Black Friday has come and is almost gone. Was it worth it to everybody?

I’ve had a successful Black Friday. I managed to get some great online deals from the comfort of my home. I did venture out to our local Wal-Mart about 8 this morning, but only because we had to take the Explorer to the garage and leave it to get tires. Had it not been for that, I wouldn’t have ventured out at all. It turned out to be a good thing I did venture out because I ended up with a few more good deals. There were some things from the Wal-Mart Black Friday sales ad that I did want, but nothing that I wanted bad enough to be there at 10 PM or midnight and fight the crowd for.

We show up at Wal-Mart at 8, and the crowd from the night before has already dispersed. We went straight in, got a buggy, found what we wanted, and went straight through checkout with no wait at all. Our total shopping time was less than 45 minutes. The interesting thing is that all the major things that had gone on sale at either 10 PM or midnight were all still available in decent quantities at 8 AM. The only difference? No crowd to fight.

I’ve heard some interesting stories about the Black Friday shopping experience. I heard some local folks were either trying to steal the just under $2 towels or were fighting over them. I can think of a lot of things to fight for, but a $2 towel isn’t one of them. The most interesting story I’ve seen at this time, though, is of the mother of three in Los Angeles who pepper sprayed the crowed to get an Xbox. She hasn’t been apprehended yet, but I would guess it’s only a matter of time before she is. Twenty people were injured because of her stunt, so that will be 20 charges of assault or something similar. Her face is on the surveillance camera; it’s not too difficult to follow her through the store to see which register she used to check out, and then track her purchase. If she paid with a debit or credit card, then it won’t take much more effort to get her. The sad part is she probably won’t realize she did anything wrong. After all, she’s just a mother fighting for an Xbox for her kids; that’s love, right?

I hope all of you who braved the crowds, or who shopped from home, were able to find the deals you wanted. After all, Black Friday does allow us to get a chunk of our shopping done while saving some significant dollars, if we shop wisely. After my online purchases and my quick trip to Wal-Mart, I have relatively little left to buy. That’s a pretty good feeling.

Take a moment, though, and say an extra prayer for those who had to work somebody’s Black Friday sale today. They’ve had to not only work longer hours, but they’ve also had to deal with the crowds and the unruly customers. I hope they had more respectable than unruly customers. I wouldn’t want to do their jobs; I don’t handle unruly well. Remember, many of the workers on the floor are most likely making minimum wage or just barely over that. They’ve likely taken a lot of abuse today while receiving very little appreciation. So, to all those who had to work those Black Friday shifts – thank you. I’m sure you weren’t paid enough for what you had to deal with today, and I suspect you’re more tired than you’ve been in a long time.

Now that Black Friday is nearly over, who’s ready for Cyber Monday?