"Black Friday"

Today I decided to take my chances and do some after-Thanksgiving shopping. I don't really enjoy the day-after-Thanksgiving madness... the crowds, the rudeness, the traffic, the lack-of-parking spots etc, but as you all know by now, I am truly one of the worlds biggest penny-pincher's, so I was reeled in by the irresistible deals, and the thoughts of being nearly done with Christmas shopping and not being out a ton of money. I left the house at 5:38AM, and headed to a certain store that will not be named. I was anticipating a little increase in business, but this particular store is not at all one of those retail monsters that I try to avoid on this day. It's more of a specialty store, and I didn't anticipate masses of people. I couldn't have been more wrong. As I pulled up into the over-stuffed parking lot, I couldn't help but notice the gigantic line of people waiting at the front doors. I parked (at the opposite end of the parking lot) and made my way toward the store. Turns out, there are far more penny-pincher's out there than I had previously realized, and guess what?... they were all going for the same thing I was. I was planning on spending ample amounts of time picking particular products for particular people on my list, but instead I had to opt for picking the products that were available and hoping it would work. I ended up spending nearly three hours in that store (probably about 10 minutes actually shopping). The good news is that while I waited in the massive lines, I was able to trade what I had in my cart with things that were closer to what I had wanted as other people ditched them. In the end, it turned out to be successful and I'm excited to be able to give personal gifts to my loved ones. Next year (if I choose to participate), I will try to be less naive about the realities of "Black Friday."