UNITED STATES—Do you happen to go out shopping the weekend after Thanksgiving? Well I did, even though I didn’t expect to do so. I did some Christmas shopping because I had put it on the backburner for most of this year. My schedule has just been too chaotic and I haven’t had the time.
Yes, I recall the chaos that used to be Black Friday where people would storm stores and run to grab items, some fighting, some trampling people. Guess what America: it is not that serious. Some of the deals that you think are deals are NOT actual deals. Sorry, saving $1 on an item that is actually $20 is not a sale no matter how much a retailer tries to push otherwise.
With that said, I went to one of the local malls, and gosh I kind of wish I didn’t. I don’t know what it is about this particular mall, but everyone seems to flock here and the stores tend to be packed. It was no different last week. The mall opened fairly early, and the people were out. So much to the point that you could NOT find parking. When you have to park nearly a 5 to 10 minute walk away from the mall, you know it is a problem.
I get to the mall and I could NOT believe how many people were at the mall with their children. I just cannot understand it and I’m doing my best to try. You don’t bring your kids to the mall on such a massive shopping day if you don’t have to. I mean you have kids running around, messing up merchandise and the parents are not watching them. God forbid your child gets lost, then what? Exactly, chaos on top of chaos trying to locate them.
Then my biggest gripe is people coming to the mall and just casually walking, taking up space and not buying anything. You don’t come out to the mall on the weekend of the biggest shopping day of the year and purchase absolutely nothing. Stay at home if you plan to do that. Stop taking up space and just being an annoyance. So many teens, just teenagers, casually walking and doing really, not much of anything. If you’re not planning to spend money, stay home, just stay home.
I really have reached that point in my life that I cannot do the crowds anymore. I just don’t have the patience like I used to have. I prefer getting up and getting to any stores that I have to go to right at the crack of dawn so that I can be in and out. I know what I want and even if I don’t know what I want, I can easily find a way without all the noise and distractions.
I was at one store and this woman was irate because she couldn’t return an item that she purchased from another store. Like seriously lady! This worker was so patient and the fact that she was able to stay composed and clearly point out to the woman that the return was not happening was exceptional to witness. If you work in this retail industry, you must have a massive level of patience because some shoppers can be jerks.
I will admit I got about 90 percent of my Xmas shopping done in a single day. That has never happened to me in the past, but it happened in 2024. Why? I don’t know, I guess it might be a direct result of me shopping solo for the first few hours. I knew what I wanted and I got it without much debate or worry. Simplicity matters. Sometimes, just buy the simple stuff, know what a person might want and get them what they tell you.
Black Friday shopping weekend is unlike any other. It is fun to be in the presence of others during this festive season, even though you encounter so much chaos along the way, I wouldn’t change it for anything.
