The Black Friday Blues?
27 November 2009
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Black Friday is here again. I am up, and it's not even 4am ye...oh now it is. My wife has gone out into the cold November morning to wait in line with her aunts and her mother to get the best deals on a bunch of crap that we don't really need and on toys that the kids don't really need.

For years consumers--my wife included--have hit the streets as early as 2am, covering themselves against the cold, sleeping on sidewalks in tents, and waiting in 1/2-mile-long (or longer) lines to get the best deals on electronics, toys, apparel, appliances, furniture, and the list goes on. Most of the purchases made will be electronics and toys; this is based entirely on my own observations of my children's interests and the interests of my friends' children. But it does seem that these are the popular products among most people standing in those long lines. Those are the products my wife is out shopping for as I am writing this. I will admit that some of the deals I have seen advertised are good deals. Laptop computers as low as $199.99, who could resist standing in line for that?

Me.

So, why am I not out shopping with the millions of other consumers? Well, first and foremost, I am staying with my sons, for some male bonding. Next, I have never been a big fan of shopping, and I get absolutely sick to my stomach from anxiety in the face of those large crowds--and some extraordinarily pushy people. Also, I don't shop. I buy and leave. I like to go to the store with my list, get the items on the list, pay, and go home.

I don't spend much time looking or planning usually, which is why I wind up spending my Christmas Eves in the open-late stores buying last-minute Christmas gifts--this does drive my wife nuts. Somehow, though, that seems easier to me than standing in line after line, reminiscent of those long roller coaster lines at Cedar Point, just to get a good deal on a DVD player. The lines I waited in at Cedar Point hardly seemed worth the time for the ride I got and I am sure that the new DVD player I got a super deal on will break down the 61st day, the day after the warranty expires.

I know I am not alone here, and maybe this is why it's best that I and people like me stay away from Black Friday sales. We would certainly not be any fun at all to be around. Our significant others would likely try their hardest to lose us in one of those large crowds, so they can get their shopping done in peace--leaving us to suffer the mother of all panic attacks.

Well, more power to them. I choose not to go, but I support my wife's need to go and spend time with her family and get the kids' Christmas shopping done, even if she is spending more money than we can afford. She is having fun, spending time with family, getting a break from the sometimes mundane realities of home, and helping to put money back into the economy.

So, maybe it's not all about the deals and the spending and the shopping, as I originally thought. Maybe it's about spending time with loved ones or being around people with whom you share a common interest . I can't count the number of times people close to me said I was insane for waiting in line in the freezing 5am to buy KISS tickets. I get it. It makes people happy; it makes my wife happy. And, I get to spend the whole day with my boys.

I guess Black Friday is all right.