photo from Gizmodo.com

Well, maybe not HATE, but seriously dislike for sure…

Usually Fridays are my favorite day of the week, but one Friday in particular does nothing but drive me crazy… Please, if you have a different opinion, let me know… but frankly, I’m sick of Black Friday.. I’m tired of all the secrecy, the crowds, the madness… all for what.. to save a few dollars off of a laptop, or some clothing? It’s just ridiculous..

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for saving money. Really, who isn’t? But to deal with the pushing, shoving, fighting… It’s just too much for me.. and it seems to get worse and worse every year.

Before I had children, I did brave the crowds, albeit smaller ones, at a Military Exchange, on base in Okinawa, Japan. That was bad enough. I had fellow military wives ripping shopping carts from my hands, calling people names, and pushing and running to grab the Coach Purses, or cheap radios… You would think, on a military base, people would be a little more civil.. nope.. I’m not saying everyone was rude, or totally out of their minds… but the ones that were really stood out. Now that I have children, I don’t even want to take them out. First of all, if it’s a popular store, there’s no way I’m keeping my kids out all night. Second, to get them up at 3am, or whatever time, that they’d lost sleep all for a few dollars off, is not something I’m willing to do. It’s going to be cold, they’re going to be bored and cranky… and then so will I. Third, if there is any pushing, shoving, etc, I don’t want them to witness that…  or even be caught in the middle of all of that. That image above, I’m sure was meant to be funny, but in light of events that have truly happened, it’s really not that funny anymore..

I mentioned hating the secrecy. There have been so many times a Black Friday ad has been “leaked”.. and by the time I even bother to look at it, all that sits in its place is a scanned cease and desist letter threatening legal action if they don’t remove the ad. WTF? REALLY? Why? Because you don’t want consumers to see the great sales you have going on? Oh .. I know.. Because you don’t want other stores to see and lower their prices to beat yours? Last time I checked, print ads had to be submitted WEEKS in advance, if not earlier. Am I wrong?? Please correct me if I am! I’ve been told before by a few stores that suddenly are out of product the morning an ad comes out that very same thing, so I’m only assuming it’s the same for Black Friday ads. If I knew what store were having what sales, I could plan earlier on what I’m going to do. If I’d need to bundle the kids up, or if I don’t need to bother getting out of bed at 2am…  All great information to have.

What I don’t get is, why don’t stores just have amazing sales from now until Christmas Eve? Why throw all of their eggs into one day? An associate at The Children’s Place here in Jacksonville, NC told me today, that they usually do an entire MONTH’S worth of sales in just one day. I can’t imagine that many people in their tiny store. Not all at once, I’m sure, but all in the same day.. No thank you.

I know, I’m just rambling at this point… I’d really like to hear your thoughts about all of this. Agree? Disagree? Are you a Black Friday Shopper??? Why or Why Not???