I HATE BLACK FRIDAY

I won't be shopping on Black Friday on principle alone. I used to work at a HUGE Target in Orlando and on Black Friday you would have people already lined up at 3 am. When the doors opened at 6, you could hear them RUNNING with their carts down the aisles. One of our team leads at the time, had to have stitches in her finger cause some lady smashed it between a sign and the shelf. All because the poor team lead was trying to replace a misprinted sign. Target's always been really good about honoring a sign, even a misprinted one, so all the lady had to do was say 'hey I saw that price, I would like it' and the team lead would've taken her up to the register and told the cashier to charge the sign price. Instead, the lady runs up, slams the team lead's hand into the shelf with the sign, and screams THE SIGN SAYS THAT PRICE! Needless to say, the lady was escorted out and arrested for assault by one of the 3 uniformed police officers, we had to have on duty and in the store all day Black Friday.

I know what these poor employees have to go through, I won't even be leaving the house on Black Friday.

reply to post by Hardstepah


Christmas has become a big turn-off for me. I buy things for the kids and grandkids, family members, etc., but my heart isn't really in it. Once my kids grew up, I totally lost the spirit of it. Once upon a time, it was magical to me, but that is only a distant memory now.

The retailers slide right in from Halloween to Christmas now. It has lost all meaning.

reply to post by schuyler


A rather predictable response from you, Schuyler, one that I have come to expect.

First of all, this is my rant. Nobody is forcing you to read it, right? Problem solved....unless, of course, you don't WANT people to rant about what bothers them. Maybe you want to control what people read, and think.

Maybe you ought to try the "compassionate" angle, and save yourself the trouble of all those keystrokes just to make baseless accusations and assumptions that are erroneous. Hitting below the belt, are we? You wrote a heck of a lot, and all you did was attack. I cannot help but wonder why.

Go ahead and make you own rant, about how people don't like stuff, and how it bothers you.

reply to post by caladonea


Exactly. There are a month of days after Black Friday to shop. I love receiving home made gifts, it shows the person cared enough to put effort in. Many small retailers would also love to have our business during the month of December, and there are local arts and crafts fairs during that month, so one can pick up beautiful and unique gifts.

reply to post by Ranthenae


I really feel for the employees who have to work on that day, because the working environment becomes downright dangerous, as your story illustrates. I'm sure those who have worked in retail in the large box stores hate Black Friday the most.

I hope this Black Friday, people buck the trend and either stay home, or behave sanely while they are out shopping.

I made a facebook post today( a rare thing) about how people who participate in the material world madness of black friday are morons and man did I get alot of angry responses. I guess I hurt some feelings. And there aren't many people on mine either. Your exactly right when you say it shows everything that is wrong with this nation. Days like black friday almost makes me wish for an apocalypse to happen to wipe the stupidity from the human race. Every now and again we need a survival of the fittest and smartest event and we need on now mor than ever.

It's just stuff. Materialistic junk. I guess people like us just value the better things in life like, family, friends, food, and shelter.

reply to post by usmc0311


Oh yeah, if you want to be high-minded, don't bother with Facebook, because people will go ballistic on you....At least that's been my experience.

I personally just do not get the attraction of staying all night on a freezing sidewalk, and then stampeeding in to grab some junk that was overpriced to begin with, then knocked down to a "bargain price", when that's the price it should have been all along. Sales are good, but the mob scene is just too much. Fights break out, people are pushing and shoving, employees get hurt, and it becomes total anarchy. I went through a bunch of youtube videos which I didn't post, showing the craziness, the screaming, the verbal altercations between two strangers fighting over the same box of crap.

If TPTB wanted to spread a bioweapon, Black Friday would be a good start. Not to mention, there could be flash mobs of people robbing the store, and there wouldn't be enough personnel to stop them. Want to catch the flu or a nasty cold. Here's your opportunity!

I do hope this year, people will behave, and nobody will get hurt!

Double post!

I have never been to a black friday nor will I ever. You have all year to catch amazing sales and put those gifts away for Christmas.

reply to post by Night Star


Exactly. But as I said in my OP, most of the people they interview that plunge themselves into that insanity admit that they go to buy things for themselves. It's a celebration of greed. Nothing more.

Some people enjoy the crush of the mob.....and I never had a problem with it, other than not wanting to participate, until people starting getting hurt. That's when it began to dawn on me, the holiday that used to be the holiest of days has now been hijacked by corporate interests, and they create the frenzy through the media. They get people to think that if they don't participate in it, they won't get any good deals. They don't care who gets hurt, they want people to rush in and grab whatever crap they are offering.

As has been pointed out by another poster, there are awesome deals on the internet starting Friday. That's where I do all my shopping, even for large toys for the grandkids. Never had a problem, always arrived on time, and I can stay in my pajamas and shop at home.

