Bueller... Anyone? That video is merely a precursor to the mayhem that will ensue when all these idiots are running the place in 30 years.

Here's another example for you-- TRUE story; A buddy of mine owns a car body shop and has for the past 26 years. We went to lunch a few months ago and I asked him how business was. He replied; "Best it's ever been. As long as these kids keep texting while they're driving, I'll be busy..." He said that right around the time texting became popular, his business started increasing. Now, he's 200% of where he was 7 years ago. Bigger shop, more employees, etc...

Sign of the times, or sign of stupid people?

SC