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November 25, 2011: Crazy People

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The records have been broken (or, at least they have according to my experiences): there were people lined up for today's midnight opening when I got to my Wednesday opening shift. Friggin' loony, these people.

14 thoughts on “November 25, 2011: Crazy People”

  2. reason 6,487,983 NOT to shop Black Friday:

    And at a Wal-Mart in Los Angeles, one woman seemed to take her position in line very seriously. Authorities said 20 people at the store suffered minor injuries when a woman used pepper spray to gain a "competitive" shopping advantage shortly after the store opened on Thursday evening.

    from the AP:

    LOS ANGELES -- A woman shot pepper spray to keep shoppers from merchandise she wanted during a Black Friday sale, and 20 people suffered minor injuries, authorities said.

    The incident occurred shortly after 10:20 p.m. Thursday in a crowded Los Angeles-area Walmart as shoppers hungry for deals were let inside the store.

    Police said the suspect shot the pepper spray when the coverings over the items she wanted were removed.

    "Somehow she was trying to use it to gain an upper hand," police Lt. Abel Parga told The Associated Press early Friday.

    He said she was apparently after some electronics and used the pepper spray to keep other shoppers at bay.

    Officials said 20 people suffered minor injuries. Fire department spokesman Shawn Lenske said the injuries to least 10 of them were due to " rapid crowd movement."

    Parga said police were still looking for the woman.

    The store remained open and those not affected by the pepper spray continued shopping.

    Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/24/4079059/10-injured-at-la-wal-mart-on-black.html#ixzz1ejsYCuFZ

  3. huge sports day today. Gophers hoops on now, Wild play later. about 50 college football games. and I am going to the Minnesota-State Mankato hockey game tonight

  6. Well, I worked 12 hours, and then promptly got home and slept for a little over three. I was surprised to see it was dark, as I only half-remembered falling asleep.

    The streak I had of great politeness on Black Friday has ended. Minutes after I got there, a co-worker of mine was punched in the gut for having the gall to tell the customer we were out of something. What was it, the Sharp 42" TVs we had for $200? Nope, he was punched because we were out of Xbox Live 3 Month renewal cards that were on sale for $8, down from the exorbitant regular price of $25. A lady also got on my case for a while because the line was long. Um...duh, miss. It really didn't make sense for her to take this up with me, either, since I wasn't in any position to make the line move faster.

    Barring those bad eggs, though, it was another year full of cool, laid-back people. They ask ridiculous things - like, is that 42" TV still here ten hours after opening (nope, it was gone five minutes after midnight) - but they at least know there's no chance we actually have those things.

    The one thing I would have bought after my shift sold out at 2am, too. Well, dang.

    For a few hours there was something very different about Black Friday I couldn't put my finger on. Finally, I figured out that it was that customers weren't in jackets and the floor wasn't constantly damp from the snow people were trudging in.

    1. Heh, my brother actually suggested I get one of those tvs. I asked him if it was an online deal, and he said it was doorbuster. I called him an idiot and told him to stop suggesting things to me. I despise shopping in general and refuse to do Black Friday. My wife and sister-in-law go and that's as close as I want to get to it.

      I did enjoy the news reports tonight about roughly five super crazy, rioting type issues from last night and every. single. one. was Wal-Mart. I'm starting to think Wal-Mart should be banned from doing sales that night.

      1. A cop in Buckeye (a suburb west of us) got his neck slashed trying to break up a fight last night between two women fighting over a product. In, yes, Walmart.

        From what I understand, their company doesn't do the thing where employees go outside with tickets for the doorbusters, guaranteeing their products, and letting the others know they missed out. Because they don't do that, there's a mad rush when the door opens. We do the tickets solely to avoid that, and we never have major incidents.

        1. I'm guessing at this point, since most sane people have to realize that avoiding Wal-Mart on this day is best for your ability to remain alive and un-injured, that most people going there are the crazy ones.

          Well, I found it quite pleasant to sit on my couch and play Oblivion (to re-acquaint myself with the world of Elder Scrolls while I wait for Skyrim to come way down in price in 3-4 years.) while trying to sober up before getting to bed before midnight. I really don't need a new TV for the bedroom that badly.

          1. Yeah, I have a lot of near-albinos coming in and telling me Skyrim is awesome, and they're leaving the house for the first time since it came out. That's why I've never done any Elder Scrolls games. Dangerous business for a guy who can get addicted to RPGs. I logged 200 hours on White Knight Chronicles, and I didn't even like it.

        2. So, I was at Wal-Mart last night and it is an absolute zoo. Basically, they have their deals staggered. Games, DVDs, etc. go on sale at 10pm. Electronics at midnight. There's areas inside the store that people can sit to wait for a TV where you get a ticket, so that's not the problem. The problem is the smaller doorbusters; the $2 waffle irons, $5 Blu Rays, and things like that.

          Basically, since the store is open prior to the sales starting, they have to keep the doorbusters separate from the other merchandise. They're set on palates (or in the case of DVDs & games, temporary cardboard shelves) that are wrapped in plastic. People stand by them waiting for the clock to strike the specified time, then they are opened by the staff and all hell breaks loose. It's a terrible system.

          J & I got there a few minutes after 10 pm. The majority of the games were gone, and the DVD & Blu Ray section was a complete and utter zoo. I somehow managed to find 2 copies of the Zelda: Skyward Sword limited edition (this is the reason I went) in all the chaos, but it was a disaster trying to find anything.

          Best Buy was far more congested but it was pretty easy to find everything, and not much was sold out. The games I wanted were there, and most of the cheap Blu Rays, too.

          Sears & Barnes and Noble were very very relaxed in comparison to the two above, but those were at 4 am and 9:30 am respectively.

          1. Wow. That's actually much worse than they used to do it, and I didn't think that was possible. It puts their employees in a dangerous position, too.

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