UNITED STATES—This might sound crazy, but the reality is Christmas is less than a month away. December 25 is already knocking on the doors and if you haven’t started your Christmas shopping, you might want to get ahead of the crowds. I remember maybe 20 years ago it was family tradition for us to stay up super late or get up super early the next morning and head to the retailers at 3, 4 or 5 in the morning and wait in line to get our hands on those deals.
I never thought it was so much about the deal, it was the element, the people that made it special. That has all changed. In the year 2025, you still have Black Friday, but its more like an entire month thing now than a single day or two. To be honest, I enjoy it. Why? It prevents you from having to deal with the massive crowds.
When I was a teen and in my early 20s, I could handle the crowds. I braved them; I relished in them. Today, not so much. My patience has waned thin and perhaps that is a problem I have to work on or it could be the people in our society who are just assholes nowadays. You cannot bring 20 items to the register and ask the cashier to check all of them before you decide if you want to purchase them or not. Really NOT a wise thing to do when you have 50 people in line waiting to check out.
I also find it baffling when people are trying to return items at retailers during the Black Friday weekend. You know, you absolutely know people are shopping like a frenzy to get deals. Why not wait till Monday or the following week when everyone is back to work and the chaos has calmed down significantly? I mean it makes logical sense, wouldn’t you argue, or no? The problem with trying to get a great deal for the holiday is those so called ‘deals’ are not really deals.
LOOK at the regular price compared to the sale price. If you’re saving $2 to $3 off the regular price, you’re not saving anything. I have a saving that if it’s not 50 percent or more off, it’s not a deal. I would even argue 50 percent is not really a deal in my opinion. However, to each is their own. The goal of a deal is to save so much money that what you save purchasing one item, allows you to purchase 2-3 more additional items.
The frustration with shopping is you have too many people casual about it. Yes, it is expected to be fun, by why go to the mall if you’re just going to walk around, be in people’s way and not purchase anything? I see way too much of that in recent years. Stay home, shop online, utilize Amazon as so many people do. The kids let’s not even go there. LEAVE YOUR KIDS AT HOME DURING BLACK FRIDAY! So many parents just allow their kids to run amuck without a care in the world and if they get lost people: did you think about that?
Its utter mayhem at some malls or retailers and the parking situation let’s not even discuss that headache. One local mall it’s so bad, I can’t even use words to explain it, even if I wanted to. I know I’m sounding like a cranky old man, but the truth of the situation is, the shopping experience has changed, and it feels like it will continue to evolve.
The frustration might be because I waited too late to start or perhaps my desire to deal with people in person has slowly waned more and more as I have aged. Maybe I need to take a breather, reflect and take a new approach to holiday shopping because whatever I’m doing it is not working.
