JFF - Your Black Friday Horror Stories

i have none, because i always spend black friday at home, blissfully lolling about eating stuffing sammiches.
i look forward to the horror stories, though.......
:) khairete
S.

The one and only time I ever went shopping on Black Friday, I got into it with a woman over a toy. Not a toy I even wanted to buy. A child (not my child - her mom was looking at something else a few feet away) had the toy in her hand, and it was the last one on the shelf. This woman came charging down the aisle and grabbed it from her. I snatched it back, gave it back to the kid and asked the woman what the f*** her problem was. She wanted that toy for her kid and so she just took it from the kid who was looking at it. I told her that IF the kid put it back on the shelf, it was fair game, but that she had better not even think about taking it out of her hands again. She gave me an eat-s***-and-die look, and stood there waiting to see what the kid would do, but she didn't try to take it from her. The kid's mom finally got a clue as to what was going on, told the kid they weren't buying that toy, and when she put it down, Crazy B**** snatched it up, glared at me, and stalked off.

Going to sleep after Thanksgiving dinner and waking up to loads of dishes from the night before. =)

Sorry, I don't go shopping on BF. I avoid it like the plague.

I go out every year. But every year it gets a bit better. I have discovered where NOT to go (Walmart and Toys R Us are AWFUL) and have discovered hidden areas that no one is at!
One year, when my first was very very young I went to Walmart to find some toy that I saw on their ad that was a great price. There were SO MANY people there! I couldn't believe it. And then when I finally got back to the toys the one I wanted was gone. I spent almost 2 hours there and left with nothing.
One year I went to Toys R Us with a list of things for my two kids. I was able to navigate all the parents WITH their kids (WTH!? It was 3 am!!) and get what I wanted. And then I had to stand in line. Oh my god. The line went from the register to the back of the store all the way around to the front of the store! I went up to a woman that was almost ready to check out and asked her how long she had been in line, she said two hours. Oh hell no. Dropped my stuff and left.
One year I went to Kohls, 8 1/2 months pregnant. I was sweating before I even got out of the car. And I think I smelled a little funky. Or maybe I was just huge pregnant and VERY aware of how everything smelled. I got a lot of stuff, the line wasn't too bad, but I was exhausted.
THEN, LAST YEAR I went to a mall that not a lot of people go to normally. I walked right into SEARS got the stuff I needed, towels, clothes, tools, electronics...went up to purchase, no line whatsoever, and was out in about 1/2 hour. It was great, and I WILL be there again.
I have a larger extended family,and like to find the good deals. I have 4 brothers, their wives, two nieces and my parents and I usually spend about $100 and get gifts for ALL of them. It works for me. I want to give everyone something they want or like, but I don't have a lot of money to do that.
I have never seen anyone fight for anything or seen a mine mine mine kind of mentality, or maybe I am just not paying attention.
Either way, I look forward to shopping this Friday!
L.

I once took my husband with me on Black Friday. That's a real horror story! :)

about 10 years ago, I was at Silver Dollar City in Branson with my Mom, Sis, + all of our kids. My husband decided to brave the Black Friday sale at Walmart.

He was in line well before the sale began. He had his mega coffee mug with him, & the line filled behind him. He was there to buy a computer, & that was it. When the barrier was released, the evil old bitchy women (his words) pushed up against him....knocking him out of the way....& his coffee mug (one of those Bubba Kegs) went flying up & over the wall of women. He ended up having to scramble on the floor to recover his coffee mug....before he even headed towards the computers. Got one of the last ones available, even tho' he'd been at the head of the line.

His words, "Never again, in my lifetime, will I spend my life with those evil women at a Black Friday sale". & every year, at Thanksgiving, my sister & I harass him over this. We repeatedly read the ads to him...trying to entice him into going again!

Oh, & worse than worse, we returned to Walmart later that weekend....& there was a large stack of the same computer just waiting for us. LOL

No stories as I don't do it either. Have never seen a sale where I thought it was worth it. This year I considered it as Kohl's is having their down alternative comforters on sale for 26.00. I thought that was a good deal as DS needs one. Well, I went yesterday to scope them out and they were on sale for 36.00. Well, I already have a 20% off coupon so I would brave BF to save like 3 bucks - ha no way!! I am going today to buy one.

