Alarra
2008-11-28, 05:53 PM
So...as most of you know, today was Black Friday....a fun, insane day of shopping for those of us crazy enough to do it. I usually rather enjoy the day and have a lot of fun...this year, however, things were incredibly annoying.
I stayed up all night, because that's what I do, so we left around 3:45am to go to Herberger's. Herbergers went very well, we got there around 4, had gotten all of our things and were out the door by 4:20.
Then....Walmart. *headdesk* So...one of the major things I was wanting to get at Walmart was the vsmile pocket for our grandson. If you're familiar with Black Friday at Walmart, you will know that all of the 'doorbuster' items are out on the floor early, but the pallets are wrapped in black plastic and guarded by employees. They give you a map of where in the store the item you want is.
My mother went to electronics and the gps's....I'm glad I wasn't over there, apparently one girl got stuck and knocked into and split her head open on a shelving unit, and this other guy had his wrist broken by another customer. Yes...electronics was not a fun area. The really annoying aspect of electronics, is that, since it is in the back of the store, everyone that has gotten a cart at the front of the store realizes that there is no way that they will be able to get through at the back with it. Then, they abandon their carts, leading to the middle of the store being completely blocked with carts, like....every aisle.
Anyway...I went to where the v-smile pocket was supposed to be being unveiled in 20 minutes. It was not there. They had put out the wrong product and were supposedly finding them and going to get them out. There were quite a few of us looking for them. We waited, and waited, talked to something like 10 different associates over the course of the morning. I wandered a bit, getting other things, checking back every 5 mins or so to see if we'd found out anything. Finally....at 5:40, we learn that they had put them out at a different area of the store and they were all gone. AND that they had only found about 20 of them, when they were supposed to have a couple hundred. Suffice it to say...I was pissed. I actually went and found a manager and bitched about it, which is something I never do. She's supposedly going to get back to me and hopefully find it, but grrr.. Then, when we were checking out, they wouldn't match competitors prices. Now, they've been advertising this for ages, saying that they even match other black friday deals, etc. But apparently...not movies. An exemption that is mentioned nowhere in their ad, their radio announcements, or their website. So my plan of not having to get any movies at Target or Best Buy fell through, and annoyed me further. I did still get a lot of things I needed there though.
Next was JC Penney, which was rather fun. I got some cute clothes, some things for Zeb, a new pair of shoes, presents for some people...it was much more nicelier and relaxed.
It is now...8am, a time when most normal people might be considering getting up. And we are on our way to Shopko. Which wasn't bad, although my mom was starting to get very tired and grumpy. Most of the stuff we wanted there was sold out, but ah well, we got fluffy blankets, and who isn't cheered by fluffy blankets.
From Shopko, we head to Target, which wasn't too busy at all anymore, and was out of a lot of stuff. They had cheap movies though.
Then...yay...breakfast break =D Then we head to Herbergers again. We aren't there very long, just had to pick up a couple things we missed in our whirlwind 20 mins there at 4am, but I got a fantastic jacket.
Now it is a little after 11, the time when I normally bow out, along with my mom, grandma and cousin, leaving my aunt to shop by herself for the rest of the day. We're crazy, she's insane. Anyway, mom and grandma leave, cousin had left at 8...but, I, being nice because my aunt had hurt her foot and isn't supposed to be driving with it, say that I will help her finish her shopping.
We're getting to the end of the 'doorbuster' hours, so each time we go in a new store, we have to start with her begging them to still give her the prices, even though it's noon. This makes the next several stores very hectic with lots of rushing to meet deadlines. We go to Menards, Toys R' Us, K-Mart, Runnings and Ace Hardware. Each store is fraught with tons of problems, running around and whining to sales people. Which takes me to now, 3:30, where I have spent almost 11 hours shopping on no sleep.
But hey, at least I didn't die. Apparently in New Jersey? I think...maybe New York...a salesperson at WalMart was trampled TO DEATH, and a pregnant woman at the same store ended up in the hospital. *shakes head* I don't know why we put ourselves through this ridiculous day.
