Black Friday and Bad Behavior

[Disney4us2]

I just heard on the news that there was a pepper spray assault during the early Black Friday opening at Walmart. The lady was trying to edge everyone out in getting a XBox. She managed to spray at least 10 people before getting her item and paying for it. The police are now looking for her.

Also saw there was a shooting at a NC mall.

So much for the holiday spirit....YIKES!!!! Is it really that cut throat out there?

We stayed away from the stores, but may go to ToysRUs and see if I can get my lay a way items at the sale price. If not, cancel the lay a way and just buy them.

Fot those who braved the maddness, hope it was a safe time.

[frozman]

LOL, I have an interesting story for you. My computer crapped out on me on Thursday night after I got home. I know enough about computers to know that this would be a $100-$200 repair on an older computer I didn't really like much anyway. I attempted to hit Walmart right across the street for one of their 2 cheaper laptops and :jaw:. Had to park at an adjacent shopping center, and they had seperate lines for each product, which were full, so I left. Today around 1pm I was using my iPhone to look at laptops on bestbuy.com, and the one on their front page doorbuster deals, was listed online as "sold out" but you could check for in store pick up. I did that and saw that the 2nd closest Best Buy store from me (and none of the others) still had it. I quickly purchased it and headed down there (about 20 minutes away) and picked it up. I feel so sorry for anyone that waited in line and pushed and shoved for one. In baseball terms, this isn't a home run, but certainly a double or triple.

Funny thing is though, I looked at some of the other doorbuster deals on bestbuy.com and checked avaibility, and for many of the products, every area store was out except for the same 4 stores (out of about 25).
Reminds me of when I worked at Walmart and the XBox360 systems came out, we, along with almost every store in the company got about 8 systems for launch day, while there were a handful of stores that got about 50. I guess it's not so much what time you get in line as much as it is which location you choose.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

[MNNHFLTX]

Didn't do the late-night run, but headed out at 6 a.m. It was fantastic! No lines, no crowds, no traffic! And I still found most of the items I was interested in. Guess everyone was out the night before, fighting the crazy crowds!

[kakn7294]

Didn't do the late-night run, but headed out at 6 a.m. It was fantastic! No lines, no crowds, no traffic! And I still found most of the items I was interested in. Guess everyone was out the night before, fighting the crazy crowds!

We had the same experience - out at 6am, no lines, still got many of the same deals, and had a great time! We even got some things that we hadn't gone out looking for but found as a good deal anyway. I like to go with the attitude that if I get one of those fantastic deals, that's great but if I don't, I'll buy something else or pay a higher price to get it later if I really want it.

PS - One of our local Walmarts had to deal with a fight over the $3 waffle irons - must be some folks around here who REALLY love waffles! ;)

[Dopey's Girl]

I was at Target at midnight (I'm a night owl and I wanted,and got, a new camera) and have never been so impressed. The had great crowd control and everything was really organized and very civilized. I was in and out with what I wanted within a half hour. And now I have a great new camera for WDW!

[VWL Mom]

I read about the fights too and was glad I didn't go out but instead did it all in my slippers and pjs online. Best Buy online had some outstanding values which were not even advertised on the BlackFriday sites so my boys made out pretty darn well :D

Now I'm waiting for Cyber Monday to see if the printer I want is on sale (doubt it though as it is a fairly new item). Also need to get a couple of things from DisneyShopping so hoping for a % off email.

[Basket Mommy]

I was at Target at midnight (I'm a night owl and I wanted,and got, a new camera) and have never been so impressed. The had great crowd control and everything was really organized and very civilized.

I only went out to Target at midnight yesterday because my 13 year-old daughter had never been Black Friday shopping. I was hoping she'd hate it as much as I do, but she enjoyed it. We only went to Target. It was crazy crowded when we got there (line wrapped around the side of the bldg - it took 45 minutes to get inside.) I was very impressed with Target as well. There were barriers set up everywhere that directed traffic to certain places. The deals were set up in the aisles. The line for checkout started around the side and weaved in and out of the pharmacy sections, then once we got to the front of the line we were directed to an open cashier. Employees were on top of things; when something would run out they'd restock it very quickly. HIGHLY impressed, esp. given what I was overhearing about chaos at our local Wal Mart.

[Ian]

The problem is (as it is with most things) that in today's society the morons get all the press. If you imagine how many millions of folks were probably out Black Friday shopping across the country and behaved like normal, well-behaved members of polite society vs. the two or three morons (Ms. Pepper Spray, Mr. Tazer, etc.) that are getting all the attention you'll realize that it's not as bad as it seems.

There's just too much news these days and, for whatever reason, the news outlets have decided that bad behavior sells. No one ever bothers with the 95% of the country that just go about their business on a daily basis without acting like huge horses' patoots.

[lynnek]

My kids have never been out on Black Friday. Since we planned a low key Thanksgiving this yr (just got back from wdw on the 18th) DH gave them a taste of it this year, spur of the moment. Weren't looking for anything in particular but went to Walmart at 10:00pm and then on to Kohl's with a stop for refreshments inbetween. I got lots of interesting texts--it was too cute!! DS--13--this is just nuts. DD1--11--shaking with excitment the whole time. (DD2--3.5 yr old sleeping happily in bed) They had a blast and created a memory with their Dad...and he actually started his shopping before Dec 24:)

[Kairi_7378]

We were in Delaware on Black Friday. Since there is no sales tax, the malls there tend to draw a fair bit of traffic on a normal day.

We had a very pleasant experience. Yes, it was crowded, but most people were very well behaved. (Saw a couple of teenagers acting up, but that is normal!) Most of the merchants were a bit tired but very helpful.

[Cinderelley]

I can happily say I haven't done Black Friday shopping in a couple of years now. I used to do it every year though.

My most memorable experience was the year the Wii and Playstation 3 came out. All 3 of my kids are gamers, so I've gotten to know the employees at our local GameStop pretty well. One of them tipped me off to the fact that they would be getting a limited number of Wiis and Playstation 3s for Black Friday. I woke up early and was the first in line.
About an hour later, a line had formed and an employee came out and announced that there were 2 Wiis and 3 Playstation 3s. I briefly toyed with the idea of buying all of them and reselling them, but the son of the man right behind was way too excited about getting one for me to do that. Unfortunately, someone else farther back in the line wasn't as understanding and started trying to inch his way up to the front. (Those of us in the front of the line had been there about 3 hours and knew where each of us was in line.) As things became more tense with the "incher", I told the few people behind me to step back a little and I began practicing my kung fu all along the front of the store. Mr. Incher decided he should try a different store, and we all had a good laugh afterwards.

[Wolf]

I was in line for a XBox at a Walmart in Augusta Ga (Visiting family and drug them along) I'm so happy people were super civil in the XBox line, I left Moma Wolf and Auntie Wolf in line while I tried to snag Batman for the Xbox at a deal. People in the game area were total jerks but I guess they weren't as bad as I thought seeing as noone got maced. I hope the 10 people that looney attacked are okay. I'm happy I got my Xbox but I would have lost my mind if something would have happened to my family while they were helping me...Things like that make me so mad...Why on earth would they still sell her one?? I would have arrested her and then not released her sorry self until she hand wrote appologies to all the people she sprayed! :thedolls:

[garymacd]

I just thought it was bad having to put up with idiot drivers!

[Disney4us2]

The lady that pepper sprayed at Walmart, turned herself in to the police. No arrest was made pending further investigations. She just may get away with it claiming self defense.