ETA - Went back today and they were 31.99 so with my coupon I paid LESS than they will be on BF LOL - yay for me.

I've been shoved, pushed, and pulled. It was only one time, and one time only did I ever venture out for Black Friday. I lived in RI at the time, and it was nuts. The worst, was seeing all of the shopping carts just roaming free in the parking lots. Hitting cars, and people. I saw one making its way down and I ran after it to put it away. Other times, people just LEFT IT IN THE BACK OF THEIR CARS, driving away. UNAWARE that it went rolling down. Needless to say, I wasn't using my "other choice words" for bad words that day. Luckily my son wasn't with me.

To this day I have a HUGE pet peeve for people who don't put their carts away. Once I saw a man leave it on the side of his car, and get in his car. While he was about to drive away I ran up to his car, grabbed the cart and pushed it back. He yelled out of his car-( RI accent) " Why are you doing this? " , I said, " Because it's lazy people like yourselves leaving it for someone else, or worse, having it crash into another car"( in my accent-which unfortunatly is a mix between southern and RI ) . He drove off, flipping me off. I waved. Such bliss.

I don't know why but I love BF!! I love the energy of all these crazy people being in lines! We all laugh at ourselves and everyone around you is bff by the time the doors open. I have a tradition that I get the turkey and all cooking and then sit down with the ads and a notebook. Then I write down the items, prices, and what time the stores open. Last year Kohls and Target opened really early, so I hit them but JC Penney's didn't open for hours later. So I went to the mall anyway and walked around. Lots of the little stores were open and I bought tons of camping stuff at Eddie Bauer for cheap. Loved my little find! Also, Victoria Secret was opened so I bought a few bras and got a really nice bag with the purchase! Bonus!!! When I was working retail I liked it as well because everyone is in a great mood and they don't mind the long lines.

I've asked my 16 year old if she would like to join me this year so we shall see if I can keep the tradition going!!

I don't have any horror stories because I refuse to do the black Friday, shop in the middle of the night with crazy people thing!!

one year I went to Old Navy for their Black friday sale and I was in line , I was 3rd in line to pay, first lady was checking out , then I was two people behind her. Anyway they have registers next to each other one in front of the other. Well I was standing right next to the second register , the lady in front of me was past the register and had put her stuff down to be checked out with in a few minutes. Well the second register opens and the cashier motioned for me to put my stuff down and check out at her register, I do this and the woman in front of me FLIPS the @#$%@#$% out. I mean REALLY flipped out yelling at me. She was within two minutes of checking out at the other register. OMG get a grip woman, it's 2 minutes!!!

I worked in retail for nearly 12 years. I worked every single Black Friday. I have more horror stories than I can remember. I've only shopped BF twice and will never do it again. I would much rather work it and do the customer service than shop it.

Let's just say that I'm thankful for BF sales being online where I can shop without lines on my computer while I stay in my pajamas drinking nice, hot coffee. I don't have to worry about toting around heavy bags, but the nice FedEx and UPS guys will carry those packages directly to my door for me and even do it free of charge or at greatly reduced costs.

When I was working in retail, I would take my breaks during relatively quiet times and browse other stores if I was working in the mall. I'd carry my check book around with me in case I saw something, and my mall badge would get me a nice discount. It was my reward for working 14-16 hours shifts on BF and that entire weekend.

Once is all it took for me about 18 yrs ago. I will never do that again NOR will I go out bright and early on Dec 26.

It amazes me how people act when basically they are not getting THAT good of a deal. If you shop smart you can get as good of a deal without putting up with the people acting like animals. it is crazy... I don't understand why people subject themselves to that unless it has something to do mentally about the holidays.

It is certainly something I refuse to take part of.

I'm smart enough to sleep through the madness.

I guess my worst horror story was getting a call while I was happy in dreamland from a friend who was standing in a two mile long waiting line to get into Target. Seriously?

She has 3 little kids who were all under 5 at the time and Black Friday is the only excitement she gets out of the house on her own.

I guess it was nice of her to think about me, but she could have told me all about it after the sun came up.

She waited all that time only to get into the store and there were no carts. Some people had two or three carts to themselves and a lot of people either had to wait for one or only buy what they could carry. People acted like maniacs. Traffic had to be directed.

So, for those who choose to brave it, be careful.

I hear it's a jungle out there.

