28 Bad Things That Will Happen On Black Friday
A Fry's electronic worker has posted his predictions for 28 bad things that happen inside stores this Black Friday. There's things on there like registers being down, full-on face-punching between customers, and customers and employees getting away with shoplifting. It's not just for Fry's, I imagine these things will be happening in stores across America, assuming people have any money left to go Black Friday shopping this year. Maybe you can make the 28 things inside into a Bingo Card and play against your friends...
1) Cash register, POS outage and Servers are down
2) 3-5 hours to checkout and sometimes the line never moves. See 1
3) No available shopping carts.
4) A line that wraps around the outside twice because of people waiting in line since Thanksgiving Day.
5) Checkout line that wraps around everything inside the store like spaghetti.
6) Parking lot is packed to a point you have to park on Walmart property.
7) Customers hording anything they can get their hands on.
8) Employees hording ad items.
9) Pushing, shoving, running, and running people over with a shopping cart.
10) Most sale items gone within 1 hour. Very low in inventory to begin with.
11) Customers punching each other in the face / and other fighting.
12) Customers and Employees getting away with stealing.
13) Customer walkouts.
14) Customers abandoning sales associates commission quotes.
15) Employees lying to you about items being sold out.
16) Employees lying to you to buy items they claim are on sale but are not.
17) Employees lying to you about the extended warranty and tacking it or other extras onto your quote. Beware of fake bundles.
18) Employees aiding customers to front of line for buying warranties, wireless installations, or fake bundles.
19) Customers cutting others in line.
20) Employees fighting over customers or commissions
21) Employees stealing other customers from each other.
22) Employees ignoring customers who are cheap.
23) Employees working odd hours from 3am to 12am midnight, with inadequate breaks
24) Customers start buying products they saw in the leaked Black Friday ad before Black Friday and try to get an Low Price Guarantee or price match on Black Friday will be turned away and be very frustrated.
25) Customers will steal products from other customers.
26) Your possessions will be stolen from your car while you shop.
27) People will get hurt.
28) People will get arrested.
Is the list complete? Add your predictions that he missed in the comments.
28 things that will happen on Black Friday 2008 at Fry's Electronics [Fry's Forum]
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Comments:
You say bad, I say Darwin at work. I scour the ads at my Aunts on Thanksgiving in between courses, and write down what I want. I then go out when I get around to it and if they have it, yay, if not, boo. I did get a free chicken biscuit from Chik-Fil-A last year, so something real bad will have to happen to but a downer on that.
People missing out on valuable sleeping time because they think they'll get an amazing deal at Black Friday Sales.
The key to Black Friday shopping is mobility. People with carts aren't going to be able to squeeze through aisles loaded with people...it's the stealthy (and non-obese) who are going to be able to get the goods. If you're camping out in front of Best Buy to get that flat panel TV for cheap, you better have a friend who can escape from the line quickly as soon as you enter the store and warm up the car, so as soon as you text "we're done" they can drive up and you can load the TV and get out of there as soon as you can. And if you're actually looking to get a lot of smaller items, and can't maneuver through crowds and carry all of them...designate one person with a cart to stait looks like y out of the masses, and you can make your way to that person once you have your items in hand, and go back to fetch more.
But then again, those are worst-case scenarios, in which the store is absolutely so packed with people that you can't see the floor at your feet.
I predict I will heat up some leftover pie, make some coffee, and have a delicious day-after-thanksgiving breakfast in my robe in the comfort of my own home.
Fry's employees are always such infallible fonts of wisdom; without their keen guidance nobody would be able to shove a smashed up calculator into any random box they find on the shelf and take it to the returns counter for a full "refund."
Ah, Black Friday, a shining example of the average consumer...
What I really hate about Fry's is when I already have in my hand something I want and ask a sales associate the location of an item. He shows me the item and then takes it upon himself to print out a sales quote containing the item I already had in hand. He should not get any kind of commission or "credit" and it irks me so much I either leave the store entirely (having decided I really don't need what I came for after all) or jettison the quote. This is unrelated to Black Friday, but the mere mention of Fry's sometimes sets me off. If it weren't for their unmatched selection I'd never set foot in that store again.
One of three things is happening here. I have seen the word "hording" on several websites today. Is it a) Just incorrect b) some internet thing (ie: a combination or words) or c) I have been incorrect about hoarding all this time.
most retailers that know what they are doing will pre sell the hot ticket items to people in line outside of the store before doors open.
The worst thing to happen is for NOBODY to show up and spend money and you lose your job January 1. I don't know about anyone else, but I am thankful to have a good job and I am planning on really watching my budget this Christmas.
