My first Black Friday foray
I’ve always believed someone is either a shopper or not, and until recently I wouldn’t have hesitated to put myself firmly in the former category. After all, I can happily spend a Saturday afternoon foraging through the racks at Marshalls and Ross in search of the perfect find, while many of my friends would consider a root canal much more enjoyable. So although I’d always heard the hype about the craziness of Black Friday, I figured I was up to the task…after all, I was “a shopper.”
The Date: Black Friday 2008
The Mission: Buy inexpensive, good quality sheets for my bed
The Target: 500-thread-count cotten sheet set at Walmart…a steal at $20!
The Synopsis: I’d noticed these advertised a week ago in a leaked circular and although I wasn’t necessarily in need of sheets, I liked the idea of having another set since I often find myself too lazy to wash my sheets between housekeeper visits. With that in mind, I set my alarm for 5am, thinking I would try to buy them online and then head to the store if necessary.
5am, sleepy but determined – log onto computer and Walmart.com with anticipation only to see a “Sorry, we’re conducting routine maintenance” message. Note to Walmart IT Guy…hi, um, perhaps you could’ve chosen another time for this? Wake up a bit more and deduce that the routine maintenance is probably them updating the site with all the yummy deals for Black Friday. So I sit there and refresh every few minutes until getting bored and deciding to take a shower.
5:25am…mildly annoyed, but now clean and still determined – refresh again, only to see same message. Begin to feel sorry for Walmart IT Guy because he may not have a job after today’s web snafu. Leave computer with a huff to get ready since worst case scenario I’ll visit the store.
5:45am…v. annoyed, but clean, ready for work and still determined – refresh and voila! the website is up and I’m ready to purchase my sheet set. Quickly navigate to bedding site and click on desired sheet set only to see horrible message saying that the sheet sets are sold out online! Okay, if the website has been down for “routine maintenance” then how the freaking heck was anyone else able to buy my sheets???
5:48am…pissed off and driving like mad woman to local Walmart – On my way to the store, I pass a Target and turn into the parking lot only to exit two seconds later after 1) seeing the packed lot and 2) deciding my current mission is more important than roaming the aisles aimlessly at Target. I get to Walmart and to my surprise, people are already streaming out with shopping carts filled to the brim. I’d heard about these people who wake up at the crack of dawn to stand in line at the stores, but deep down I truly thought they were a myth – like unicorns and leprechans. Hmm, may now have to rethink stance on unicorns and leprechans…
Anyway, I rush inside to the bedding section and after unsuccessfully finding the sheet set on my own, I track down a Walmart employee for assistance. “Excuse me, can you tell me where the 500-thread-count sheet sets are?” I ask, trying to appear nonchalant (after all, don’t want to be associated with the crazy people). “You mean the one that was advertised?” In the brief pause that follows, I see the helpful expression in her eyes turn to one of pity and I feel the first prickle of awareness that I may be out of my element. Confirming my thoughts, she says, “Yeah, those are all sold out.”
For God’s sake people, it’s 6am and it’s a sheet set. I can understand the bargain-priced televisions, cameras and laptops, but a sheet set?!? Conveniently I’ve forgotten that I was up an hour ago frantically trying to purchase said sheet set online, but since I came up empty handed, I justify my incredulity and annoyance.
The Result: Mission Failed
So now I’m at work early, without a new sheet set and forced to rethink not only unicorns and leprechans, but whether or not I can truly consider myself “a shopper.”
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