I did black Friday for 18 years and other than the cold it was fun. My older daughter started going with me when she was five, it became our Thanksgiving tradition.

Everyone is quite civilized, we took turn making coffee runs for the people before and after us in line.

Now anyone who would show up after the stores open well they are idiots. If a store opens at six and you want a door buster you have to be there lined up at midnight. So I am walking out with all my shopping done by 6:15 listening to the morons crying because there are no door busters left. Yeah, cause you came at six!

I stopped doing it four years ago when they stopped offering true door busters. Sorry but I am not going to line up, freeze to death, for something I can wake up at 2 and order online from the warmth of my home. I loved the challenge of black Friday but I am not stupid.

I've only done it once but it was fine. I was pregnant with my 2nd and inexplicably waking up at 2 or 3 in the morning at that stage of pregnancy every night. So I was awake staring at the ceiling and decided to get up and go to Kohls. I had seen some pretty good advertisements. The lines were mega long but moving fast. It was crowded but I thought it was kind of fun, festive energy, not anything cranky or competitive about it. I got a ton of Christmas shopping done that morning, opened kohls card and saved bundles. I seriously got like $700 worth of stuff for like $250.
It was actually the most stress-free shopping I've ever done, because it was the early morning, I wasn't running to or from work and I knew hubby and daughter weren't waiting on me because they were sound asleep. I found myself wishing the stores had those crazy hours more often.

I don't think I'll ever go again though, aside for the pregnancy insomnia thing, I like my sleep too much. Maybe next time I am knocked up around the holidays ;)

My mom, sister, daughter and I were out on Black Friday, up since probably 4 a.m. one year. We pulled into a new Walgreens store and the door was open so we walked right on in. Turns out, it was still under construction and the workers were in there looking as us like we were a bunch of crazy women. It's our joke that we go into the stores whether they're open or not! There's no stopping us!

Another Old Navy story here.

After standing in line for 40 minutes, the doors opened at 2am. Rushed in and started shopping. Got all that was on my list and when to wait in line for a register. After being in line for 30 minutes, the staff passed out candy to those waiting (all registers open too). The lady in front of my had a huge pile of clothes and was asked if she had an Old Navy credit card, she said she did not and would open one. Takes about 10 minutes for her to fill out the paper work and she gets rejected. Then she says she actually does have a card but not with her and they look it up on the system. They run it through and she's rejected again. She produces a different credit card and for some reason, they have to re-ring her order! By this time, we were kind of snickering. Thankfully, the new card went through and she high-tailed it out of the store. I got home at 4am.

I guess the only "negative" story I have was like 18 years ago when my husband (then just friend) was a supervisor at the garden dept in Walmart (where they kept the bikes). There was a ton of people and only a few of the bikes on sale. A 10 year old boy had a bike, and a grown man tried to take it from him. My husband is 6'2" and has a "big" low voice though, and brought that under control real quick, taking the bike out of the man's hands and instructing him to step away from the boy AND the bike. He said "stand in line or nothing will be released! You: 1, 2, 3, ...." and passed out the bikes himself. I witnessed stuff that was "scary" on those Macy's one day sales (not BF, just periodic stuff) in the 80s, I was a kid, and hid in the middle of the circular racks of clothes watching women fight over blouses. Mom continued to go, but didn't take me after that.
As for my personal BF experiences, I guess my one negative was choosing not to do Toys R Us because a friend said you could do it online (looking for gifts for her son), and the stupid website having so many problems I got frustrated. Otherwise, I have nothing but great to say!!! I've gone with friends, I've gone "over the phone" with friends when we were out of state from each other, I've made friends for the night with strangers outside the store, I've had a blast. One time, a could-have-been-terrible thing happened: I realized that I needed to go to the bathroom (emergency!) but I'd been sitting outside Target for a solid 2 hours already and was like 17th in line. The lady in front of me, who I'd been playing cards with, told me I could go ahead and run to a bathroom somewhere. I ran home, then brought a thermos of gourmet cocoa that my husband made me, to share with her and the lady behind me, and got back in line. Another time, someone went and bought coffees and doughnuts to share with us, and we didn't know them, they were just being nice and we were enjoying talking about our kids, families, holiday plans, shopping tips, recipes, etc. I've seen families go together and play bingo, uno, all kinds of stuff, and then before the doors open one of them puts that stuff back in the car. I reflected on the fact that you don't often see teens playing bingo or whatever, happily, with their parents, but I did then. I saw an old lady in the parking lot having difficulty with her cart and some things fell out the bottom, and before I could get to her, 2 young men stopped and put everything in the cart and escorted her to the car. I hung out by my car and watched because I didn't know if it was a scam or just a wonderful thing I was seeing, and they unloaded everything from her car, she hugged them, they laughed, and went on with their stuff. They seemed embarrassed that she bragged on them; they were not related. I've had fun, and gotten good deals. But I do choose my stores, list, plan, and route wisely (like never go to Best Buy....only go to Walmart AFTER the initial rush, after I've finished what I'm doing at Target first ---which has always been very orderly, that kind of thing). Moving next Tuesday, so this will be the first BF I haven't participated in, in years! Aww. Next year. :)

