There are two kinds of American consumers, those who love Black Friday and those who can't stand the thought of being around a retail outlet on the wretched day. When I was young I was blissfully unaware that this god forsaken tradition existed, until I worked at a photo lab in a department store. They informed me of the holiday sales event, and I was to report for work at 5 in the morning.I arrived at work to find a line of people at the door, salivating at the mouth at the laundry list of great savings on items no one needs. People were jumping in place, trying to stay warm in the wet Northwest winter, because hypothermia was worth the risk of a big screen television. These weren't just middle class folks living paycheck to paycheck, there were upper class folks selling their souls for a bargain, insuring that they stay in the tax bracket they felt was allotted to them.
Polaroid once decided to make 35mm film, which it quickly abandoned. As part of our Black Friday deal, we sold the stock at one dollar per role. (See kids, back in my youth there was a thing called light sensitive emulsion, which made photographs.) The doors opened and people ran to the electronics department, hoping to grab the best television and VCR. (Now kids, in the olden days we watched movies on a device called a Video Cassette Recorder. The movies were stored on a thing called tape, and we called them video tapes.) One man approached the photo counter and asked about how much polaroid film we had in stock. I answered and he decided to buy our entire supply, over two hundred dollars worth.
A while later a man came in with his wife and young son. He asked about the polaroid film, after I watched him read the sign I wrote up saying we were sold out. I answered while pointing to the sign that he just read. He was unhappy with my response and vocalized how unfair it was he wasn't going to partake in the super savings on 35mm film. I apologized that we were sold out and asked if there was anything else I could help with. He went on a rant about how much of an asshole I was for "false advertising" and he was "going to sue", which was dabbled with some mono-syllabic swearing.
So here I was, waking my ass up to be at work at 5am, but happy to do so as I had a great time with my family and was thankful for them and the many things I had in my life, including the shitty job I was underpaid for. This jackass who was lucky enough to have at least four days off in a row was yelling at me over the price of some film, which was of questionable quality. I attempted to be empathetic to him, but finally my patience ended when he decided to threaten me to a fight.
Yes the guy said he would be waiting outside of the store to "beat my ass". I have no idea what I said or did that said him off, probably nothing, but he seemed serious about going fisticuffs. I told him when I got off work and which row of cars I was parked in. He seemed taken aback by this and not surprisingly was nowhere to be seen when my shift was over.
We live in America, and to 80%+ of the world, our living standards are seen as luxurious. Yes including yours. So often to people forget how good they have it, and this jackass is no different, displaying his entitled whiny ass in front of his family no less, but he's not completely at fault. He's just a man following the commandment of good consumerism, a bill of consumer rights that's been fed to him since the day he received his first allowance. He feels he has a right to products at an affordable price, and anyone who stood in the way of his pollutant mentality is as tolerable as a Bolshevik. I was that enemy of the czar, and I was paid to take the abuse of this mindless idiot who had more time than he should've been granted.
That day a couple got into an actual fight, over a breadmaker. A fucking breadmaker was worth hurting another human being and going to jail for.
A lot of people don't have that Friday off, and end up serving the masses who are fortunate to have vacation time. They would like nothing better than to be home with their families and friends, eating leftovers and enjoying quality time with loved ones. Think of that when you shop for that shitty product you don't need, that will break right after the warranty expires.
"Thanksgiving is nothing but a toast to genocide." - Stephen Jones
3 comments:
If you need it, you won't wait for black Friday to buy it. If you don't need it, what the fuck are you doing giving up sleep just to save a couple of bucks on something you don't need.
To any American who has the Friday off of work, take the day off and sleep in, spend some quality time with family and friends.
thee more I look at how bad Black Friday gets every year, the less I think Reverend Billy is a crackpot.
I partake in the day, however it's more of a fun tradition for me and I only purchase things that I need.
I am however speechless at the abhorrent behaviour of some humans on this day. Like last year when people trampled a Walmart worker, or this year when some woman used pepper spray to get to the front of the line to save a few bucks. I don't even know what to say.
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