Author Topic: The Zombie Nation goes Shopping -- Black Friday Stampedes  (Read 3099 times)


Zamboni

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Re: The Zombie Nation goes Shopping -- Black Friday Stampedes
« Reply #1 on: December 01, 2013, 09:35:22 AM »
Well at least there was some running right at the beginning, and I thought "look at all those lovely people getting exercise!"  But then it quickly degenerated.

LalsConstant

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Re: The Zombie Nation goes Shopping -- Black Friday Stampedes
« Reply #2 on: December 01, 2013, 09:54:02 AM »
Heh, having worked far too much of my adult life in big box retail, I've seen that sight before.  The worst part is when you're on the register, you just suddenly see this tidal wave of humanity come crashing down upon you and it does not stop for hours upon hours.

At least when I was at Wally World, since we were a 24 hour Supercenter, we didn't have the huge lines, we just had people gradually gathering in the aisles.  We rolled the stuff out early, wrapped in black plastic with employees posted to watch over it.  It's a much better way to do it, letting them just sort of "pool" in there by the thing they want the most, waiting for their cue.  A verbal cue at 6 AM over the PA system would kick it off.

It's tremendous fun trying to move a bank bag full of cash (the registers constantly run out of change) through that mess.  We weren't supposed to take register change through certain areas of the store, but Black Friday was an exception because if you didn't avoid most of the customers you'd never get it delivered!  You'd be like a football player, clutching that bag tight, under your jacket, doing spins and ducking through the cart corral, etc.

But this video is dumb.

Sure there's plenty of people buying tons of stupid things they don't need with money they don't have, but their non ownership of any particular commodity is irrelevant to the phenomenon, and there are Illuminati I will eat a bucket of ball bearings.  The idea that the world is as screwed up as it is through deliberate design, when human stupidity trumps any organized evil offhandedly, is ludicrous.

Also I don't get why everyone seems to hate Black Friday unless they work in retail.  Now that I can enjoy it as a consumer sucka, Black Friday is a great option some years for coming out ahead.

I was out on Black Friday.  My mother wanted a new ladder after her old one was stolen for some home improvement jobs next year.  I woke up at 5 AM, a mere 30 minutes before my usual wake up time, and was back in bed at 5:51 AM.  I saved $40 even after considering the .25 gallons of gas used.  I don't earn that much working for an hour.  I bought the new ladder for less than what I see them on on Craigslist to boot.

When I woke up hours later, a lazy, worthless creature, I crawled over to yon computer and bought my last Christmas gift of the season for about 40% of its regular price with a few clicks and key taps.  This is an indulgent and extravagant gift, the fanciest one I'm giving this year, but it's replacing a 7 year old bargain bin purchase that's on its last legs.  This one will likely be used similarly considering the recipient.

Granted I still could not have bought anything and been any further ahead, but I'd planned to buy these things for months.  It was going to happen, so why not buy it on the optimal occasion?

After lunch I opened my spreadsheet and redid my 2 year old budget, and lined up my payments thru the end of the year.  I found I'd not spent $250 and some change this year I'd planned on spending mostly thanks to Black Friday, so I put some ($80) in my emergency cash, invested some ($140) and diverted some ($30) toward a new hard drive I've been saving for.

So my Black Friday resulted in me getting everything I wanted and coming out ahead on several financial goals for the year, provided I don't blow it in December due to some unforeseen disaster (it won't be on shopping, that's done with).

It's really not so terrible.

Honest Abe

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Re: The Zombie Nation goes Shopping -- Black Friday Stampedes
« Reply #3 on: December 01, 2013, 10:40:05 AM »
I love this

chasesfish

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Re: The Zombie Nation goes Shopping -- Black Friday Stampedes
« Reply #4 on: December 01, 2013, 03:49:23 PM »
I did my usual Black Friday tradition, go stop by Costco around 9:45, no Black Friday sales, nice and calm, buy something I need and get my free cookbook.

They're one of the most successful retailers and don't do any of these dumb sales