I know Thanksgiving was a week ago today, so Happy late Thanksgiving. I hope everyone got to spend the day with the ones they loved and stuffed themselves full of turkey, dressing, and all the trimmings and desserts. I know I did!
So we spend all of Thanksgiving day giving thanks for everything we have. At least, we're supposed to. I give thanks to God every day for all that I have and on Thanksgiving I just repeat that. I'm thankful for my husband, my children, my family, God's salvation, my church and church family, my music, my love for reading, and everything we have, like my husbands job, enough money to get by on, a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, and a few extra personal possessions that make me happy. I'm very happy with all that I have and don't ask for much more than what I do have. My husband and I were talking about Christmas and how we just want to get the boys Christmas presents. He agreed with me when I said I couldn't really think of anything that I wanted.
Which brings me to the point of this blog. This crazy tradition the retail world has started known as Black Friday sales. Let me get this straight: We spend all day on Thursday being thankful for all we have, eating a good meal with our family and friends, being these nice, sweet, even Christianly people. Then we leave our houses, go stand in line outside a store for hours in the freezing cold and when the stores open, we run in, trampling other people, to grab as much as we can, usually away from other people, because these things are on sale?
Now, I have participated in this madness twice in my life, and never again! One year, I went to Walmart with my husband, mother in law and sister in law. We got there sometime close to midnight I believe and didn't get back home until somewhere around 4 in the morning. I had never seen Walmart so packed! It was insane. I didn't really do much shopping. My husband wanted a GPS, my sister in law was getting a popular game system for her son, and mother in law was picking up different things for the grandkids. I found a movie I wanted. We pushed and shoved our way up front, stood in line for a while, paid for our things and went home to collapse in bed.
Last year though, I actually dived in with the other people trying to grab things myself. Never in my life have I ever experienced such greed. So here's the story: My husband and I had already made a list of the toys we wanted to get our boys for Christmas. It wasn't alot, just a few things for each boy. But most of what we had picked out was going to be on sale at Walmart during Black Friday. So Thursday night I talk my mom into going to Walmart with me to get their things. I was thinking of the money I could save. My husband didn't want to go, so he stayed home and took care of the kids.
My mom and I got to Walmart around 11. It was already packed. We had parked way out and walked to the store. Everything that was on sale was wrapped up in plastic on these wooden crates out in the middle of the aisles. Whatever you wanted, you stood by that crate and waited for midnight when they would be opened. One of the hottest items was the Just Dance 3 game. My mom offered to stay there while I went over to the crate that had the Tag Readers. My oldest son loved the first two Just Dance games and I wanted him to have the Tag Reader. So I'm standing there, chatting with these other ladies. They seemed nice, it was only about four of us standing at the Tag Reader crate so we were all confident we would get the ones we wanted. At ten til midnight, from the front of the store, comes this scream. We all look down the aisle, and there comes this roar up the aisle like a tornado. People had started ripping into the crates, as each group saw the one in front of them tearing into a crate, they would tear into their own, and it caught like wild fire. The woman standing beside me said, "oh well," and tore into the tag reader crate. She reached in, got the one she wanted then handed me one. As I was walking away, Walmart employees were running and shouting, "Put it back! Put it back!" Of course no one was listening. They had their hands on what they wanted and there was no way they were letting go. I paused, wondering if I should. But I looked back and there were still plenty of Tag Readers left, so I kept walking too, feeling a little guilty. Like I cheated. We found out later that a fight had broke out up front, and in the middle of that chaos, people took advantage and started tearing open the crates.
I get over to the Wii game crate to see my mom, squished between two people and a buggy. Some woman had wedged her buggy up against the crate so no one else could get close. My poor mother looked so uncomfortable and so out of her comfort zone. See, we are not pushy people, we are not confrontational. This was not the place for us. When she saw me coming she said, "You stand here, I'm getting out of here, I'm scared!" So I hand her the Tag Reader and tell her I'll wait. When midnight actually came, the people at the game crate got downright ugly. The Just Dance games were gone before I could even stretch my hand out to grab one. The woman with the buggy grabbed one at the same time as a man did and they tugged over it, yelling at each other, and calling each other very ugly words. I got out of there as quickly as I could. We walk over to the glass doors, where all the games are normally kept, and there are a bunch of Just Dance games in there. So I stand there while my mother goes to ask if we can get one of those. While she's gone to find an employee, more and more people are gathering around me as they too realize there are Just Dance games. I hold my position. I was there first. But if fists started swinging, I would let the game go.
So an employee came over, shoved her way through the crowd to the door to unlock it. By this time, I look like a bug on a wind shield. The crowd had me pressed up against the glass. The employee unlocked the door, the crowd surged, she grabbed a game and held it up. Never mind that I was there first, she just held it up for whoever could get there first. I have a very strong sense of fairness, and that just really made me mad. But I was able to grab it first since I was the closest. I clutched the game close to my chest because I thought it might be possible to actually lose a hand or an arm if someone spotted me with the game and tried to jerk it away from me.
After that, my mom and I went around to the toy aisles and found the last few items that we wanted. We kept the Just Dance game hidden under the other toys because everyone was looking for one. So we battle our way up front and get in line. And we wait. And we wait. We inch forward. And we wait. We stood there for an hour and a half. Finally, with sore legs and numb feet, we reach the cashier, pay for our things, and get the heck out of Walmart. My Mom swore if she never saw the inside of a Walmart again it would be too soon!! We hurry out to my car, keeping an eye out for any crazy person that might try to grab our bags and make it back home in tact.
Jokingly, I asked my mom this year if she wanted to go with me again and I got a very emphatic "NO".
I told my husband about our experience and I described it as just pure greed. Watching all those people fighting over THINGS, calling each other horrible names over THINGS. I never fought over one thing in that store, I was not going to compromise who I was for a THING. I'm not saying everyone who goes shopping on Black Friday are greedy, horrible, people. There are a lot of people that are nice about it, who can shop Black Friday and still be civil. Alot of people shop Black Friday simple because the savings will allow them to buy Christmas for the kids and family. That was my reason. I didn't buy anything that Black Friday that was for me or simply because it was on sale. I had a list of toys for the kids and that's the only things I bought.
Just remember, you've spent the day being thankful for all that God has given you. Don't turn into a monster the next day just for a few more things you probably don't even need. And be careful if you do shop Black Friday, because there are monsters out there that will do whatever they have to for that one item they can't live without.
