So who is going on a Black Friday shopping marathon? Best stories of Black Friday adventures/deals?
9My best story:
The same year I was diagnosed with 2 cancers, I did Black Friday for the first time in a while. I had saved enough money not to have to do it due to how tired I was with my medical mess, but then.. my niece's company went under, with no notice, the Monday before Thanksgiving (her husband was in school). With 3 kids who believed in Santa things were going to suck for her (her parents are dead no parents to help her out). So for the first time in a while I dragged my sorry rear to the all night shopping marathon. Used the extra money I had saved up to avoid shopping all night plus a bit more...
Started at Old Navy at midnight and got each kid 3 t-shirts and 2 pairs of jeans - the store was so packed it was hard to figure out where the line was to check out. Off to Walmart twice - once for my daughter when they'd unveil what she wanted, once for my niece's oldest. I was that long arm snaking through the people in front of me to snatch what I wanted off the pallet LOL. I was a woman on a mission. Stay out of my way. Was at Toys R Us, Target and a few other places. Was at Michael's for crafty stocking stuffers...
At Target channel 3 was there. Someone was telling how horrible the Target line was. I started laughing as it was the shortest line I had been in all night. The news station overheard me. They asked me why I had been up all night. I told them. Out of the blue, someone, through the news station, sent a gift card for Walmart for $100 for my niece. Really cool that random act of kindness.
I bought each kid a large Santa style gift, some smaller ones (besides the clothes they needed) and some stocking stuffers. I wrapped one thing for each kid from me, something for my niece and her husband and told her to make some of this from Santa and some of it from them. The $100 gift card from the stranger I put in an envelope and told them the story behind that in a note. All in all 74 pounds of Christmas was mailed off. When UPS heard why the box they gave me a huge discount on mailing. The kids had a great christmas. My daughter had a great christmas.
Not going this year as I only have left to buy for 2 kids under 3 years of age (likely I will buy their stuff on cyber Monday or online deals this weekend) and my daughter wants money.
Have fun all you intrepid shoppers storming the stores tonight.
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Awesome story. We gave up on BF shopping years ago (but we do the online version; I already bought a few gifts since yesterday).
My days of dealing with crowds are loooong past. If I can't get it online, it's not happening.
How about beer Saturday? No? It'll be the best $180 I spend all year! http://www.lawsonsfinest.com/our-beer/waitsfield-bridge-street-small-business-saturday-beer-sale-1128/ @marklog
@humper also I don't know which other meh peeps are from Vermont. If I knew I'd tag you
I'm usually done by now. This year I'm done shopping because we're doing cookies instead of gifts. Babies are spendy. (Really, the family doesn't need or want more $20ish crap when what's really wanted are electronics and their parents got them that anyway.) Besides, COOKIES!!
I used to work dispatch for a towing company on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. People are surprisingly chill when things go wrong on Thanksgiving, but lose their shit when they lock their keys in the car on BF. I briefly considered hitting up the local fabric store, but decided I'd spend tomorrow morning doing what I always do - not deal with crazy.
@Thumperchick "Not deal with crazy"?... you deal with us every day! ;)
@msklzannie Hey now, not all of us are crazy!
(uhhh, what's one step higher than that?)
@narfcake I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested.
@jaremelz I don't believe your name is Sheldon. :p
On a separate note, Careless Whisker is on sale for $12.
@msklzannie it's different, you're my kind of monkeys, in my kind of zoo. Out there in "must wear pants" land, it's a sea of bad parking and rage, mixed with the odd speck of holiday cheer and giving.
@Thumperchick Must wear pants? The sign only said "No shirt, no shoes, no service." Nothing about pants!
As for the bad parking, that's what my 20 year old pickup is for. More than once, I've parked the passenger side within a foot from the offending space hog's driver side. I also take pics of it, just in case of retaliation.
Wife is out right now with a friend. I'm at home watchin' the kid, sippin' some whiskey, and chillin'. (note all the apostrophes indicating the level of chill happening right now)
@medz
With the trend towards Thanksgiving Day shopping, Black Friday isn't the same as it used to be.
I go out with family to stores on Black Friday (not terribly early) more as a tradition now than because I'm looking for anything in particular (when Circuit City was still around, their $5 DVD bin was a lot of fun). Afterwards, there's breakfast.
I'll be at work. I might try to hunt down some beer. I don't expect it to be on sale.
No marathon for me. I already did my JCP BF shopping this morning online since we were traveling to my sister's today.
Arrived at my sister's in time to attend the SDC Christmas tree lighting. It started raining and my sister was tired so we didn't stay to watch the parade (if it was even still going to occur. She wants to go to some popcorn store tomorrow (bogo 1/2 off special) so I'll probably do that.
I still have 29 minutes till midnight to see what kind of craaaaaazy Black Friday deal meh will have!
@miko1 Speaker docks!
You my friend are a rockstar! A true Rockstar!
The videos of the unwshed masses beating the piss out of each other for a $9 toster have been getting posted since pre-dawn today.
I think Black Friday is an abomination. It's the worst of humanity - and the irony of the displays of avarice the very day after we "expess our thanks" is palpable.
Now that was a great BF story. Random acts of kindness and family love, true examples of the Christmas spirit.
Ok here are my black friday adventures:
Just went to check the sales, nearly fell out of my chair when I saw this:
@ProfessorGenki That is disgusting and would be perfect in a late grade school boy's stocking. They'd love it since that age is into bodily function humor anyway.
Send me a a pm if I can help with your holiday.
Not sure if I worded that right but you know what I meant.
@1Cherokee Who is your message directed to?
@1Cherokee there is no pm system here on meh. To contact each other off-site, we have alt-email addresses.