E-Bay is a great place to find bargains!

reply to post by FissionSurplus


FissionSurplus, wanted to quote for you a post I had made in another thread in another forum a few months back:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by coven83
What will it take to stop the descent of our world in to bondage?

So what is the answer? How do we take our world back? Do we rise up and attempt to take it by force? Do we wait for a Saviour to come, in the form of a god or alien species? Do we just sit and wait, knowing that all things balance out in time?

In my opinion, taking away Commercial Advertising could be an option, solely based on your statement (which by the way I deem as 100% true):

Over the years people have begun to awaken to the fact that the ones who run our planet, from elected servant to vicious tyrant, have been leading us further along the path to total servitude. Whether they know it or not, whether you know it or not, we are all being played. Pieces in a game to gain total control of our planet.

Seems that ever since the advent of advertisements in written, radio and TV ads we have been "coerced" into what to do, say, how to think, what to wear, what to eat etc...the list goes on and on. The advertisement industry has several billions of dollars put into it every year...for example:

In 2010, Internet advertising alone was over $26 billion (that is $ 26,000,000,000).1 The same year, television advertising was over $ 50 billion (Ad Age). These figures do not include magazines, newspapers, billboards, product placement, pre-movie commercials, and branding & marketing expenses.

How much money does the advertising industry spend each year?

Take away the ads, and you take away to ability to compel the peoples into doing what you want...

Is this a viable answer? Not at all! Take away the "player's" hands, he will have nothing to move his pieces with. The advertisement industry is, and always has been/will be the thumbs and pinky fingers of those hands...(TPTB). Take them away suddenly and without warning, you can still learn to move your pieces, but perhaps not with as much accuracy and//or speed at first.

TPTB would never even think of allowing this to happen! Even if the world was struck by the biggest X-Flare/Niburu/flood ever, eventually advertising would come back, in full force!

To many questions and not enough alcohol in the world to quell the rage I feel at having my children's future dictated by a group I have no support for or by. So ATS what think you?

from this thread (not mine): www.abovetopsecret.com...

Seems to fit in nicely here...

Thanks, edaced, it does fit in well with what I'm saying. Advertising, on the face of it, seems harmless, but there are a lot of subliminal things going on in a commercial that most people miss. It plays on our insecurities and our wanting to "fit in" with others.

When advertising crept into public television, I knew it was all over for us. We are bombarded with advertisements, no matter where we go or what media we use for our entertainment.

Thanks for the added dimension to this subject!

The only thing i've ever been that excited to buy was a Playstation 3 and I got that last year for $100.

Shows how much I care.

I hate it too but OH MY GOD THE DEALS! THE DEALS! THE DEALS!
Can you believe Wal Mart has a waffle maker for like $3! OMG! I NEVER make waffles but I NEED that thing! The $4 towels are $2! OH. MY. GOSH! I bet I save like $15 on some cheap crap tonight! Do you think they'll have one o those watchyamacallit thangamajigs? Maaaaaaan I sure hope so... I really need one o those.

Yep... I hate it too. I also hate how stupid people get about saving $20 when you can usually find stuff even cheaper on the internet. There are special websites that tell you when there are special deals on things. It's not that hard to type a few words into a search engine.

you know whats funny, america spends $600 billion a year on defence against imaginary enemies in countries that have their own problems to deal with and are not even thinking of attacking or going to war with any one, let alone america.

they just want to live in peace and prosper.

so while america has grown so big and powerful that no nation on earth could ever threaten it, the only ones powerful enough to bring it down are americans themselves.

and here is a prime example. you're your own worst enemies. the only thing left is to overrun the government and start killing each other.

which by the looks of things in the videos, it already has started.

It gets worse - Walmart and Target are opening at 8pm tonight [Thanksgiving night]

Yee haw

reply to post by Anundeniabletruth


LOL.....You're right. Save a few measly bucks on crap you most likely don't need, or can be bought just as cheap or cheaper online. Some people are willing to go through a whole lot of craziness, assuming they're really going to make out like bandits.

Tomorrow is the day to shop online, yet people are leaving family and friends to go play shopping gladiator in a zoo-like atmosphere. Alrighty then. I know a few of them myself, and I just shake my head. What the hell....people complain when they have to stand in line, they complain when stores are crowded and the parking is impossible, and these are the same people who are pulling an all-nighter tonight with a million other people.

reply to post by randomname


People are so ready to fight each other these days, over the dumbest things. We are our own worst enemy, it's true. Thankfully, so far, they are a nothing more than a noisy minority of the population.

I cannot imagine the pandemonium if our currency devalued to nothing overnight, and people couldn't buy necessities at the store....

reply to post by LadySkadi


Yes, I heard about that. Of all the things to do after a belly full of carbohydrate-heavy foods, staying up late and fighting crowds of pushy people is at the bottom of my list!