Grey Thursday.......

That is the name I gave Thursday this year.  Or should I say Thanksgiving Day?! 
I am not sure how I felt about the stores pushing sales into Thanksgiving Day.  Last year was bad enough but at least most sales didn't start until 10pm or midnight.  This year Kmart opened as early as 6am and Walmart began the mad dash at 8pm and we happened to be in the middle of it Walmart for most of the night!

I don't know where my mind was or maybe I was naive because I personally have never graced the isles on Black Friday and was more the babysitter while Todd did it. This year I went with them and Megan babysat. Mainly because the thought of my 15yr old standing alone in a line in the middle of Walmart was not appealing and so she got to stay home while Todd, Ryan and I went. I wasn't sure which made me more nervous.  My younger children home alone or me standing in the lines at Walmart waiting for the bell to toll!!  I think it was me in the line!!  At least I knew my kids were safer at home more so than I was standing in a line while people gave glares at eachother as the minutes passed. I have NEVER experienced Black Friday in Walmart before I do believe I never will again.

We get to the store at 6:30pm with our lists and maps in hand.  Todd heads for bikes which is near me.  Ryan's item doesn't go on sale until 10pm so he heads my way until we see the line near us for a different TV that also goes on sale at 10pm.....off he heads to stand for HOURS in a line for a TV.  And as we man our positions we text eachother and the girls to make sure everyone is ok.

I stand behind a 50 something woman who is giddy with delight that she is 1st in our line and dances around in her too-tight leggings and bad black hair dye job with red roots while she laughs with her toothless husband. (Now I understand that website about Walmart shoppers!!) But she is friendly and we chat while I try and ignore the cold coming from the open door in lawn and garden and my allergies while I stand next to the cinnamon pinecones that I probably still reek from!  And there we chat and text our families for a good hour and half then 5 min before the 8pm event you sense the tension....It is almost as if time is slowing.  The chatter becomes less. The tension fills the air. You see the looks coming from others as if to say "I DARE YOU". The stand off is starting.  Those that were friendly and chatted with eachother only minutes before were now becoming enemies!

I know Ryan is ok and just standing in a line that won't move for several more hours and so it comes down to Todd and I.  I can see Todds line from my standing point and I can see a woman who happens to stop and stand by the stack of bikes to chat with a family member.  8pm..............and wrappers go flying.  The chatting lady decided at 8pm that all of a sudden she needed some bikes and turns to throw them in her cart and melee begins as they push her and other line cutters out of the way for bikes.  Todd included!  Go Todd Go!!  Me?  Oh our group is guarded by a worker who isn't so sure the item goes on sale at 8 or 10 and is looking in a flier to determine what to do.  I can hear screaming and people running and boxes of bikes flying through the air and here we stand in lawn and garden calmly trying to decide what we should do.  It was like we were in our own world!  We finally open the crate and we start handing out the items and helping others to put them in their carts.  No melee back in lawn and garden! That peaceful environment will prove to be my down fall....................

Todd gets what he needs and heads to check out with me following behind.  We take what we have to the car and head back in for the 2nd event that begins at 10pm.  It is only 8:30 by now and we have time so we check on Ryan who has a ticket and is sitting pretty and we set him up with drinks and a cart and off Todd and I go to two different lines again.  I can see him only about 10 feet from me and so there we stand, occasionally smiling weakly at eachother.  You get the sense this time it will not go so well.  We are now in electronics and this line is not so friendly.  I am third in line which sounds good but the two in front of it would seem are together and they spend the time casing out the crate on what they will grab and whispering.  It isn't one item each.  I can see by the counting it will be many.  As the time goes on, their group grows.  I go from being third in line to being a single shopper against two teams of about 5 each!

As we stand and wait, the group ahead of me moves a pregnant teen behind the crate so she doesn't get hurt while screaming ensues down the isle because someone decided to break into a crate at 9:30 and 'steal' DVD players.  This causes fighting and pushing and people running with their ill gotten goods!!  The police and undercover shoppers come and try and take back the items and all this fighting causes the two groups in front of me to rethink their strategy.  They take carts and barricade themselves to the crate with the carts in hopes it will help.

I say crate here as most items come in on pallets and wrapped up but that is really wrong so let me re-describe it so you can fully understand what we are dealing with here. It is a cardboard box that is meant to stand up against a shelf or wall.  It has no back and is flat in the back and it wrapped in plastic wrap to prevent "stealing" until time.  The only thing holding up the box or crate is a tiny sales lady (with a bruise on her face from the DVD fight) and who is related it seems to the two groups in front.  Besides the fact that she will not stand a chance when that time comes, she is making it clear she is helping the two groups in front.

Behind me is a young couple who spends the entire time complaining about line cutters and those in the group ahead who keep coming in to stand with the family. The time comes and what does the complainer do?  Line cuts!  Past me and past the carts ahead of me and PUSHES the older lady in the group ahead to get to the item!!!!!!!!!  PUSHES an older woman almost to the ground!  Now don't feel too bad because the woman pushes this dude out of the way and he comes back at her to push again!!  As she pushes him out again, I block him away with my body and now he pushes against me.  I know if I don't grab a hold of the woman she will fly into the box and the box into the sales lady so I grab her arm and pull back while the idiot behind me is pushing me forward.  The womans young helper sees and hands me the item I need and I push backward to get out of the way and pull the woman with me so she doesn't fall when I let go.........and then I cry. Yes I did.  Right there in the middle of all the fighting in Walmart on Grey Thursday.

Never have I experienced such rude people.  And I cannot understand it.  You will push people to the floor for one item?  A toy?  A bike? An electronic item?  I guess I am not meant for the sales because I cannot understand the disrespect of others for things that are nothing compared to a human life.  You want an item you stand in line and if they don't have enough you look elsewhere.  You pay your dues by waiting.  Instead people comes in at the last minute and push and shove and punch people for material items?!  Where is the good of the holiday?  Where is caring of your fellow mankind?

And so I have decided that Walmart on Grey Thursday or Black Friday is not my thing even though I love a good sale. I will look elsewhere and go to different stores because the clients at Walmart is not for me. I will shop online or head to more peaceful stores or better yet....pay full price because to ME a human being is worth much more than 50% off a CHRISTmas gift meant to be given out of love.