Black Friday Madness

This Thursday, when we were driving back from my sister's house, my wife and I both looked over at Toys R Us as we were driving by on Route 17. There were a lot of cars in the parking lot, but nowhere near as many as there were a few years ago when they opened at midnight, and the line was actually going around the building. Then we looked up at the Oakdale Mall, and their parking lot was pretty crowded as well. This was about 10 pm on Thanksgiving.

Friday morning, my wife woke up at 3:30 and was out the door by 4:30. She goes shopping at the mall and then she heads across 201 to Vestal where she does more shopping at the stores over there. Not me. I'm home safe and comfy in my bed until I have to go to work. I do usually end up going to a store or two on Black Friday, but it's usually Home Depot and it's always later in the afternoon. I try and avoid crowds as much as I can. My wife tells me it's not as crazy as it used to be. The crowds aren't as big as in years past, and there really isn't any pushing and shoving or stuff like that.

I can't imagine, working retail and having to deal with the public on Black Friday. I had a Strange But True story that never made it to the air this morning because I ran out of time. It's from Penn Live and it's about a woman who was working in retail, early Friday morning in Pennsylvania. She got into an argument with a co-worker and kept hitting her in the head with a barcode scanner. Check out the full story on the PennLive website. I could see myself doing this if I had to work retail on Black Friday.

[via PennLive]