Friday, December 11, 2009

No pain, no gain. Black Friday at its worst

The morning is a chilly 18 degrees and there’s a mob waiting outside Target in Grand Forks, N.D., clutching their Black Friday sales ads and making game plans in hushed tones. At 5 a.m. sharp, they stampede through the doors like they are racing for one of the last lifeboats on the Titanic.

Shopping carts suddenly turn from wheeled baskets used for transporting goods to weapons used to run over the backs of peoples’ ankles or as an edge to push someone out of the way. One woman grabs a roll of wrapping paper from a nearby box and people start ducking as she proceeds to swing it around her head like a lasso in an overzealous effort to clear her running path.

The electronics department quickly becomes a battlefield as crazed shoppers paw at each other to get the last DVD or digital camera. The toy department is no longer a fantasyland for children, as aggressive mothers dive and grab for Barbie dolls and Hotwheels.

It may sound crazy to stand outside (or in extreme cases, sleep outside) a store in the wee hours of the morning after Thanksgiving to fight through hordes of people going hog-wild in an attempt to be a thrifty shopper. However, Grand Forks is far from alone—nearly 135 million Americans in cities across the country participate in this yearly “ritual.”

The “holiday” after Thanksgiving originally got its name because it was the day retailers would entice Christmas shoppers with sales, hoping the consumers would help them end their year ‘in the black.’ However, the inhumane actions experienced on this day in recent years makes the ‘Black’ in Black Friday take on a startling new meaning.

No one can forget the Great Black Friday Massacre of 2008, which left at least three dead in its wake with one trampled Long Island Wal-Mart employee and a fatal shootout between husbands defending their wives’ honors in a California Toys ‘R Us.

This is when it’s time to ask—is the chaotic, sometimes life-threatening, experience of Black Friday shopping really worth your ‘bang for a buck’? (Pun intended.)

You don’t need to wake up before the crack of dawn to wait in line for three hours so you only have to spend $2 on a three year-old copy of The Holiday for your best friend. And parents, spend the extra 50 cents and get some rest instead of rushing out to get the “discounted” Play-Doh.

Retail companies have to laugh at how they have American consumers wrapped around their little finger when they print their post-Thanksgiving ads, which often don’t even flaunt that many significant discounts, if shoppers would do their research.

Christmas is the season of giving, so do it the right way. Show courtesy and kindness during this time, not scowls and fangs. Don’t put the emphasis of the holiday on getting the “perfect present.” Kids won’t need psychiatric attention if they don’t get every gift on their wish list. And, chances are your loved ones will be happy enough to spend this great holiday with you, so don’t risk your sanity, or your life, along the way.

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