For the last dozen or so years, I've
enjoyed the thrill of the hunt from shopping at the Black Friday
sales. I plot my route, strike quickly, and rarely take more than a
few hours to acquire all or nearly all of the objects of my desires.
This year was a bit different, as I've been ill and I'm still pretty weak, at times.
As usual, I went out early on
Thanksgiving morning and bought the local newspaper, then scanned the
ads, the only reason why I bought the paper! I had few needs this
year. I plan to make most of the presents that I'll give but I needed
a few items, myself, and the sales were the only way I could afford them.
My television has had hard use this
year, often running 24/7 while I was sick. I noticed a shady patch on
it a few weeks ago and decided I'd better plan on replacing it before
it entirely fails, which will certainly happen before next year's Black Friday sales! Lots of store had large televisions for sale, but
I've made very little money this year and, as a consequence, I need to pinch every penny until it screams. I chose one for $97 at Walmart. I don't like to
patronize Walmart but my choice was buying from them or not having a
television at all as the next cheapest was in the $250 range. The other
reason to buy this one was that they guaranteed that anyone who tried
to buy one in the first hour that the store was open would get it
before Christmas, even if they ran out of stock today. All of the other TVs everywhere else were limited to stock.
When I was sick, a number of friends
helped me by reorganizing my house and throwing out a lot of unnecessary stuff,
but some important things got tossed, too, such as my old laptop bag (I
had the laptop in the hospital). In the bag was my Livescribe pen and
the portable drive that I use to back up the laptop. A backup is a necessity. I saw that
Staples had a terabyte portable drive for $50, in my price range.
I'll eventually replace the Livescribe pen, but not anytime soon.
I had purchased a few things at Walmart
last year and had no trouble getting in and out, about 15 minutes
after the store opened, by giving the opening line enough time to
wind its way in but before most people started to check out. I
both checked my ad and online for my local store's opening time; Massachusetts is one of
only three states that does not allow stores to open on Thanksgiving
Day, so I wanted to arrive in a timely fashion. Walmart was supposed
to open at midnight and Staples (just down the street) would open at
12:30. I arrived at Walmart a little early, just before midnight, and
the line wound to the end of the building. I stayed in my car and
waited until midnight. The line didn't move. At 12:20, I put on my
mask (my white blood cell count is low and I promised Maripat that I
would wear while shopping. I had intended to, anyway, but my promise
made me less self-conscious). I locked up the car and strolled over
to one of the police stationed at the doors to ask why no one was
entering the building, He told me that the store wouldn't open until
1 AM! I decided to pick up my hard drive, first, and drove to Staples.
Staples had opened before I arrived. I
was directed to join a line of people waiting for computers. The line
wasn't terribly long – maybe twelve people in front of me? But the
line didn't move. After about twenty minutes, suddenly, employees received new instructions and the line now moved very swiftly. I
bought my hard drive and splurged on a Kindle (I had borrowed
Julian's while I was in the hospital and it was a terrific gadget!).
The Kindle was on sale for half price AND came with a coupon for a
$25 Staples gift card. But, it was 1:00 AM before I got back to Walmart.
I hung out near the door, waiting for
the line to end so the police would let me in without needing to walk
both ways and through the cattle-shute, but the people kept coming!
The cops stopped the line, finally, as the maximum capacity of the
store had been reached! And the line was still out of sight.
I walked to the end of the line,
acquiring a carriage from another shopper who gave up. Two women had
scooted ahead of me as I walked down, so I was right behind them,
but the line was so long, we were about 20 feet from the start of the
cattle-shute, at the corner of the sidewalk around the building. I looked around a bit and went into my zone.
After five minutes or so, I suddenly realized
that a couple had sidled up next to my carriage and were pretending
that they were in front of me. This was NOT cool. The line move with
a small start, then stopped and they definitely slid in front of me.
