Local News
Friday, November 27, 2009
Black Friday -- bring it on!It turns out sometimes that elusive deal is looking for us, too, and I had a blast on my very first Black Friday experience.
This year, my friend Hollie asked if I could accompany her to Walmart in Toledo. I am a very good friend, a very stupid person or both, so I agreed.
I was nervous, especially after Hollie explained the horrors of surviving Black Friday and after my coworker, Mariah Mercer, began to relate to me stories of mean shoppers, violence and loss of sanity stemming from the event. Both of them were Black Friday veterans and I, the rookie, was no match for the ensuing mania, according to them.
I headed to Hollie's house by 11 p.m., determined to nap before getting up and braving the masses. I managed to fall asleep by 1:30 a.m. and was woken up at 3 a.m. for a shower, coffee and enough time to begin dreading my decision to be adventurous.
I was critical of whether this was going to be quite as big of an event as I'd been told. After all, there were no cars on the roads when we left Hollie's house at 4 a.m.
"They're all at the stores already," Hollie explained.
We chose Meijer as our first stop because it was the least busy. I walked in, grabbed a robe for my son, which was not on sale, and a gift for me and Mariah, which was on sale. There were no fights and everyone seemed very polite. I checked out within 10 minutes and was surprised with an extra 15 percent off of my purchase.
I called Mariah, who was not having quite as nice of a time, and she said it didn't count unless I went to the big crazy stores and fought for something on sale. That's when Hollie took me to Walmart.
People were lined up for the checkouts all the way to the back of the store and it was hard to get through the various departments, but I always said excuse me and smiled and didn't have much of a problem. Mariah had given me a hint and said not to use a cart if possible. That tip saved us so much time. It was much easier to maneuver and I had less chance of getting caught in congestion.
I looked for sale items, but they'd disappeared in the first few minutes. I picked up some solution for my contacts and quite a few shirts, on sale for $3 each from the regular $7, for my daughter. I was dreading standing in the line and wasting the whole morning and we wandered while we tried to figure out if we should cut and run or stick it out.
That's when we saw more people by the jewelry department. They were in a line and it was much closer to the front. We stepped to the back and wondered if we could be so lucky.
We were! Turns out everyone had lined up for the speedy checkouts and others in the store just assumed the longer lines were the only lines. I checked out only 30 minutes after getting in line. I met some fabulous people in the line and we chatted it up most of the time. My only disappointment was when I saw the cart of the woman in front of us. She had electric throw blankets in her cart, items I wanted to look for to give my grandmother and had forgotten.
As the woman got to the register and unloaded her cart, she frowned and looked at one of the throws, claiming she had picked up too many. When I asked if I could have it, she happily handed it over.
While others looked war torn, Hollie and I were cheery and excited and singing incredibly off-key.
Much debate later, we headed to Target. Kohl's parking was still ridiculous and all I wanted was a pair of jeans so I opted out of that store altogether.
Target was very quiet. Apparently by 7 a.m., there wasn't much to fight over. I asked an employee if they still had the $29 digital photo frame for my husband, the only "door buster" item I really did want to acquire.
She looked at me, surrounded by a destroyed store, as if I was crazy and replied, "I don't believe we have any of those left."
I was sad, but I was not one of the many people who had stood in line since 3 a.m. and probably didn't deserve the great deal or amazing gift. Hollie wasn't impressed by the "I don't believe"¦" answer and insisted we head toward electronics.
It was full of shoppers still trying to find anything they could claim. I'm not sure if a light came down from Heaven at that point, but it should have because what happened next can only be described as miraculous.
As people discard items, employees drop them off back at their original departments. There, on the electronics counter, was one digital photo frame. Hollie grabbed it, I made sure it didn't belong to a woman standing nearby and we raced to the checkout lines.
We checked out within five minutes after stunning the cashier when she saw my item. She congratulated us and we headed out.
By 2 p.m. I was home and dozing regularly so I capped off my experience with sharing a nap with my son.
Black Friday was a breeze and I think you get what you put into it. I was determined to have fun and take a laid-back approach to the whole deal and the Christmas spirit rewarded me with odd miracles and great deals.
Bring on Black Friday 2010!
Staff writer Chandra Niklewski has given her family strict instructions not to read anything she writes for the paper until after Christmas.
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Ph: (419) 435-6641 • Fax: (419) 435-9073
113 E. Center St. • P.O. Box 947
Fostoria, OH 44830
The Findlay Publishing Company
P.O. Box 609
Findlay, OH 45839-0609
Phone: (419) 422-5151
www.findlaypublishing.com
Please read our privacy guidelines
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