Black Friday
It’s been a busy weekend. I haven’t had much time to post because between Thanksgiving, the day after Thanksgiving, a bridal shower and putting up the mammoth Westover Christmas tree, the only thing that I have managed to do is catch a few snoozes here and there. Black Friday was pretty much what I expected it to be this year. I woke up earlier than I anticipated so it made for a very long day. We hit the road at about 3:40am so we could get to JCPenney when they opened. It was timed just right because we pulled into the parking lot just as the throngs of people were heading inside.I didn’t have much on my list for JCPenney but thought I would go for the $7.88 girls pajamas and the $9.99 jeans since Michaela has grown a lot this year, her clothes are getting pretty snug. The PJs were an easy find but her size wasn’t. I managed to find 1 pair that would fit her. My search for the jeans was not fruitful. They had plenty of the $13.99 embellished jeans with ugly appliques on them but none of the $9.99 ones – not even an empty shelf. An employee asked if she could help me and I said what I was looking for and she questioned whether there really was such a deal in the ad. I was not patient enough to wait for her to look. I assured her that I wasn’t blind and it’s in there. This did not bode well for them, I thought. So I left the store with only spending $8. I’ll just get my jeans elsewhere (and I did for the same price, so NYAH!). When I got to the car, I fished for their ad and low and behold there they were, Arizona Jeans for girls $9.99. Sad.Next stop was Wal*Mart. The parking lot was already full and this particular location was our choice because it was further away from most of the other shopping centers and we hoped far enough for people to avoid. I guess that wasn’t too much the case but judging by my brother’s experience at a different Wal*Mart, I would say that fewer people were in the store we went to. The store allowed folks in early but had roped off the electronics and toys. Lines formed in every direction. I sent Matt on a quest for the 8″ digital frame and a 4GB memory card. I was heading for toys for the $10 80′s Trivial Pursuit Game which I thought would something people may go for but not as much as say a $5 Barbie Doll or $2 DVD. For the most part, people were civilized as we waited in line. Every 5 minutes a voice would come over the intercom telling folks to stay behind the ropes and that they’d open at 5 am. When the voice said there was 20 minutes until opening, a small scuffle could be heard in the back of the store. The scuffle quickly turned into a full on riot as voices started to raise and there was all sorts of screaming. People in my line looked at each other with confused looks and slightly amused laughter. But then the ropes dropped and before I knew it, our civilized bunch thrust forward and the walls of merchandise that had been so neatly stacked in front of us came crashing down. I’ve never heard a sound like that while shopping. It was like a roar. There is no other way to describe it. I had only been maybe 15 feet from those games while I was in line but but the time I reached where they had been, they were gone. The carts that people foolishly thought they could push into this sea of people had been abandoned now and I found myself not only having to climb over people but their empty carts as well. The Wal*Mart employees stood there in fear – their eyes as big as saucers. This was nuts! I took a “quick” tour around the toy section and determined the games were gone. I decided to get out of there and see how Matt was fairing. This wasn’t going to be easy. Have you ever seen those nature movies where it shows the salmon swimming upstream? Those poor fish have to do all they can to get where they are going and that is how I felt. My eyes were darting left and right just so I could get a sense of what people were going after. The sense I got was they were going after anything and everything. I honestly think that most people didn’t know what they were grabbing. They just took whatever was in front of their faces. Ooh! $5 High School Musical and Hannah Montana dolls! I grabbed three. I have no idea why. I eventually emerged from the Toy section and started to make my way up front. I called to Matt on the walkie talkie and his response kinda sounded like, “I waah waah….I think I got the right frame…waaah waaah. Memory Card.” Um, OK! Meet me up front! A few minutes later, Matt found me at checkstand 23 and in his hands was a 7″ digital frame and a 2GB memory card…Poor guy. 
Wrong items – both of them but he tried really hard!! I was proud of him. I bought the memory card anyway because even at 6 bucks that was a pretty good deal. The lady behind us in line said she had an extra 8″ frame so we traded it out and ended up walking out the store semi-successful. Matt couldn’t get the horror of the Wal*Mart experience out of his mind the rest of the morning but we all had a pretty good laugh considering that as we pulled out of the parking lot it was only 5 minutes til 5! The store technically wasn’t even open yet but the crowds or whatever changed those plans. A sea of cars was now streaming into the parking lot. They had no clue what awaited them.I would say that Wal*Mart was the most exciting. The longest wait was at Shopko which to their credit tried to keep things organized but in doing so created one of the longest lines EVER. The line to check out wrapped around the perimeter of the store and I think had it not been for a particular item that was $100 off that we will need for another item which at this time cannot be talked about, I think the popcorn tins and nuts would have been ditched at the first glimpse of the line. But Debbie and Matt waited for an hour anyway as I took Mom to Sam’s Club. Sam’s Club was practically deserted. I felt like I was walking into a hoity toity country club. They had the Nutcracker music playing and a lovely buffet breakfast laid out for anyone who wanted to partake. I was thinking of sticking around there for a while even though they really had nothing I wanted. I found the item Mom sent me in for and then mozied around for a few minutes to see if there was anything else. There wasn’t. So I headed to the car thinking that, at least for me there was a rush to get into the stores but very little to show for it. I think by this point, I had only spent about $75.We ventured back to Shopko to wait for another 30 minutes and eventually Debbie and Matt emerged from the store – weary but arms loaded with additional items that had enticed them as they stood in line. The next stop was Target which had already been opened for a while. Most of the cheap DVDs had been picked over. I wasn’t interested in the toys but I did manage to find Michaela her $9.99 jeans here and there were plenty in her size. By this time we were all getting pretty hungry so we called Dad so he and Michaela could meet up with us for breakfast. We took an hour break and by 8:30 we were back out seeing what was left at Walgreens and Kohls. I found another $15 worth of stuff and then we went home.So, my haul was a lot lighter this year. That has to do with a few things. I don’t have to shop for Mike (obviously) and he usually wants something that costs a lot. And the other reason is that I have already been finding bargains for Michaela for the past few weeks. Before Black Friday, I had already had her covered. In fact, as of this moment, the only person left on my shopping list is Debbie and I have absolutely no idea what to get her….Thank goodness I still have a few weeks to figure that out!
