What’s Up With That?

I live in a small town and don’t have any personal experience with the Black Friday phenomenon. To be honest, I don’t know a lot about it.

Last year, one week before Thanksgiving, I was working in the Los Angeles area and went to Best Buy the Friday before Thanksgiving. There were several tents set up in front of the store and people were inside them. I thought it was some sort of store display, as most of the tents had music playing inside of them. When I entered the store, I asked one of the employees about the tents outside. He told me they were shoppers who were camped out waiting to be the first ones in the door next week, when the store would open early Friday morning, the day after Thanksgiving. These people were going to live at Best Buy for a week just so they could buy stuff!! I don’t get it.

That was about the dumbest thing I had ever heard in my life!

Recently I read a couple articles that condemned several retailers who plan on being open this year on Thanksgiving day. Criticism towards these companies is not appropriate. If we are to criticize anyone, it should be the morons who want to shop on the holiday and stand in long lines to earn the privilege to do so. If no one shows up at the stores, they won’t open. Blame the Black Friday Idiots, not the stores.

Other than that, I have no opinion. Well, I do think these shoppers must be insane.

So… we won’t be shopping next Friday. In fact, we will be camping.

Here’s a little secret — most campgrounds are completely empty on Thanksgiving weekend, and trails even more so. Joshua Tree National Park is the exception, so we won’t be going there either — It will be crowded and you might as well go shopping at Wal Mart if you like crowds.