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I have never been much of a Black Friday shopper. Before 2005, I had only gone Black Friday shopping ONE time and that was back in 1987. I don’t recall people standing outside for hours, or even days to snatch that special deal, but that trend may not have been around way back then.
We hit the mall, we went home.
We all know what Black Friday has become, in fact, it seems that Black Friday is now the week leading up to Thanksgiving and of course, every day after until Christmas.
When it comes to whether a store should be open on Thanksgiving or not, I have never really formed an opinion. I always told myself that I would not go shopping on Thanksgiving Day, but years ago, when I worked retail, I volunteered to work the morning of Thanksgiving. I was paid time and a half, I believe, and was home before noon.
Of course, even then, the whole Black Friday mentality was not as large as it is now, but you get the idea.
I will say, one Thanksgiving I forgot a very important ingredient for a dessert I was making for dinner. Thankfully, a store was open and I could make my purchase. Yes, I should have been more prepared, I suppose, but sometimes that is not my nature!
Some complain when stores are closed and they need something, but turn around and complain when places are open and need nothing. Go figure.
There is no happy medium, is there?
Anyway, I had NO plans to go out the morning of Black Friday or Thanksgiving, for that matter. However, after looking over the flyers, I changed my mind and I will admit, I kind of liked going out to do some late night shopping.
I am not one to stand in line for the major items, although I did wait for a printer once and had to listen to another shopper stand in the same area tying to dissuade people from buying it. I am not sure what her angle was, but she grabbed two of them and there were plenty for everyone.
I left the house about 8:30 on Thanksgiving night to see if any of the items my wife had circled in the flyers were still available. By the way, my wife and I are total opposites when it comes to shopping. She likes to get in, get her items and go home while I like to look around and browse.
I headed to Kalamazoo as a few of the stores I wanted to hit were there. As I walked the store and looked over the items my wife had selected my eyes stopped on one item in particular. To be quite honest, I was quite shocked that she wanted me to buy it!
Circled in the flyer was an “X Video Rocker” gaming chair. We have a Wii that we play in spurts, so I was kind of wondering why she wanted one. But, it was circled nonetheless. I was in luck as the store had quite a few still, although, by the looks of the display, they had many more that were already sold.
I debated for a while as to whether I buy just one or get two? I mean, you can’t have just one, right?
I tried to do a little research on my phone to get more information on them, but service was limited. I went ahead and bought two and walked out to my vehicle with a spring in my step.
When I got home, everyone was sleeping, except my wife and I gleefully told her that I ended up buying two of the gaming chairs she wanted. I can’t remember if she said “what is a gaming chair” or “why did you buy those” because the minute I saw her face, I knew I messed up.
I whipped out the flyer and showed her that she indeed had circled the gam—oh, no she didn’t. She circled the Pyrex Storage Set that was on sale and the marker she used bled through the paper, and well, you get the rest of the story. But to my defense, the gaming chair sure looked like it was circled!
Guess who was back up in Kalamazoo on Black Friday the next morning, returning those chairs?
Submitted by Mark McGlothlen
