Black Friday, Black Indeed

On the way home from my half day of work around 1:00 pm today, I stopped by my local fabric store to pick up some buttons during their 50% off sale. The store was swamped even though the early bird specials had already ended. I can't imagine what the crowd was like at 6 or 7 am. The line to have fabric cut was huge.

I usually avoid going to any retail establishments on "Black Friday" entirely, but I made an exception because I hate to give $3.00 for two buttons and I need a supply of them for projects in the works.

On the way home, listening to NPR, I heard a reporter talk about the folks who had waited since 10 am on Thanksgiving Day (giving up their Thanksgiving dinner) in line at a Best Buy store. It seems that most of the people she interviewed were actually in line to buy things for themselves, not others. One of them said "why would I stand in line this long to buy something for someone else".

Upon arrival home, I read the story of the Walmart employee who was trampled to death when a New York area Walmart store opened early this morning. Shoppers had been lined up for hours outside to get the best bargains and when the worker opened the doors, an "out of control" crowd of shoppers rushed in and trampled him. He was 34 years old. When the store announced what had happened and asked people to leave the store so they could close, many refused to do so and kept shopping.

I just read another headline about a shooting in California at a ToyR Us store, taking the lives of two individuals. We don't know the circumstances of the shooting yet, but do you think it could have been an argument about who would get the desired item on sale? It seems at least possible that is the case.

How far have we come from the original spirit of the season to this. It's sad indeed.