I like a bargain as much as the next person, but I just do not get this mindset ~ I do not understand a riot over $2 waffle irons ~ I do not understand a customer pepper-spraying other customers in her way ~ I do not understand and am still horrified by the, I think, 30-something Walmart employee being trampled to death when the doors opened at midnight last year ~ I just canNOT wrap my mind around any of it ~ and yet current reports are that this Black Friday broke all records in dollars spent ~~ Sooz

Friday, Nov 25, 2011 8:00 AM 09:07:40 CST
Black Friday: Consumerism minus civilization
When the "Crazy Target Lady" becomes a midnight-sale shopping-obsessed cultural icon, we've gone too far

By Andrew Leonard

Here's a Thanksgiving recipe guaranteed to deliver a nervous breakdown impervious to even the most bleeding-edge psychopharmaceutical wonder drug. Go to YouTube, search for “Black Friday commercials,â€

salon rules.

Black Friday isn't a big deal up here - probably because we celebrate Thanksgiving in October when the weather is better.  Our equivalent to it, though, is Boxing Day - the day after Christmas.  It's freakin' unreal.  Instead of being sick to death of shopping for all of December, the malls are packed, there's line-ups at stores and you even get the occasional testy "I was here first" responded to by a "Oh my, were you? I'm so sorry."  It's brutal.  The trouble is, the deals aren't even that good.  In fact, I'm pretty sure a lot of the prices are higher than they were before Christmas.

Joking aside, it is ridiculous.  The lady in the commercial above talks about being in line since yesterday.  I can remember one Christmas evening driving to a friend's for dinner and seeing people already lined up at A&B Sound to get one of their special deals when the store opened at 9 the next morning. 

Signs I would like to see on store entry ways: "We will be closed all day Thanksgiving and will re-open at 12 noon on Black Friday.  We want our employees to enjoy the holiday with their families too.  Sorry for the inconvenience".

Great idea, pic ~ but it'll never happen when it competes with the allure and temptation of mega $$$ ~ I did see one company ad [maybe BestBuy's] that said they would be closed Thanksgiving because they choose to celebrate one holiday at a time ~

Sooz