We’re in the middle of a bad economy, yet the doors to many department stores opened on Black Friday (some on Thanksgiving Day) to throngs of people who were apparently excited to spend money they didn’t have.
What is it about the last 40 or so days before the end of the year that makes people think the shopping horizon has changed? Plenty of products are put on shelves ten months out of the year–some are useful, while others are a waste of resources and manpower–yet everybody seems to wait until the last-minute to release the “good stuff,” the “must have” stuff, the quintessential table cluttering pap that makes the area beneath a dead tree look a hoarder’s last-minute hiding place. Add to it the perfect wrapping paper, bow, gift tag or gift bag (one of the few inventions that give wrapping challenged gift givers a break), and remember that all that concealment lasts about ten seconds from being lifted out from under the tree until it is shown around to the assembled throng.
Last year some customers ran over and killed a store employee who opened the doors for the Black Friday crowd. It’s insane that human beings are so overly excited by the prospect of running a marathon to a pile of junk that they have to wait in an interminable line and pay too much for.
The only other madhouse I’ve even seen is the annual “running of the brides” at a popular store which deep discounts wedding gowns for a once-a-year event. Unfortunately they don’t have fitting rooms or boxing rings and officials to referee fights between bridezillas over the perfect gown.
Supply and demand never coincide, even though the stores have had ten months to figure it out. The real test of what sold or not is the aftermath on or about December 26, when all that’s left are twenty boxes of odd colored greeting cards, broken ornaments and a bashed-in fruitcake.
I have to get a Pollyanna gift this year, which is hard because the price limit is $15 and all the decent gifts are $19.99 (before tax). That means a $9.99 gift and a $5.00 gift card, and the gift bag and wrapping paper don’t count in the final cost anyway. . . .
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