The line was about four people wide, now, so I told the pair of women
who had scooted ahead of me as I walked to the end of the line that I knew I was in back of them, but did they know who they were in
back of? They pointed to another couple, and we figured out who was
supposed to be where. The line started to move, and, as we arrived at
the start of the shute, I told the cutting couple that I was in back
of the two women, and that THEY were in back of me! They moved back.
One of the women, the older one, asked me why I was wearing the mask.
I told her that I had a low white cell count and she smiled and said,
“That's what I thought.” She then told me that her sister had
died a few years earlier from lymphoma.
We chatted; the line became bearable.
We all acknowledged that without the other two to talk to, we all
would have quit waiting! We all wanted the same television, too, and
fretted as time went by. The line moved with glacial speed. They were
mother and daughter. I heard about the mother's sister in
excruciating detail, but the woman also kept saying that her sister
had a very rare form of lymphoma usually found in the very elderly.
Her sister had a very hard death with many tumors.
We talked about many things. Mom had
never been in a Black Friday line before, so I told her about buying
the Nintendo Wiis with Jack and how the line created its own order
and enforced it. The deadline of 2:00 AM came and went. Mom and daughter had also acquired a
carriage, abandoned by another shopper in the cattle-shute. The couple
had also tried to grab this, too. Mom helped both her daughter
and me to maneuver the carts through the zig-zags of the shute. We
had a system after only a few zigzags, so by the time we were ready
to enter the store, we were a team.
Finally, we
arrived at the end of the shute, near the doors, at 2:45 AM, but were forced to wait for more
customers to leave, before we could enter. The man from the couple
behind me was trending on my heels. I could tell that he planned to
sprint past me as soon as he could. I had overheard them say that
they also wanted the same TV that the three of us all wanted, but we had agreed that we preferred a raincheck, if only to not have to carry the TV that night!
The cop came back to let 25 more
people enter and I was number 13. We quickly wheeled into the store,
channeled in the opposite direction from where we wanted to go, and
the couple zipped past us as we slowed momentarily to look for an
employee. We opted to cut through a path in clothing, directly to the
middle to the store. There, in the central aisle, a blue-clad
Walmartian was assisting customers by doling out DVDs. She was a
little snippy, but directed us to the area where they had been
handing out the rainchecks for the TVs. The raincheck person was
gone. Daughter was ready to quit, but I said that I wanted to talk to
someone at the courtesy desk.
The entire front of the store was
cordoned off, with Walmartians guarding the checkout line (which
wound throughout the store and must have been at least 90 minutes
long). I asked a Walmartian if I could cut across, gesturing to my
empty carriage. He lifted the tape and the three of us sailed
through.
There wasn't anyone at the desk, but,
after a minute, a woman came over to tell me that the desk was
closed. I told her that I'd been in line for over two hours (it was
just after 3:00 AM) and that all I wanted was a TV raincheck. She
smiled and said that she could help. She reached out to open the
locked door behind the counter and circled around, pulled cards from
under the counter, and handed me one! Mom and daughter had started to
leave, but lingered to see me acquire me card, and came up. I assured
the Walmart manager (or that is what she was) that the ladies had
been right in front of me the whole time, so she gave them cards,
too. Then, she proceeded to check us out, letting us bypass that horrendous line!
I was overwhelmed. Daughter suddenly
apologized for cutting in front of me to check out, but I told her
that she was in front of me in line, so it was no problem. We all
waited for the others to complete our purchase and left together,
laughing and congratulating each other. I was completely enervated. I
was so tired that I had some difficulty in driving home but there
weren't many people on the road. I collapsed onto the sofa and slept
soundly for eight hours. I'm getting ready to make pineapple upside
down cake for my contribution to dinner.
I'm pretty sure the manager gave me
the rain check because of my mask, then extended the courtesy to the
ladies because I vouched for them and for fairness for them, too. The
funny thing is, if the couple hadn't cut in front of me (again), they
might have followed us and gotten TVs, too! Occasionally, there is
karma, even at Walmart.
