What is it about Black Friday that convinces people it is all right to forget our humanity?
Do you go Black Friday shopping? I don't join in on these sales. Nothing is worth the pain.
I went Black Friday shopping once (at the urging of a friend). It will be so much fun. I should have known better; it was not fun. In fact, I can honestly say it was one of the worst shopping experiences of my life. The crowds were horrendous; everything was chaotic. The stores were a mess. I lasted a total of one and a half hours….
That said, I don’t understand what makes Black Friday so appealing. Yes, there are sales. Yes, companies do give away items for free. But, are sales and a few free items worth waiting in line for hours? Somehow, I really doubt it….
Over the past few years, Black Friday seems to have gotten worse. People actually lose their minds. Perhaps the funniest part of "Confessions of a Shopaholic" is the sample sale scene (in which Isla Fisher attempts to wrestle a woman for a pair of 50 percent off Gucci boots).
However, that event is simply cinematic staging….I can laugh because I know Fisher isn’t actually going to kill the woman. Black Friday is a completely different situation.
I cannot count how many horror stories I’ve seen about the sales day, including one about a woman who threatened to get a gun, so she could cut to the front of a line at a Toys R Us; another report of a woman using pepper spray to keep competing bargain hunters at bay, and then the Wal-Mart worker who was trampled to death by people breaking through doors at a Long Island, N.Y., store in 2011.
What is it about Black Friday that convinces people it is all right to forget our humanity? I certainly don’t know; I suppose it is something about the atmosphere. Perhaps people get so caught up in the moment that they don’t think their actions through.
Whatever the reasoning, I can guarantee it is not adequate justification. No promotion, whether it be for a free iPad, a trip to the Bahamas, or a new computer, is worth injuring someone else.
I’m not going to try to convince any avid Black Friday shoppers to abandon their favorite shopping day; I simply want to convince them to stay levelheaded. So, on the 29th, when you’re out shopping and the woman in front of you takes the last pair of cashmere gloves, think twice before you try and attack her….