Lifes not that bad, but I'm gonna bitch about it anyways....
Well, well, well. Here it is. Another day after thanksgiving and I actuallly made it home alive. The cars, the traffic, the people. Oh my god!!! Year after year, it always surprises me. I never really fathomed how crazy it could get until I had my first experince of it a few years back.

Oh yeah, I remember it like it was yesterday. Waking up way before the butt crack of dawn just to hear people scream over the latest gizmos and gadgets, clothing, and toys. I don't ever( in a million years) want to go back into retail. This part of the year gives me the creeps. Mainly because, well, some people just turn down right mean when it comes to the holiday sales routine. Not only are they mean to the poor associates (my god have mercy on your soul) but also to each other.

I thought the holidays were supposed to bring people together. Of I forgot, they do, just not in the "made for T.V. way" that we normally see. Nevertheless, I hope everyone had (and are still having) a safe holiday. These days can be really hectic, so I encourage everyone to be safe and watch the idiot(s) that try to race you to the closes parking space.

Oh yeah, and to anyone who has the fortune of working in retail. I'm sorry. I'm really really sorry. I feel your pain. And to everyone else. Please be kind to the sales associates, cause in all honestly, they don't even want to be there.

Comments
on Nov 26, 2004
My husband and I have started buying our children's gifts online because we hate the hassle of the stores (of course, he's deployed right now, so it wouldn't matter this year). I did the early morning "black Friday" thing in the past, and I would never do it again.

Great article.
on Nov 26, 2004
Thank the good lord for online shopping!! That's what I'm going to be doing a lot of. But it's going to suck to go to Wal-mart just to buy groceries.

Last year I went to Wal-mart at 3 a.m. thinking, "no ones going to be here. It's three o'clock in the F'n morning". Boy was I wrong. What usually takes me about fifteen minutes to get took, me about 4 times as long. I like Christmas, but the holiday sales and the mad- midnight -shopper-whom-only-shops-when-midnight or the mad-morning-shopper-whom-only-shops-at-dawn crap really sucks the fun out of christmas.
I just hate how retail has used Christmas as a marketing tool. We are supposed to enjoy the season, not hassle over gifts that someone might not want 3-6 months down the road. it just sucks the whole fun out of Thanksgiving and Christmas.
on Nov 26, 2004
Last year on Black Friday, I was an assistant manager at the highest volume Wal*Mart in TX. We call it "blitz." It is the most stressful, horrible day of work one can ever experience. People become animals. Litterally, we keep cops posted at the store. That way when the inevitable 10 or more fights break out, all we have to do is call the ambulance for the loser.

There is nothing that could ever be on sale, even if it is free, that will get me to wake up before 7 AM.

I, like Tex, shop online. I hate crowds. Malls make me nervous, and Wal*Mart gives me panic attacks now.

Nice article, da_face.
on Nov 26, 2004
Thanks guys, but its funny how people act. About 3 years ago, I worked at Sears in the hardware department. The veterans there always told me stories but I never believed them. Then I saw it first hand. We had two elderly ladies, (ELDERLY!!!!!!!) fight over a ten piece socket set that only cost about $3 bucks after tax. They literaly had a knock-down-drag-out brawl over something that was (at the time) cheaper than gas.

Then there was this one lady, (the story of this still pisses me of till this day) who came in the store wanting to purcahse, um..... I forget. But anywho, I was already helping a customer when she had come up. There was this guy who wanted to swap out a drill because it had stopped working two days after he bought the thing. (I don't care what Bob Villa says. Buy Dewalt or Makita. I can say that, I use to work there.) So anyway, she came up in a huff, interupted the guy while he was expaining to me what happened to his drill. I politely told the lady that I would help her as soon as I was done with this customer.

Now, like I said I don't remember exactly what it was she wanted, but all I remember was she wanted me to explain every little detail about the thing and compare prices. And she also wanted me to drop what I was doing(helping a customer I remind you) and help her instead. That pissed me off, but I was still nice and I told her I'd be right with her. She didn't want to hear any of that, and she stormed of looking for another sales associate. Then she had the nerve to complain to my supervisor that I didn''t help her when she needed help. I WAS ALREADY HELPING A CUSTOMER. IAMHEATHER im sure you woud agree that leaving a customer to help another customer is a sales NO-NO. No matter how busy or what time of the year it is.
on Nov 27, 2004
IAMHEATHER im sure you woud agree that leaving a customer to help another customer is a sales NO-NO. No matter how busy or what time of the year it is.


Absolutely! Usually, I tried to find another associate to help "those types of customers," but on a day like Blitz, there are no other available associates.
on Nov 27, 2004
i did the black friday thing. stayed over at my parents got up way 2 ealier plus went to bed way 2 late lol. but i did get some awsome deals (4 mgpix dig for less then a 100). i just cant believe people sleep over night to get some deals thats just crazy. i like the deals hate the lines and additudes if your not a morning person stay in bed.

blondie