there was Black Friday…  I wouldn’t be caught dead anywhere near a shopping center today or this weekend.  As it is, I already have issues with crowded places (and no Tom! it’s not agoraphobia) so going to a Best Buy at 12 midnight the day of or at some ungodly hour of 5 a.m. on  Black Friday with the throngs of others would be right up there for me with watching bad Australian comedy or  listening to Celine Dion’s new single.

Normally sweet-tempered people become vicious creatures fighting to the death for the best deal and the closest parking space. How can anyone endure such a stressful shopping experience. I even know a few idiots friends and family members that have kicked common sense to the curb and have braved the cold, the crowds and the insanity of this day to save a few bucks on their holiday shopping lists. I have a theory that not only does tryptophan put us in a turkey-induced slumber, but it also forces us into commercial  stupidity. Those people usually fall into three categories:

1. People who are too stupid to don’t understand the Internet.
2. People who can launch a browser but do nothing else understand the Internet but haven’t gotten it all worked out yet.
3. People whose Double-X-Chromosome bonding is so tight that they are genetically required to go hit the stores on the single worst day of shopping every year.

I have a hard enough time getting up the energy to go to the mall on an ordinary day. Low paid, lowly motivated and poorly trained teenage store workers who tries to explain to you why “no, you really don’t want that product, you want this one instead,” even though you know the people personally who worked on both products, so you know which one you want, etc. Crappy parking – crappy parking – crappy parking. Add in the usual “Black Friday Insanity”, and I firmly believe that stupidity, insanity, or genetic disposition are the only reasons someone might actually voluntarily subject themselves to it.

I use to think that in a few years Black Friday won’t be so “Black” due to the availability of the internet.  And I would like to believe that the trend of using the internet will continue which will do away with this insanity, but looking at recent trends has me rethinking my theories.

What are your thoughts about this insanity, commonly referred to as Black Friday?