Back in Black Friday
Black Friday is not a new experience for me; after weathering the storms of shopping madness for over seven years now, I think I can safely say that me and my gang of friends are veterans. This year, we ventured into the darkness yet again, however we were greeted with some startling new developments.
I've always looked upon Black Friday as a Man vs Nature sort of challenge — it's the closest I'll ever get to being like Bear Grylls (and that's okay). Black Friday is a test of your personal fortitude, endurance, and willpower. Can you stand outside of a store, in the freezing chill of November, with absolutely nothing to do for upwards of four hours? Are you willing to risk your health and sanity in order to get a crappy $300 HP laptop? Are you man enough to call out those line-jumpers that show up right as the doors open? These are the kinds of questions you used to have to ask yourself before attending a Black Friday sale.
Not any more.
Last year, we witnessed the start of a disturbing trend: my friends and I pulled up to Best Buy only to find that the crowds had already formed, and a handful of people brought tents with them. Shoppers had lined up earlier than expected, and began bringing a lot of baggage with them. We chalked it up to the fact that it was so unseasonably warm outside; it was a fluke that wouldn't be repeated this year. Boy, did we guess wrong. This year it was twice as cold (with average temperatures in the low 30's), but there were just as many people, if not more, outside.
We pulled up outside of Best Buy to find that people had gone to extremes: there were tents, folding chairs, space heaters, and blankets everywhere. Even worse, some people brought their dogs to keep them company in the freezing weather. And to make the scene even more chaotic, people were parking their cars in line with them. So you would have four or five people, a couple tents, and then a giant SUV parked on the sidewalk alongside the building. It was excessive madness that instantly detracted from the entire experience.
Needless to say, we didn't put up with it. We skipped Best Buy and went to Circuit City, where there seemed to be a more down-to-earth line of die hards. The tent and car insanity of Best Buy did, however, spark a lot of conversation during the four hours we spent in line.
The idea of bringing such amenities with you to stand in line totally defeats the purpose of going to a Black Friday sale. It takes the fun and challenge out of waiting in line, while at the same time creating a complete mess for the store owners to have to deal with. I guess you could say I'm a traditionalist in the sense of Black Friday lines, uninterested in the glitzy, comfortable methods employed by newcomer shoppers this holiday season.
And yet I have to wonder why this sudden evolution in the Black Friday line occurred. Is it because the event itself has become more popular than ever? Perhaps it has now become so popular that new people are showing up who don't necessarily feel like they have to stand in line like the rest. This doesn't even refer to the constant placeholding and line-jumping that occurs in the line each year, where one person stands in line and six of their friends show up later. All of this goes back to basic social ethics — ethics that are seemingly lost when a good deal comes around.
If you look at it from the opposite end of the spectrum, however, maybe I have just been making things too hard for myself. Maybe it has always been unnecessary for us to stand in line and freeze like shmucks, and we could have been bringing portable DVD players, space heaters, and tents. We followed what we thought were the common rules of line-standing; rules that were unspoken, and passed down from previous Black Friday line-standers. Look back to Communist and Depression-era bread lines: did any of those people bring tents and dogs? Nope. They stuck it out.
This year was one of the craziest Black Fridays in recent memory. It wasn't necessarily hard on the four of us — we each got what we came for, which was generally a bunch of inconsequential DVDs — but the number of people that showed up at the stores in my area was unheard of. For me, it's always been mainly about the experience. I haven't gone after any of the "big ticket items" or "doorbusters," but rather stood in line for the fun of it and watched people beat each other up for televisions and computers. At the end of the day (or rather, by the late morning), I can look back on the day so far and smile. I had a good time, I bonded with my friends, and I got a couple good deals.
I guess while some people find the need to literally camp outside with their dog and their Jeep, we can rest knowing that we're still kicking it old school... and freezing our butts off.
Posted by MikeRubino at November 23, 2007 5:10 PM | TrackBack