Black Friday horror stories?

graceandarthurforever

Do you have them?  Share them please!

I've never been to the U.S. during Black Friday and I've only heard stories about how ridiculously busy it is.  I believe that these stories are accurate representations of most major U.S. city during this time of year?  And how mad do clients go compared to Christmas/Boxing Day shopping?  hahaha... sorry, just curious! 

bluestarback

It's not really a horror story...nothing bad happened or anything.  But my mom & I waited in line outside Toys R Us last night in the cold in NH for 2.5 hours with probably 400 other people.  We knew we were crazy the whole time, but we got a lot of deals.

My mom does a holiday party at work and "santa" gives out toys to each kid.  There are usually 70 kids or so - so it's important to get nice gifts at a discounted price. 

After we left there at 2:00 am, we went to Kohls, which opened at 3:00 am.  The shoppers there were a lot more rude that at Toys R Us and it was really hard to move around and look at different things because the line wrapped around the entire store.  Again, great deals though.

I went home and slept from 5 am - 8 am.  Then got an email from a friend letting me know UGGS were 20% off at Eastern Mountain Sports (EMS).  So, I got out of bed, got dressed and drove the 15 minutes to the store.  But, this was a much more pleasant experience at 9:00 am.  No parking problems, no lines - I was literally in and out in about 15 minutes.

So, now I'm 99% done my holiday shopping for my large family.  I'm exhausted, but it feels awesome.  I also like the quality time with my mom.  

I wish I took pictures of the Toys R Us line... you really would not have believed it

 

 

wldktz10

I spent 3 hours online at Khol's today. This is my 5th time Black Friday shopping, and second time at Khol's. It has NEVER been that bad before. And you know why it was? Of the 16 registers open, they only had 9. Ridiculous.

QT3.14

It really isn't as bad as the media and non-Black Friday shoppers make it out to be. I go every year and I've never seen anything violent or dangerous. It you are willing to wake up early and stand in lines then the saving more than make up for the hassle in my opinion. I've always gotten the items I want too. This year my husband wanted a laptop which are usually the first things to go and each store has very limited quantities. I went to Staples an hour after they opened so there was no line at all. I asked if they still had the laptop in the ad even though I figured they would laugh at me since it was the first thing to go and I was an hour late (2 hours considering you probably had to be in line much before they opened to get it). The manager said I could buy the floor model though and I negotiated an additional discount on top of the ad price. They were going to clean it up and call me a few hours later to come pick it up. The manager called me back and said they found another brand new laptop in the box and I could have it for the floor model price. So I had a very good Black Friday experience.

crissy89

Hm.. no horror stories per say. Went to Toys R US at 9 last night (opened at 10) and the line was already wrapped around the store. However, it was 30 degrees outside so we waited in the car until about 9:45 and then finally stood outside and STILL had to wait in line for 40 minutes. The worst part? We didn't even get anything! This morning we woke up at 4:30 drove to Target... the line wrapped around the entire inside of the store to purchase. We walked out. THEN we went to the mall and only had to wait in line at Kohl's for about 15 minutes All in all, the other places in the mall weren't bad at all and we were done with shopping by 11.

JAF squared

I did not go shopping this year, as I work until 8 am and was pooped!  However, one year we went to a Joanns fabric store, because we were going to make a quilt of my aunt with pictures of all of her kids on it for christmas, and we waiting about 4 hours in the line just to get the fabric cut.  Then, we waited another 1 hour or so just to get out of the store!  That day was rediculous!  My mom acutally waited, while I slept in the car, because I worked overnight then also!  That was CRAZY times! 

hillysuze

This year was not bad at all but DH and I didn't leave home until 930 or so, after traffic dies down. We went to Target, parked all the way in the back and just had people generally walk in front of you, give you rude looks so it was just lack of politness. The cashier told us they lost power at 5 am for 30 minutes so I imagine it was a nightmare there for a while. We then went to Home Depot, lunch, Lowes (to pick up a Black Friday special at the store I ordered on Thanksgiving day), Walmart and grocery store.

One year tho, I did go with DH when we were dating to a computer store. We got there an hour early and it was wrapped around the store. He wanted a computer he saw advertised. When we go the computer area, we had to wait literally 3 hours before we were waited on and he got the second to last computer.

That was about the worst of it. Sure there are places that people get stampeded but those are few and far between for the most part.

sarahdtobe

I picked up a holiday job at Kohl's, so I worked 2:45am-11:15am.  I worked in the front, bagging purchases.  The customers I talked to were in a suprisingly good mood and found really good deals on toys and kitchen ware.  They did tell me that the line at Toys R Us was really long and then there was a gas leak and they had to evacuate the store.  My friend's boyfriend was working there and apparently someone punched him in the face!

akind062

I live in Delaware and the area was flooded with people from surrounding states to do some tax free shopping. You couldn't even get off the highway to get to the mall. There were no parking spots, people were abandoning their cars on the grassy areas around the mall and walking like a mile to get there. I went out but it was kind of a bust for me. I went with my mom and sister but my mom held us back. She made us feel guilty for wanting to buy ourselves anything. I don't have kids, my sister isn't even married....of course we wanted to shop for ourselves! We will be leaving her home next year! There were some nasty looking people out...I know some got up at like 3 am and were out all day but that doesn't mean it's ok to not shower and wear your nasty pjs out.

?alliebooberz?

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1598069323916&comments

 in Appleton, WI.