I stayed up all night, because that's what I do, so we left around 3:45am to go to Herberger's. Herbergers went very well, we got there around 4, had gotten all of our things and were out the door by 4:20.
Then....Walmart. *headdesk* So...one of the major things I was wanting to get at Walmart was the vsmile pocket for our grandson. If you're familiar with Black Friday at Walmart, you will know that all of the 'doorbuster' items are out on the floor early, but the pallets are wrapped in black plastic and guarded by employees. They give you a map of where in the store the item you want is.
My mother went to electronics and the gps's....I'm glad I wasn't over there, apparently one girl got stuck and knocked into and split her head open on a shelving unit, and this other guy had his wrist broken by another customer. Yes...electronics was not a fun area. The really annoying aspect of electronics, is that, since it is in the back of the store, everyone that has gotten a cart at the front of the store realizes that there is no way that they will be able to get through at the back with it. Then, they abandon their carts, leading to the middle of the store being completely blocked with carts, like....every aisle.
Anyway...I went to where the v-smile pocket was supposed to be being unveiled in 20 minutes. It was not there. They had put out the wrong product and were supposedly finding them and going to get them out. There were quite a few of us looking for them. We waited, and waited, talked to something like 10 different associates over the course of the morning. I wandered a bit, getting other things, checking back every 5 mins or so to see if we'd found out anything. Finally....at 5:40, we learn that they had put them out at a different area of the store and they were all gone. AND that they had only found about 20 of them, when they were supposed to have a couple hundred. Suffice it to say...I was pissed. I actually went and found a manager and bitched about it, which is something I never do. She's supposedly going to get back to me and hopefully find it, but grrr.. Then, when we were checking out, they wouldn't match competitors prices. Now, they've been advertising this for ages, saying that they even match other black friday deals, etc. But apparently...not movies. An exemption that is mentioned nowhere in their ad, their radio announcements, or their website. So my plan of not having to get any movies at Target or Best Buy fell through, and annoyed me further. I did still get a lot of things I needed there though.
Next was JC Penney, which was rather fun. I got some cute clothes, some things for Zeb, a new pair of shoes, presents for some people...it was much more nicelier and relaxed.
It is now...8am, a time when most normal people might be considering getting up. And we are on our way to Shopko. Which wasn't bad, although my mom was starting to get very tired and grumpy. Most of the stuff we wanted there was sold out, but ah well, we got fluffy blankets, and who isn't cheered by fluffy blankets.
From Shopko, we head to Target, which wasn't too busy at all anymore, and was out of a lot of stuff. They had cheap movies though.
Then...yay...breakfast break =D Then we head to Herbergers again. We aren't there very long, just had to pick up a couple things we missed in our whirlwind 20 mins there at 4am, but I got a fantastic jacket.
Now it is a little after 11, the time when I normally bow out, along with my mom, grandma and cousin, leaving my aunt to shop by herself for the rest of the day. We're crazy, she's insane. Anyway, mom and grandma leave, cousin had left at 8...but, I, being nice because my aunt had hurt her foot and isn't supposed to be driving with it, say that I will help her finish her shopping.
We're getting to the end of the 'doorbuster' hours, so each time we go in a new store, we have to start with her begging them to still give her the prices, even though it's noon. This makes the next several stores very hectic with lots of rushing to meet deadlines. We go to Menards, Toys R' Us, K-Mart, Runnings and Ace Hardware. Each store is fraught with tons of problems, running around and whining to sales people. Which takes me to now, 3:30, where I have spent almost 11 hours shopping on no sleep.
But hey, at least I didn't die. Apparently in New Jersey? I think...maybe New York...a salesperson at WalMart was trampled TO DEATH, and a pregnant woman at the same store ended up in the hospital. *shakes head* I don't know why we put ourselves through this ridiculous day.