I have 20 years of Black Friday under my belt and have seen all the above. That said, I've limited myself to reputable stores that have the gear. I no longer go to Frys. I will shop online first and then only go out if I find something my kids want or I want. If I go out it will be to Walmart and then stop at Sam's Club for Breakfast and back in bed for a short snooze before watching football.
@tc4b: Agreed. No way you'll catch me out shopping. Might take my little guy to Gymboree for Free Play however.
Here's something else:
Around the dinner table on Thanksgiving, everyone across America has a catharsis when saying grace, and realizes that the holidays is about enjoying the time you have with family, not trying to buy them off with discount tchotckes.
A revolution envelops, no one shops on Black Friday, and national reconciliation ensues. American society enters a golden age of peace and equality.
...
Then, on January 1st, everyone loses their jobs, and China invades the California coast on Dinosaurback while zombie Nazis overrun our eastern seaboard.
Company's buying food for employees from nasty catering and let's it sit there for 12 hours w/ flies
Managers say it's "your problem" to employees in need of assistance
Customers assalting employees and accusing them of "holding out"
Customers throwing items at employees heads for not returning items that were not bought at that store (after christmas, had a CD players crack me in the head 3 years ago)
Surrounded by Assholes (keep firing assholes!) everywhere
Holiday cheer: Nonexistant
Black Friday morning......grab a hot cup of coffee (made at home), a comfy warm robe and watch the local morning news showing the lunatics out at the stores. I love shopping as a spectator sport!
I have always hated stores/organizations/disorganized people who simply advertise some event without any thought to make it a less chaotic/ridiculous experience for the customers involved. Sure, you might have the possibility of getting a $100 LCD tv, but you might be trampled too. How about shining examples of incompetence like the public school district in Virginia's Apple surplus laptop sale where people were punched, a woman pissed herself to keep her place in line, or the Walmart opening where people and weapons were involved?
How much effort would it take to limit the number of people or have some sort of preregistration so that it's not this crazy hectic free for all, with people punching each other over a GPS unit? How about something as simple as giving out number cards to people as they go in the store, and making them wait to go in? Sure, you wouldn't get as many people in the store or have as much hype, but you wouldn't be possibly liable for negligence either.
I am so glad I'm skipping the Black Friday scene this year. I've only done it a couple times and it's truly not for the faint of heart. I doubt this year's Black Friday will look or feel much different from years past. Sure the final take may be less than the stores want. But you can't really get a sense of that when you're down in the trenches. Some people do almost all their holiday shopping on Black Friday.
Wal-Mart is advertising that they will price match everything on Black Friday. They're my first and maybe only stop this year.
Hello $2 DVDs!
I have a normal work day on Black friday.... I get to avaoid the masses this year in my quiet cubicle.
@kepler11: WHen I was at Circuit City, those recommendations were exactly what we used. Aside from the initial rush through the doors, we limited how many could come through at once, and gave out vouchers before we opened to the first people in line for the big ticket items. basically anybody showing up after wednesday night didnt get the "good stuff"
good thing i have a real job now.
Most Black Friday deals this year are such crap, that stores will see only a slight increase in traffic. More and more people will be shopping online from home.
I'm gonna be feeling less sorry for the retail management this year, and more sorry for the UPS and FedEx package handlers.
29) The stores will be so empty employees will be fighting each other for anyone that walks in.
Personally, I've never gone out on Black Friday. My parents and I always go to the movies or something. Last year, we went to Disney. Very short lines, very nice day.
Meh. We tried doing the black friday thing two different years. The really good deals either don't exist or the creepy guys that camped out over night will have bought them all before anyone else gets in the store. The rest of the bargains are usually no big deal. Frequently the door buster is cheap because it is a piece of crap.
Don't forget that any given RadioShack will only have 2-3 of the front page door busters in stock. Last year it was the $99 30 gb brown zune. First 2 people in the door got it, everyone else had SA's attempting to upsell them to ipod nanos.
Add to the list, huh Ben?
29. Some people disgusted by the materialistic orgy played across retail America and celebrated in the media will actively not take part. The Beaver (comment above) will protest in her comfy robe.
30. Some heathen splinter religious group will actually encourage people to think about Christmas, (that whole Jesus birth thingy) and perhaps do vaguely Jesus-y things like, oh maybe feeding the poor, tending to the sick, helping the homeless. Their efforts will go largely unnoticed
31. Some non-religious folks, will protest this consumer orgy by also feeding the poor, tending to the sick, helping the homeless, etc., proving that one does not need (insert name of random religion here) to show humanity and compassion.
