Black Friday!

On Sale $34.99

Yes, I shop on Black Friday.  I have been getting up in the wee hours of the morning to shop 'til I drop, every Black Friday for about 15 years.  Maybe longer.  I remember the good old days when stores would give you prizes, merchandise and even cash(gift cards) to come into their store.  We would race around from store to store getting all of the goodies and then do our shopping. And by race I mean it.  We could run from one end of the mall to the other.  Meier & Frank(Macy's) had a $15 gift card and Sears did too, and they both opened at the same time!  There haven't been much in the way of giveaways this year, but plenty of good deals.

The problem with this year was that stores started opening earlier.  I liked it last year.  Stores opened at Midnight and I was done with my shopping by 3am.  I am a night owl, so that's about my bedtime.  This year though, stores opened at 8pm.  Lots of people, still full of turkey, and maybe a little too much liquid holiday cheer, crammed into the stores.  So many people came out for the first time ever and boy were they cranky.  "There's too many people!"  "This is crazy!"  "Why don't they have an unlimited number of these $5 items that usually cost me $40!  What a rip off!"  There were lots of angry faces, lots of grumbling and complaining, lots of bored kids, lots of annoyed husbands, lots of line cutting and rudeness all around. 

Now I miss the days of "Doors Open at 4am".  The grumpy husbands and kids stay home.  There's lots of people bundled up with their coffees, chatting and making new pals while waiting in an ice cold line, too excited for a good deal to be in a crabby mood.

People shouldn't have to leave their loving family early on Thanksgiving to get presents to make their family happy on Christmas.  It makes no sense! 

Retail workers shouldn't have to miss out on Thanksgiving entirely because they have to work, even if some do get paid more to work on that day.

My plea to major retailers, at least hold off until midnight!