Today I did something I swore I would never do and, as I expected, it proved to be a complete waste of time (on the plus side, the experience once again showed me that those of us who make our livelihoods on the web are sitting in the mother of all catbird seats). So what did I do against my better judgment and all that history has taught me to studiously avoid?

Black Friday campers

I went shopping on Black Friday! For those outside the U.S. Black Friday is the day after one of America's most cherished holidays - Thanksgiving Day. It is the official start of the Christmas shopping season and is called Black Friday because conventional wisdom says it is on this day that the sheer volume of business pushes most merchants into the black for the year. Store owners run huge newspaper ads touting great Black Friday discounts to fuel the fire. Local big box stores and malls opened as early as so 4am to accommodate the rush and some people with far too much spare time on their hands actually camped out on the sidewalk in front of these stores for two days to be first in line. They start Wednesday night and actually have their Thanksgiving dinner on folding tables Thursday. After spending a second night on the sidewalk  they then get first crack at saving $10 Friday morning - go figure!

Despite this, people pack themselves into stores like sardines and it is not uncommon for fist fights to break out among patrons grabbing for the same merchandise. I try to behave like a 

gentleman in such instances, so when confronted by an old lady this morning, I applied only a loose headlock. My mistake,  as she quickly took me down with a leg sweep legendary Olympic champion Dan Gable would admire. I have always assumed only a mental defective would willingly wade into such a mess. I did it once a couple of decades ago and that should have provided a lifetime cure. But today I got suckered in like millions of others. I've been planning to pick up a second high def TV to put in my library room and four or five stores

offered great deals on name brand sets in their flyers. Though in my heart of hearts I knew none of them had more than one of two TV's available at the advertised price for the thousands who 

would come clamoring for them, I reasoned that at least one of the stores would still have what they advertised if I got there before sunrise. Of course, none of them did and I merely subjected myself to a dozen futile bait and switch sales attempts from electronics salesman in town!

After five stops and a couple of hours of wasted time I went home and did what I should have done in the first place - ordered a TV online. It will be delivered to my door - no fuss, no muss - and for a cost that is just a tad more than the come on prices the local stores tout, "bargains" that virtually no one actually receives. Maybe I'll venture out to the brick 

and  mortar world on Black Friday in another couple of decades just to see if things have changed, but the retail game may well be over for them long before my next appointment rolls around. With gas over $3 a gallon and spare time a thing of the past, more and more people are concluding that shopping online is the only way to go and no event creates more converts than Black Friday. If you don't believe that, just ask me :-)
(Posted Nov. 23, 2007)