As I am sure everyone knows the day that follows Thanksgiving Day is infamously known as Black Friday. During this day, stores around the US will lower the prices of many of their products all at once and for that day only, creating a frantic mess of buyers and accidents. There are horror stories of this day because some people have been hurt or have even died.
A story I heard last year involved an employee who was counting down before cutting the plastic off of a huge stack of video games. A woman pulled out a can of pepper spray right as he finished counting, sprayed everyone around her, and took off with an arm full of the games. Some people can get pretty crazy during this day.
This year I actually was able to take part in Black Friday, which I have never done before. A friend, his girlfriend, and I went to the Target in Rochester, MN. We weren’t that keen on getting there for the best things so we got there right before the doors opened, which meant there was a huge line before we could even get in. When we did, there sure was a large amount of people, many grabbing TV’s and other electronics. One thing I soon realized is that it wasn’t as hectic as the stories had always made it out to be. No one was screaming at the top of their lungs, there was little pushing, no one was fighting with anyone, and to be honest I was a little disappointed.
I was expecting chaos, and instead got what I would usually get if I went to a store, but with 200 extra people. It was still an interesting night, just not exactly what I was expecting. A reason for this could be that many of the stores this year opened as early as 6:00 or 8:00 pm on Thanksgiving Day, to try and eleviate that rush and be more orderly. This led to a conversation I had with a family member about how Thanksgiving is becoming less of a holiday, now that Black Friday has crept its way into it. Instead of people sitting down to a thanksgiving dinner, they’ll be going out to the stores that are opening at 6:00 and getting the cheap TV’s and movies.