32. Humanity and compassion will NOT be on display at any Black Friday location. Hmmn, let's celebrate the birth of the infant Jesus, our Lord and Saviour by punching and elderly grandmother in the face so that we can rip the last (insert hot item of 2008) out of her frail hands.
33. Watch Miracle on 34th Street - just because
34. Skokieguy sends his annual link to SNL's awesome Christmastime for the Jews, to help start off the holidays for all his friends. [www.hulu.com]
@tc4b:
Was gonna say the exact same thing. I went to Black Friday last year because I NEEDED a new laptop, but this year I'm fine... so I'll be warm in my bed while everyone else is in Best Buy in what could be considered a mosh pit.
29) Black Friday won't actually put retailers in the black.
I didn't see anything about people getting trampled as the crowd mobs the doors. I know I've heard it in news reports.
@UrIt: I had one guy throw his remote at me, because his batteries died, and I wouldn't give him new ones for free. You know, my batteries, that I purchased myself, to test people's remotes w/ because Best Buy was too cheap to provide them to employees for this purpose at the time.
After his remote shattered, the guy tried to pick a fight w/ the manager while wearing some sort of bionic looking back/neck brace. It was one of the funniest, and scariest moments of me working retail over the holidays.
On the other hand, you pretty much stop selling people things, and switch to, "I have this one, this one, and this one in stock. Which one would you like? No, sir... No. We don't have that one. No, the display isn't for sale, and we don't have the original box and packing. No sir, that is not company policy. Well, there may be some on the next truck. No, I have no access to the truck manifest, nor can I "hold one" for you. Perhaps you should shop online for it and have it delivered directly to you. Oh, they're sold out online too? Well, I'm sorry I wish I did have one of $item to sell you, I just don't.
No sir, the item is in the ad, and we had some on Sunday when the ad came out, but it is now Saturday, and we just don't have any more in stock. I cannot sell you the display model, and even if I could I couldn't due to bait-and-switch laws in the state requiring that an item in an advertisement be available in store to view."
Sorry, I was rambling there.
@samurailynn: For some people, money > time. It's a mistake to assume that your own valuation of the two should be the same for everyone.
@UrIt:
I was just going to post that I noticed a distinct lack of:
-"Customer throws a fit because they can't buy 15 of an item that has a 'one per customer' limit on it"
-"Customer swears at a low-level employee, threatens their job, screams for the manager, throws a fit to get what they want and then demands Corporate's number because they can't get a bulk discount on three of the same item"
-"Customer acts like an jerk, treats all the employees like crap, holds up the line to check everything on the receipt and bitch about it, and asks to speak with a manager as they leave because no one greeted/smiled at them when they came in"
-And my personal favorite, "Customer complains that the store is too busy and the lines are too long on the busiest shopping day of the year (and they should get a discount for having to put up with it)"
30) Customers will show up at 8PM DEMANDING you give them the limited quantity first come first serve no raincheck item AT ONCE, OR I'LL SUE FOR FALSE ADVERTISEMENT.
That happened to me when I worked at Fry's, my reply was hold on one second I'll get you the number for the legal department.
I've worked Black Friday and I've shopped Black Friday. There are going to be people that stay home - that's a given. With a good number of folks recently axed and even more with budget problems, those with extra funds to dip into for Black Friday will be smaller but I'm sure it won't be a record low for what its worth.
I will have money to spend on Black Friday, but not for the big ticket items retailers are hoping will sell. I've got a kid's birthday coming up plus Christmas. I need to spread the wealth over three people for three weeks. I'll be drinking hot chocolate, if anything, and playing video games with my kids Friday morning.
@tc4b: Heat up the pie? That's sacrilege in my household. Day-after-thanksgiving pie is for eating cold - less work!
And here's the worst thing that will happen: myself and millions of other people simply won't show up.
I've got my Black Friday all planned out:
0500: Wake up, get dressed for the occasion
0530: Final check of supplies and equipment
0545: Hop in the truck, pick up breakfast en route
0600: Step onto the beach for a day of surf fishing, stopping for lunch and when the cooler is full of our catch.
30) No matter how frenzied the buying, stores will claim to have lost money.
I work this Friday and I can definitely tell you that I will be telling customers that items are sold out whether they are or aren't. It's all about getting people out as fast as they can.
Thankfully I don't have to worry about commission.
I definitely expect number 24 a lot, and I will have to price match. That'll slow down the lines the longest.
Uh, how about none of the above? There is a good chance that retail efforts to bring in the masses will not produce the sales hoped for.