the last thing I want to do is move, let alone get in a car and go to a big box store and walk around a throng of people.


It's just weird. I don't get it.

That being said, I will go to the small neighborhood Fred Meyers at 7 am the next morning for their annual sock sale.

shut down on Thanksgiving and Christmas days. I REFUSE to shop on Black Friday so as not to encourage it's encroachment on Thursday. One-I fear for my safety, LOL, i'd hate to get pepper-sprayed over a sweater, two-the commercialism is just so gross. I can't stand to see it. The industry's greed, and the "gimme gimme gimme" on the sheeple's faces.

blaaaaaccchhhhhhhhhh! puke. ick. ptui!

profits is nothing more than greed.

What an incredibly stupid idea.

About half of the responses were angry, hate filled, or end-of-the-world-ish.

The other half of the red response was counting the days til Black Friday so they could get an even better deal on all their imported crap.

My daughter who recently found a second part-time job at one of the mall stores will be working thanksgiving night. It pays double-time, so she signed up.

Election.

I do know I won't be doing Black Friday. Last year we wanted the majority of our gifts to be American made. That proved difficult. So we purchased gift certificates to local salons and shops to keep our dollars local and in truly small businesses.

We have tried to keep that going throughout this year. My husband has started buying american made jeans instead of Levi's and just found a pair of american made workboots.

So we will do another shop local Christmas this year as well.

I hate shopping any time so you could not pay me to shop during a holiday. But plenty of people will be out to supposedly save a dime or the stores would stay closed.

I don't get it!

For the last several years me and my best friend spend the entire day together on black Friday. We go hit the stores, go out to breakfast, hit some more stores and head home by lunch.

We have fun together. We do like the bargains, but we're not going to fight over stuff. It's not worth it and it ruins the great time we spend together.

We don't take it all that seriously, but it's a tradition we both enjoy a lot.

and some friends used to do that. We had a great time and got some bargains. Good times.

When I worked retail, I signed up to work Thanksgiving night. It was double time pay and I didn't start until 9 or 10pm. The store opened at 11pm.

One girl said it will help pay for Christmas for her family.

and don't come out until Saturday and that is only if I need something.

No thanks to the crap they want you to fight over. There is nothing I need or want that bad.

Christmas the past few years at my house has been slimline. We just don't need a house full of things we have to worry about getting rid of next year,lol.

All of my gifts are bought online or gift cards.

and they WILL keep twisting our values and pushing into our lives for profit until we make them stop.

I know I've posted the link to this post by limpyhobbler over and over again, but it just has to go here again:

"...The other one is not discussed so much, but I think it’s pretty important. This is an extremely atomized society. People are alone. It’s a very business-run society. The very explicit goal of the business world is to create a social order in which the basic social unit is you and your television set, in which you’re watching ads and going out to purchase commodities. There are tremendous efforts made, that have been going on for a century and a half, to try to induce this kind of consciousness and social order."

Thanks.

No one is forcing folks to come out and shop, but much of our economy is dominated by service and retail industries. That translates into labor, jobs, which is dependent on selling goods to folks who can afford them. Take that away, or diminish it, and folks like me suffer reduced hours and less income. I'm completely lost on the discouraging of this popular sale event. This just happens to be the economy right now for a large percentage of folks, like me.

That's what I'm saying.

If people are willing to go out and fight the madness and spend the money (which helps our economy) then hey...feel free! Nothing wrong with it.

I have a friend who works every Black Friday because she gets double time and it helps her out with Christmas...and she always has GREAT stories to tell us after it's over.

The problem is income disparity. People make a choice to work or not to work all the time. Of course, if we want to keep our jobs we don't work.

Working holidays has been around for a very long time.

There were plenty of people that did sign up. I always did.

Nobody ever forced anyone to work on the holiday. They always had enough people sign up. A few extra bucks in my pocket is always a good thing.

isn't any sacrilege, especially if one shops with family!

Note: I do not shop then nor on the day after, but that's just me.

I have never gone shopping on Black Friday and never will. I find the entire thing asinine.

Gotta go get that blender that you'll never use and that tv that will be on sale 4 weeks later at a decent hour.

I used to work with a guy (28 yrs old) that would go out on Black Friday every freaking year for more clothes and dishes and crap. This is the guy that only owns one car and doesn't have a car for his wife. Um, why don't you save the $ you are spending on crap and buy your wife a freaking car.

I think that people need to learn how to down-size, IMHO.

This is the best time of the year for us to buy the kids and grandkids clothes. My grandson is out of his jeans and some stores are selling his size at a price I can afford. It's the same with pajamas as well.

My daughter is using salvation army pots and pans that she got for a few bucks. They are in horrible condition. She needs something better to cook with. She will be getting a new set that we found on sale.

You can look down on me as much as you'd like. I don't give a damn. My kids and grandkids have needs and money is tight.

I'm not going to tell any of them they should just live with the crap that they've got.

You can buy this stuff at the same price throughout the year. You can get an entire set of pots/pans for $35 at Walmart any day of the week. If you don't like Walmart, try Target. Their clearance prices are awesome.

Go to second hand store for clothing for the kids. Ever been to Old Navy? Go to their website and you'll find the cheapest clothing out there....$5 shipping for any amount.

Hey, I take care of my great nieces and nephews and my nephew....I know where you are coming from.

Any outlet stores near you?

And when I use the word "crap" I mean excessive amounts of stuff that isn't needful.

Sorry if I offended. I didn't mean for you to take my post that way.

Time with family? Oh please.

FOOTBALL!!!

a pair of season tickets to the professional repertory theatre group on the campus
at UNC with shows from Sept-May. Christmas--and birthday--present for hubby is a surprise week long
Caribbean cruise in December with The Nation magazine. My oldest son doesn't celebrate Christmas
and has requested no gifts.

I won't be buying crap from any chain stores this year.

It's nice that the people who want to go shopping can, IMHO.

just like it's nice that the people who want to go to a movie on thanksgiving or even christmas can do so.

I have a job in business. 10 dress shirts, 3 pairs of pants, socks, underwear, undershirts, and a pair of dress shoes.

I don't see what the problem with that is? It was all online, at black friday sales, and was all done between 8:00-11:00pm so it would ahve been time just sitting watching tv anyways.