A Black Friday Rant

Hey everyone. Today's Black Friday and I ended up visiting... zero stores. Wait, we did stop by a music store very briefly, but it wasn't for any sort of Black Friday deals. Other than that, we ran some errands, put up Christmas decorations, and I worked on an assignment for grad school.

I've never completely understood the madness of Black Friday. On one hand, the next major holiday is Christmas so retail stores want you to know they have some awesome deals which includes some pretty sweet merchandise. On the other hand, people are so gung ho about getting the best deal that fights break out and people get trampled to death. Pardon my French, but holy shit why does a big shopping day have a death count? Seriously, there's a website that keeps track of deaths and injuries from Black Fridays going back to 2006 (http://blackfridaydeathcount.com/) It currently doesn't have any statistics from today, so I'm hoping that the current numbers stay unchanged.

I never got into the "camp outside in the cold and rush the doors at 4am" mode with anyone, and in 95% of situations, I'll probably be okay if I'm not somewhere immediately when a place opens or a thing becomes available. I've gone into stores in the afternoon of Black Friday a handful of years (including once at the Mall of America) and while it was busier than normal and plenty of things were picked over, it wasn't that far off from a normal shopping day. (My biggest exception to that statement would parking at MOA because that was the worst I'd ever seen it, for good reason.)

Anyway, I just wish people didn't get so wrapped up about getting the best deals that they forget rational thought and at least being civil with other people. I mean, okay, being rude is one thing but doing something that could permanently change another family's life is another thing entirely. GAH!

So even though I didn't go shopping at major retailers today and I didn't watch the news to see the videos about people rushing through stores, this is still where my mind goes today. To be fair, I know a good number of people who work in retail and it would suck beyond belief if something would happen to them because of a stupid decision made by a customer in order to get a marked down TV .

Alright with that, I should get some sleep before meeting more family members tomorrow. Tomorrow will be World Day of Giving and Small Business Saturday. Those seem like much nicer days to be out and about.

DFTBA