Black Friday

Today is the most evilest of days for those of us in retail, especially when you're not on commission. So to all that are up this early to go to work, I feel your pain.

And to all that are up this early to go shopping, well, stay the berkeley outta my store. I'm not real keen on the whole "get up waaay before the sun then spend about 17 hours at work shenanigans" the corporate office is trying to pull.

Sorry man. If it is any consolation, all jobs suck from time to time. At least this is something that sucks on schedule - at my job, the poop can hit the fan without warning and ruin my day.

On a brighter note, I got the last set of Gearwrench metric ratcheting flex wrenches at Sears this morning for under $30 - sold out by 6 AM.

mith612 wrote: get up waaay before the sun then spend about 17 hours at work

Thats not normal?

I was having a conversation this week with someone about how this time of year I never see my house during daylight.

petegossett wrote: I was having a conversation this week with someone about how this time of year I never see my house during daylight.

I know that feeling....

I'm staying home. No way to get me into any store bigger than a 7-11 today.

I went out pretty early. most notably I got Left 4 Dead 2 for 35 bucks, Need for Speed Shift (hey, the BMW ALMS team helped develop it) for 25, and Rock N' Rolla, 300, and Space Balls for 2 dollars each.

Playing video games all day!

Through an unfortunate stroke of luck I found myself at Target at about 8:45 this morning. It wasn't that bad, although there were no deals there to speak of (I was just buying groceries, anyway).

I did find a sweet deal at Advance Auto Parts, though. Five quarts of any Castrol oil (including synthetics and the new stuff in the gold bottle) plus a Purolator filter ($9.99 value or less) for $24.99. That's like half price, basically.

jg

My girlfriend was not around this morning when I woke up. Weird, seeing as how she lives with me.

I get a call during breakfast that goes like this:

Her: "Hey there." Me: "Where in the hell could you possibly be, it's 6 am." Her: "I went shopping." Me: "Don't come home, you're dumb."

We have a love-hate relationship

Oh, and I refuse, REFUSE to go anywhere on Black Friday, unless I have to work, which I did today.

I remember the "Cabbage Patch" wars.

4eyes wrote: I remember the "Cabbage Patch" wars.

Was that approximate time the beginning of the Black Fridays? I mean with all the fighting over toys and E36 M3...

I worked retail when those cabbage patch dolls first hit.....1980-1982 era???? The personnel lady calls me into her office and tells me my turn came up to buy one; did I want one? At 18 years old I didn't, but I bought it for my mom for a younger sibling.

Today I took the 7 year old birthday girl to Target to get a $15 dollar DSi game and I stopped at Sears Hardware and spent $9.99 on a 3/8" 4-piece extension set.

Then I watched Lucy and Henry Fonda in Yours, mine, and ours. The long long trailer is on now. Classic movie. Hung some Christmas lights outside too.

And I am waiting for it to get dark since the yuppie neighbor threw a sweet brand new 8' piece of unistrut into his garbage.

I worked for a Ford dealer during the Cabbage Patch Wars; the owner went nuts trying to find two for his kids and spent something like $1500.00 on them.

Me, I avoid malls like the plague anyway. I'm batching it till Sunday so I worked on the race car.

I feel for you guys and gals in retail. I did that for 12 years at a hobby shop. I hated black Friday. I would rather pay a 50% premium than leave the house today to get something for sale.

We bought a set of knives at K-Mart at about noon-ish. Store was busier than usual, but still manageable. Went to Wal-mart not really thinking in Ormond Beach, but it wasn't too bad by about 2PM. The parking lot, on the other hand, almost killed me. Twice. Went from there down to Daytona because I wanted doughnuts. It's a shame that Krispy Kreme didn't have their sign on. You'd think on a heavy retail day like today a LOT of people would want doughnuts.

BTW, who do you work for? I'd like to avoid them if I can. That seems crappy to me, and I wouldn't want that sort of treatment myself. I don't like shopping at Wal-mart, but they're isn't a Target in my town, and our K-mart is really shady and nasty.

VanillaSky wrote: BTW, who do you work for? I'd like to avoid them if I can. That seems crappy to me, and I wouldn't want that sort of treatment myself.

Was this directed at me? If so, its just a smallish chain auto parts/service center thats only in northern New England. I wouldn't worry about having to avoid us, lol. Oh, and based on my time card today, I only did 15:01 so that was better than expected. Granted, I opened and closed the store today ...

"When Black Friday comes, I'm gonna dig myself a hole-and lay down in it `till I satisfy my soul."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1ZV4Mx7tw8

And I'm sure the little grey men won't dive from the fourteenth floor until next Tuesday or so...unless of course, the results are a lil better than forecasted.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/123608/christmas-spending-forecast-down-year-ago.aspx

mith612 wrote:

VanillaSky wrote: BTW, who do you work for? I'd like to avoid them if I can. That seems crappy to me, and I wouldn't want that sort of treatment myself.

Was this directed at me? If so, its just a smallish chain auto parts/service center thats only in northern New England. I wouldn't worry about having to avoid us, lol.

VIP? That chain has always been incompetently managed IMO.

Josh wrote: VIP? That chain has always been incompetently managed IMO.

Pssssh! Can't have management hearing anyone say that . . .

bludroptop wrote: On a brighter note, I got the last set of Gearwrench metric ratcheting flex wrenches at Sears this morning for under $30 - sold out by 6 AM.

I picked up a set last year. Your gonna love them, I hardly look at the car without using them. It helps cut confusion if you remember that the opening on the open end leans toward the rotation direction.

I worked at Sears last year for Black Friday. Had to be in absurdly early and stay absurdly long and deal with crazy crowds. I dont miss it at all, in fact went to the other house FAR away from the malls on purpose. Id rather pay extra then deal with those nutbars.

Reverend Billy

I actually purposefully stayed home. I needed to pick up a second 15/16ths ratcheting closed-end wrench for the spring compressors I'm using on the E30's from springs, but I didn't feel like battling through the store for just that. I'll go tomorrow morning.

I have to say that I dont hate black friday at all. Today I picked up a bunch of crap from Target for almost nothing.