Black Friday morning I headed out to snag a printer at a price I couldn't resist ($20 more than what it would cost just to have someone look at my old printer, much less actually fix it).
The sale on this particualr item was from 6AM until 10 AM. I got up at the time I normally would on a workday, actually had time to spare before I left at 5:15 (I normally leave a bit before 5), made a detour to get coffee at the local DD, then got to the Concord store at 5:45 (speed limit, there ain't no stinking speed limit on the highway).
There were 70-80 people already in line waiting for the doors to open. I got a chuckle at the guy behind me: he called his wife and said there were a couple of hundred of people in line. Everyone was mannerly, even talking to their neighbors, and newcomers, asking what stores they had already hit, what they had scored, what they were hoping to score at the office supply place (henceforth known as St*ples) etc.
Every 5 minutes employees St*ples, would go up and down the line of people offering coupons for especially hot items (some items one had to have a store coupon to buy the item). Eventually the doors opened and the line moved swiftly, but still orderly thru and people began to fan out to find their desired items.
After much searching by myself and St*ples staff, I located the printer I wanted (it, unlike most of the sales stuff, was in an out-of-the-way corner). Even the customers in line at the registers were upbeat and mannerly as I stood in line for about 10 minutes to be checked out by a smiling employee.
I made it home by 7:15, after hstopping to get gas. Not a bad deal considering all the time I spent doing non-shopping related activities.
I was pleasantly surprised that the experience was, although not enjoyable (I hate shopping at the best of times), not unpleasant either. Everyone was smiling, polite, informative (I saw some shoppers helping others find what they were after - heck, even I helped a lady decide between getting DVD-rs and CD-rs - she needed CD's as she wanted to record music to play in her car) while the sales person was helping me find the printer. There was no rudeness, no shoving, no panic, no tug-of-wars for the last item, none of the bad stuff you read about in magazines and hear about on TV.
Last year, when shopping for the fridge on Black Friday afternoon, we me rude, loudmouthed people who were shoving their way, bad-temperedly thru the crowds.The sales staff was so frazzled at that point, they were no longer friendly or happy - although not actively rude, they were obviously trying to just survive the day.
Sad as this sounds, I am convinced that early morning shopping on Black Friday is much better than shopping later on that day (should one need to do so).
What a pleasant surprise for you. Yeh!!!!
Posted by: Cop Car | November 30, 2008 at 01:39 PM