Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Danger of Death…
Life In General December 1st, 2008
I remember when I was younger how Thanksgiving meant eating Cornish game hens with my family (no - we don't eat turkey) and having a few days off from school was what the holiday was all about. This past weekend was pretty nice... time away from work, visiting my family and eating loads of good food.
However, I am left disgusted with what American culture has become. What a total socioeconomic failure. Black Friday indeed. You're telling me someone has to die because you are in such a hurry to spend the money you probably don't have on a bunch of crap that you more than likely don't even need? You've got to be kidding me.
I didn't go out the morning of Black Friday and for good reason. After last year of going to Kohl's and finding a line of 100+ people in 2 lines at the registers I decided against it. Now I am swearing it off entirely. People are like a herd of wild animals when they get into a group. The more people gathered into a single place the more idiotic the group becomes. Like a stampede of scared buffalo only rather than fear they are driven by a dollar amount tied to material objects.
Pathetic.
2 Responses to “Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Danger of Death…”
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December 1st, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Counterpoints are very few, but you seem to have neglected the idea that some people gathered to save money in a tough economy to buy things as gifts for others.
Also, your blog is a pain in the ass to comment on. I have to log in AND put in a captcha? Give me a break.
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:45 am
Greetings Paul
I agree with you that many people went out to purchase gifts for others, but how many were only buying for themselves? Unfortunately we don’t know. This statement made by a shopper, taken from NYTimes, is what I find terrifying:
“”When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, ‘I’ve been on line since yesterday morning,’ ” Ms. Cribbs told The Associated Press. “They kept shopping.”"
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/business/29walmart.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Here are some numbers I found on MarketWatch stating where the money was spent:
“As expected, many shoppers (50.9%) purchased clothing and accessories over the weekend while 39.0 percent bought books, DVDs, CDs and video games and 35.9 percent purchased consumer electronics. Toys were also big sellers, as 28.5 percent of shoppers bought a toy.”
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/NRF-Survey-Finds-Black-Friday/story.aspx?guid={A791F234-12AE-4D46-8239-69F44C87F597}
Finding a deal to save money in tough times is wonderful. People shooting each other in Toys R Us or trampling someone to death over clothing, accessories, electronics or what have you is what I see as pathetic.
I took a gander at the reCAPTCHA settings and disabled it for registered users. Only a few friends tend to pass through and even then they don’t have much to say (maybe because it was a pain in the ass).
Thanks for comments!