Black Friday

I've always heard of Black Friday and the craziness involved so I decided that this year I would have to see it for myself.

My Christmas shopping is finished and I didn't need anything, but curiosity got the best of me.

So at 4:40 am my alarm went off and I dragged myself out of bed. It was a cultural experience that I didn't want to miss, so off I went to Target.

I arrived five minutes after the store had opened and all the shopping carts were gone, the parking lot was full and the line to the electronics department was halfway down the store.

I saw a man with three huge screen TV's in his cart.

One lady had three large boxes stacked on top of each other and was nudging them through the store with her foot. Bless her heart, they moved an inch at a time. She's probably still there. No shopping carts, remember.

I saw women talking to other women on the cel phones. "I'm in aisle three getting the Barbie Hair Dressing thingie. How many did you want? Two or Five?"

I grabbed Candyland because I had to buy something on Black Friday, but by the time I wandered up to the cash register the line was quite extensive, so I put it back.

As I was walking out of the store I overhead a woman tell a man that she had been in line since 3:30 am.

In New England on a rainy day when it's 44 degrees outside.

(If you ever hear of me doing such a thing, please call the loony bin and let them know I've escaped.)

All in all, I went to one store for thirty minutes and bought nothing.

I am glad I went, I'm glad I saw what the craziness is like. Walking through Target with long lines and huge amounts of people I realized that shopping on Black Friday is actually quite similar to grocery shopping in Asuncion, Paraguay.

I'm just glad I don't have to get up at five in the morning to do that every week.