[shel]

Yesterday there were a few commercials on the TV announcing sales from a few of the department and retail stores. Nothing surprising about that as the holiday shopping season starts the day after Thanksgiving. What startled me was that some of the stores opened early, one at 4:00am and a couple at 5:00am, and of course there were one or two at 6:00am. It seems that every year the stores open earlier, and the feeding frenzy gets more frantic. One of the TV commercials was a little disturbing: the woman cut short the family Thanksgiving dinner in order to get to the store that opened at 4:00am. That the company would suggest - strongly - that shopping was more important than family was upsetting. What kind of message does that send? And who - what kind of person - would even consider shopping at such an ungodly hour? What does this say about our society, our values?

shel

[Botanique]

…that we’re narcissistic materialistic insomniacs with attention deficit disorder?

Naw, I don’t get it either. I slept in until 5:30, spent time with future stepdaughter, and treated myself to a massage. Didn’t feel like thumbwrestling over a %75 off pair of jeans or standing in line behind a hungover Aqua Net in heels who decided not to shower nor use deodorant in order to secure the last chia pet for my sister.

Sigh. And that's all I have to say about that.

[DMT]

I refuse to perpetuate the madness...

My son works for Best Buy, and had to be at work at 03:00 this morning to be ready for the 05:00 opening.

That, to me, is absotively insane...

My daughter had previously been a store manager for Zumies (a skate and snow sports shop), and the grind was horrible.

The hours she was putting in to bring that store back from what the previous manager let happen (daughter got a transfer 50 miles away to fix this store) were outrageous, and her regional manager was screaming at her because she was concentrating on developing a strong staff (axe the thieves and "tourists"), rebuilding the sales displays to enhance marketability, and turning an outstanding profit every month, yet the RM was giving her bad marks for a less than organized back room.

She quit (no notice or nuthin') on the night before Thanksgiving after working until the wee hours of the morning for four days straight. Salaried, not hourly...

Completely against my personal ethics to do such a thing, but given the retail nightmare she was in, she had my blessings and encouragement.

Sorry for the rant (well, not really), but there has to be some semblance of sanity returned to this greed-fest, so I refuse to do any shopping until I'm dang good and ready to part with my nickels and dimes...

[shroomgirl]

my sister in law is a consumate consumer.....Black Friday is in the top 3 of her favorite days.....Thanksgiving afternoon she reads (and this year we all did) the ads to see where/what she'll shop for.....5 children......never a slacker this woman gets up early and shops with the best of them.
My only brother HATES shopping....and mob shopping has got to be one of his top 3 Avoid at all costs events.


This year I had nothing happening Fri-Sun so offered to take her kids shopping...... steeling my spine and anticipating mobs/waiting in lines.....
I took my 12 year old nephew and 7 year old niece to Walgreens (9:30am thank you very much....none of this 5 am junk).
Within an hour he had bought great presents for his mom, 3 sisters.....had decided to organize his dads tools in the basement as a gift....tried to locate a Mizzou t-shirt for his older brother. Spent $34 of his $100, is getting a $9.99 rebate for the fancy razor he bought a sister. Felt like he had gotten much better, higher quality shtuff this year instead of hitting the dollar store.
After we got him squared away, his sister hit the Christmas aisle and bought everyone on her list a gift within 3 minutes. Spent $22 of her $50.....we then bought gift bags and tissue paper at the dollar store and wrapped them as we waited for lunch.

Bonus, at 10am, Walgreens was quiet. We walked up to a cashier....no line, no jostling for space.....beautiful....painless. The kids gifts are on the dining room table wrapped, Gotta love that!!!

[Risque Cakes]

OMG , I was just talking about that in my house just the other day...Like WHY WOULD ANYONE/STORE want to open at 4 am and why are fools lining up 2 and 3 days before?

I think it's just about making money, they keep the stores open longer to hear the ring of the cash register!!

Gotta love online shopping and Gift card..hehehee!