Column: Black Friday Blues

The Thanksgiving evening and middle of the night Black Friday sales at big retailers really should just go away.

When I woke up Friday morning, I wanted to get a couple hours of work done so I could enjoy some time off, and before I started writing stories I was perplexed by reading a story about the chaos that ensued at a mall in Alabama. The mall was closed after a fight and this was one of many incidents across the country. These things can get really ugly and downright scary. Watching the videos of the way people act is horrifying. People are losing their minds over sale prices and it is ridiculous. This happens every year and nobody seems to care.

I'll be the first to admit that I like a sale price just as much as anyone, but I'm not going to go to a store and wait in a horrific line with the chances of a bar room brawl taking place at any moment. You can get the nicely priced television, I'll wait a few days or pay a couple dollars more just to get away from the crazy.

Most people I'm close with don't descend into the Black Friday chaos, but there are a few I know that do and almost plan it out so they can be there at the proper time.

While most people are napping or barely conscious from a food coma, there are lines starting to form at stores. If Black Friday wasn't bad enough, employees now have to work on a holiday because I guess sales need to start even earlier. One of these day's people are going to stop trick or treating on October 31 to start lining up for the first Christmas sale. The meaning of the season can often times get lost. Can't employees have one day off with their families before the Christmas shopping shenanigans ensue in the wee hours of the morning? I also feel awful for all the police officers and other first responders who are working on the holiday and now their job might be a little more stressful because two people are having a death match over a Sony Play Station.

I also read a very interesting article about the "death" of Black Friday due to online shopping. It pretty much said that retail business is getting drilled because of businesses like Amazon. As much as they drive me crazy, big box stores are sometimes a necessity and I'd hate to see a retail graveyard sweep across the country.

Despite sagging retail numbers for larger stores, I don't think this will be the end of Black Friday and unfortunately, one of these days I'll wake up the day after Thanksgiving to read about a mall on fire or a something else really bad happening.

In the editorial above I mentioned about shopping local and I really do mean that. I also understand that many local stores could have specials the day after Thanksgiving, and that is awesome because they are not going to open their doors at 2 or 3 a.m.

I also understand how important the holiday season is for both big retailers and small little businesses, I just can never figure out why it has to start while people are sleeping or even sooner.

I'm writing this on a Friday morning and have no plans to venture out into the craziness nor get online and research stuff for "Cyber Monday" which would seem to be a whole other column idea.

If people want to keep labeling days for shopping, maybe Dec. 1 to 23 could be labeled as "24 days to get out there and buy something unique from a local business." I wonder who makes the decision on labeling because I sure would love to give this a shot.

On a side note, I do most of my Christmas shopping really late, but with craziness happening with all this early shopping, maybe I'm on to something.