Black Friday

          My Zumba teacher, Kristyn, always hits Black Friday with her sister. Over the years, she’s shared her adventures. This year she said she couldn’t get out of it even if she wanted to because it has become an annual holiday tradition that she and her sister “celebrate.”  

Another friend who dances with us, Ruth, was excited because after being a stay-at-home mom for years, she’s back in the workforce with a seasonal job at Macy’s. She asked if I’d ever done Black Friday before. I said no. Although I love to shop, I’m not big on early mornings or crowds. She told me that this year, Macy’s would be open at midnight, and she would be working in Men's Fragrances. Her enthusiasm proved to be infectious.

I kicked off Thanksgiving with 90 minutes of Zumba, and then spent the rest of the day watching football and cooking. It was low key because I was only cooking for John and the kids. Johnny and his girlfriend Sarah ate at her house at 3:00, then joined us for “second” dinner at 6:30. By the time we finished eating and I got everything cleaned up, it was well after 9:00.

I put my feet up, and started looking through the newspaper. It was impossible to avoid the Black Friday inserts and fliers, so of course I flipped through them. With my Black Friday friends in mind, I thought out loud, “Maybe we should go just to see what it’s all about.”

My family answered with a loud, collective groan. I was confident that I could get both Sarahs to jump on the Black Friday bus, so I concentrated my efforts on John and Johnny. I pointed out that this year some of the stores would be opening at midnight, in just a few hours--no need for an early morning wake up. Some people got all their Christmas shopping done in one shot. There were some unbelievable bargains out there. They weren’t swayed.

Our old Sony Trinitron Wega.

So, I pulled out the big guns, or in other words, the flier from Best Buy. (Some background history: two years ago, Johnny saved up his money and bought a Samsung 40” LCD HDTV. When he graduated and moved back in with us, our 12-year-old, 36” Sony Trinitron Wega was cast down into the basement. We’ve all been watching his TV.)  I flipped to page 5 in the Best Buy Door Busters and pointed, “Hey, look at this. Isn’t this Johnny’s TV? It’s $427. Isn’t that less than half, maybe a third of what Johnny paid?” That got their attention.

The flier was snatched out of my hands. Suddenly, there was a very animated all male TV conference in full swing. The flier was dissected. They found a better deal on a bigger TV than the one I’d pointed out. Tape measures were unfurled.

The ad said “Minimum 12 per store.” Imaginary ratios were calculated. How many people would want that particular TV? Strategies were mapped out. The next thing I knew, Johnny and Sarah K. were driving over to Best Buy to see how long the line was.

While they were gone, daughter Sarah and I rifled through the rest of the fliers. Since we were newbies at this, we eliminated Wal-Mart immediately. No sense in getting trampled our first time out. Macy’s looked like it had some good deals.

Johnny and Sarah K. returned from their reconnaissance mission and reported that the line at Best Buy wasn’t that long. It only reached to the next store. They rushed through the house gathering gloves, hats, and jackets.  I told them that if they didn’t get the TV, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. They nodded, “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” as they ran out the door. I’m pretty sure my voice was just static, background noise.  At 10:30, they called to tell John that they’d be giving out numbers at 11:00, so he better get over there with the truck.

At 11:30, Sarah S. and I drove over to Macy’s, a block away from Best Buy. There were long, thick lines at both doors into the store.  In the car parked nose to nose with ours, two women were reviewing their sales fliers. They looked like seasoned Black Friday shoppers so we decided to follow their lead, and stay warm waiting in the car.

Sarah and I worked out our plan of attack. There was a Fossil leather purse that had been calling Sarah for a few months, and she also had something in mind for her boyfriend’s Christmas present. I wanted to say “Hi” to Ruth in Men's Fragrances. Sarah also wanted to go to Express, another store in the mall.

Our cell phones were charged. I rolled up the sales fliers that were more like booklets, and joked that if I had to, I could use the heavy roll as a billy club.

Just a few minutes before midnight, the gals in the car in front of us made their move. We jumped out too, and were crossing the street when Macy’s opened their doors. The crowd cheered and surged in. We merged into the line, and crossed the Macy’s threshold. I hustled over to the purses. Sarah went to look for her boyfriend’s gift.

Of course, the purse Sarah wanted wasn’t on sale, so that was out. But when we met up again, she had found what she wanted for her boyfriend at a great price. I looked for Ruth in Men's Fragrances, but couldn’t find her. However, while roaming through the aisles, I did find two gifts at door buster prices, and three good stocking stuffers too.

It was crowded. People had smiles on their flushed faces as they raced around. Other than one woman who flapped her flier open in Sarah’s face, everyone was very polite, and in good moods. We helped explain rebates to two foreign men buying a mini muffin maker. The sales lady who rang us up, was pleasant, and patient. The line we were in was short--only two customers ahead of us. We spent about $100.

At Express, the line was much longer, winding through the store like the line for Space Mountain in Disney World. We didn’t see anything worth the wait. Back out in the mall, we debated about going to Target, but decided to skip it. We’d gotten a good taste of our first Black Friday.

We wondered how things were going at Best Buy. When we pulled into the driveway, Johnny’s car and the truck were still gone, but not for long. Before we got in the door with our bags, they pulled in, with a big box and grins on their faces!

As they unpacked and set up our family’s Christmas present, they told us how organized Best Buy was. Sales people went down the line handing out tickets for door buster items that customers were in line for. So, if you weren’t going to get what you came for, you could leave and go to another store.

The couple in back of them worked at Best Buy and had come on their night off to get some of the bargains. When they found out what our group was there for, they went up and asked for a ticket for that TV to give to Johnny. In the end, they would’ve made the cut off anyway, but it was nice that strangers would do that for them.

There was a feeling of camaraderie in the line. A vitamin company came by handing out free coffee. Bed, Bath & Beyond employees from a few doors down passed out coupons for their store and reminded everyone that they were open at midnight too.

After a short night’s sleep, I went to Zumba Friday morning. My Black Friday friends weren’t there. They were probably resting after working the midnight shift, or still shopping. Another woman, who I’ve spoken to a few times, asked me about my Thanksgiving. I made the mistake of telling her that I’d shopped Black Friday for the first time. She gave me a mini-lecture about the evils of Black Friday: greed, downtrodden retail workers, and commercialism. She finished up by telling me that she just wasn’t much of a buyer. Wow, nothing like some light, small talk before Zumba.

Later that afternoon, I watched LSU beat Arkansas on our Samsung 55” LED HDTV. Clumps of grass in Tiger Stadium were kicked up by cleats, and strands of purple and gold waved in the cheerleaders’ pompoms literally bigger than life on our new LED TV. A few times I wanted to dodge players as they ran across the screen. Sarah said it seemed more like a portal than a TV. We all watched, spellbound.

Yesterday I saw our TV at Costco. It was $2700. We paid $999.99. Was it worth some quick planning, standing in line for a few hours, talking to some nice strangers? Oh yeah! Am I glad that we did Black Friday? Definitely! Will we do it again next year? Let’s just say after my piece of pumpkin pie, I’ll be carefully studying those Black Friday sales fliers.

Laura Keolanui Stark is trying to wrestle the remote away from “the boys,” and is still mesmerized by the new TV. She can be reached at stark.laura.k@gmail.com.