I went to toys-r-us with my sister-in-law and her best friend (who was 8 1/2 months pregnant) and the line wrapped around the outside of the store and we stood in line in the rain for 2 hours only to find out half of what we came for was already sold out and me and my sister-in-law got sick frm that night lol. Only bight side I got my daughter's fav chair that night.

I love Black Friday (but it is CRAZY)! My best friend and I have gone for maybe 7 years now, but the past couple of years we haven't been able to go together, as one year I have 4 day old son, and the next (and this one) we live across the country from each other. Probably the funniest thing that has happened to us is that the lady in line behind us though we were lesbians!

I'm from Canada and we don't have the "Black friday"...my family come every year to my place to do the shopping all night long. We don't sleep, we are going shopping from 11h00pm and came back home after breakfast:)
I've been doing it from 9 years now and just loved it! I've been lucky so far to not seen any fighting, crazy peoples!
But this year I'm not happy that the shopping starting early! Peoples should have a nice family diner with their family instead of going to work!!!

I went twice- once when I was 14 and again in my early 20's. The 14 experience I watched two women in there 50's fight over a broken ornament that was marked 50% off and it was scary. Like a bunch of rats fighting over the last crumb....but it did not make any since and I did not think it was fun with the crazed crowds of ppl attacking the store. Never did I go again.

The other experience went much better. My friend bought Xboxes and sold them on ebay for profit. We got to our local target an hour before the store opened. We were greeted by 4 Highschool boys who had spent the night in there trucks waiting for the store to open. An employee peeked out the door and handed out seven passes for the Xboxes. We went and had breakfast then went back to the store at opening and purchased our Xboxes (limit one per person). And went on about our day. No fighting no crazy angery ppl. It was great! I think he made about 800 dollars or 1600 i cant remember but I do remember thining again ppl are so stupid to pay for that much for products! ! !

My husband & I have only done one BF......we got up at 3am and picked up our then 4 yr old son ( he was sound asleep in his bed ) and put him in the truck and headed to the store to pick up a flat screen tv . :))
It was cold and rainy and I prepared us a couple of 'coffees to go' from home and I told him I'd never do this again. haha ( never have either )
The store parking lot was packed so I just told him to get out and go inside and get our tv and I circled the parking lot until he came out. I figured that would be better than waking our still sleeping 4 yr old and take him out in the cold and rain. We got the tv and drove home exhausted. Pretty uneventful overall , I just love my sleep too much to do that again.:)

I worked for Penney's and one Black Friday I'm a cashier in the Jounior Department, right off the parking lot. I have lines of customers waiting to check out and this man comes in and asked about a set of pots and pans pictured in the flyer. I explained to him that our store didn't have them---he starts to yell at me that if it's in the flyer it should be in the store. Like I have any say in this. I explained that I could get them for him but I would have to call another store and it would take some time. Meanwhile I am answering the phone, checking out customers, answering questions from customers coming in the door and trying to find these pots and pans for this man. I find the pots and pans give the phone tp the customer so he can give the associate on the other end his info, name, address, and credit card number. He doesn't want to give out his credit card info over the phone. I told him he could drive to Milwaukee (100 miles) to get them, he gives his info. Meanwhile I am still trying to help the long long lines of customers.

So moral of the story, be patient. Store associates are doing the best they can with overwhelming odds. Sometimes we are also training new associates.

Better yet, stay home and play with your kids.