Jump to content

Share Your Story & Win GottaDeal.com Black Friday Survival Kits! [Winners Chosen!]


Brad

Recommended Posts

Two years ago I camped out all night at Circuit City to get a laptop for my oldest DD for Christmas. It was incredibly cold and I was alone as none of my family were crazy enough to go with me. The people next to me in line were so awesome, saving my spot when I wanted to go to my car to warm up or go get coffee at a nearby Dunkin Donuts. They even offered me pizza they had delivered to our cozy nook on the sidewalk. Ofc, as the opening of the store got closer the line jumpers started to come. I was essentially the 10th person in line but when they came to hand out vouchers everyone swarmed. They had one more voucher for the laptop I wanted and the guy handing them out yelled "last one!!" people started to reach and one of the guys that had been next to me all night yelled "You had better give it to this woman!!! She has been here all night long freezing and these people just got here!!" I got my laptop and my DD was thrilled. I will never forget how that guy was selfless enough to think of me.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 years ago, two women in line in front of me at BB got into a fight over who got the last ticket for a hot item because they were standing more beside each other. The police escorted them BOTH away and I got the hot ticket item. :D It was the BEST! Didn't even realize I needed this small LCD HDTV, but I'm glad I have it. It's in my bathroom. :)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I've only been doing Black Friday for two years. My worst experience was last year when I went to Walmart and stood on line for two hours. They had nothing that I was looking for except a $5 Rocky six DVD. It made DH happy though. LOL.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Two years ago I did my usual black friday shopping, with the help of this board I was able to get lots of great deals and spend lots of money. I was stopped at a red traffic light going through my usual black friday thoughts, Did I spend too much? maybe I should have passed on this purchase. Should I have grabbed an extra one of those? My thoughts were interrupted by a transit bus slamming into the back of my van, luckily no one was injured. After the police left I started my journey home again wondering why I bothered to get out of bed that morning. When I got home my children answered that question for me. I opened the door to find that my teenage daughter had worked together with her two brothers to surprise me by putting up and decorating the Christmas tree. I could not hold back the tears, the three of them gave me the best gift I have ever gotten that day.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My sister and I hit the sales evey year together... We have been doing this faithfully for over 10 years now... I look forward to the sales and spending so time with my sister without our kids... We will sit the night before after Thanksgiving dinner and map out our route for the next day... and thanks to this site we know well in advance which stores will be the first ones to go to...
Link to comment
Share on other sites

OH man...where to start! Well last year was a hoot! All and all we had a good experience at our local Best Buy. Me and hubby were 1st and 2nd and had our tent all set up by the time the cold rolled in on that Thanksgiving Night.

 

Knock...Knock...Who's There??

 

Everything was going fine. All us first liners were joking and laughing around passing the time. Then at about 9:00 p.m the local news station stops by and start to set up. Me and hubby bolt for the tent. We stayed in a not-so-nice part of town, so we did not want our neighbors to know that we were not gonna be home for the entire night. So...of course..who's tent do they stop at first!

 

The news lady knocks and states news station name....we act like we are sleep.

 

She knocks again and sings heeelllooo.....we still dont answer.

 

Guess she thought third time would be the charm....it wasnt...we still dont answer.

 

All of a sudden she yells out "FINE!"...and proceeds to go to the next tent. After the interviews were over she tells eveyone to have a good night and "acts" as she is leaving. BUT little did she know...our tent has zippered peep holes. So as she proceeded to walk away, we see her stop about 20 feet away and just stand there looking toward our tent. Then we heard her say "I know they are in there...the chickens". After about thirty minutes of cat and mouse she actually does leave but leaves her camera man behind. We STILL dont come out. He huffs and puffs then 15 minutes later makes a phone call. Finally.....he leaves...WE ARE FREEEEE!!! The next day when we saw her on the news we could not help but laugh wondering just how mad she really was at us. :cheesy:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My sister-in-law and I have been going to black friday sales for at least 10 years. A couple of years ago our teenage daughters wanted to go and see what all the fuss was about. They were not happy that we had to get up at 4:00 am to head out, but they decided that it must be worth it or we wouldn't have done it for so many years. We went to Target first and stood in line in 20 degree weather - needless to say all we heard was the girls whining about how cold and tired they were. The best part was when they opened the doors - we had warned them that they had to stick close to us or they would get left behind. As the crowd rushed in my sister-in-law and I got into shopping mode and got to it! The girls got pushed around and one even got "run over" by one of the shoppers with a cart. It took them 15 minutes to catch up with us! We kept going all morning from store to store - by the end of our 6 hour shopping trip neither girl could walk and whined about how hard shopping was. They have never asked to go again - kids these days - they have no stamina! Every year we ask them on Thanksgiving if they want to go with us and all we get is a resounding NO!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been a Black Friday shopper since i had my son 10 years ago. When he was 1, I took him along. Sat him in a cart, with his toasted, warm , buttery WAFFLE in hand as i weaved through the aisles grabbing ALL of the black friday specials i went for! I had so many people stop and compliment me on my well planned shopping trip, waffle and all, and my extremely well behaved baby! Honestly, i think it was because he was still half asleep!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My dh and I go every black friday - it's his favorite day to shop!! We have been going for at least 15 years. I stay up all night scouring the gotta deal site, mapping our plan of attack - ordering what I need to online while everyone else sleeps! Our oldest dd has been coming with us for the last couple years, she never lets me forget waiting in line at Target and telling her which item she needed to hurry up and go get and when the doors open there goes her mom - running past her like a crazy lady - she talks about it every time someone mentions black friday! We go even if the ads aren't all that great - it's tradition!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

i've gotten all sentimental reading these posts. also reminded me of a very good and bad year for BF. I think it was 2006? I had just discovered this website and had been to compusa on thanksgiving night. drove up to BB at 2am for a 32in tv for like 299 and some laptops and dvds. anyhow I got everything I wanted but BB had separate lines for tv and laptops and my credit card company decided to be a PITA. They decided to put a "block" on my card multiple times (on BF) in case of misuse. I remember calling them and giving them a good talking down to each time and the poor rep who got the last call must've been scared. It was really exasperating to be holding up the line and then the cashier had to ring up and pass me the phone. Anyone would have thought I was broke or had stolen the thing:( And then they proceed to ask me questions about family members first cars and their property info etc like I should know this.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My most memorable black friday was I was sitting in the car waiting for my mother to go into a store. The parking lot sat along the main drag of the big box stores. In a 30 minute span i witnessed between 10-15 cars pulled over because the police were operating a speed trap. It was quite enteraining that when my mother got back in the car we sat their for another 30 mins just watching people get pulled over.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is tough since I've been a BF person since the 80's despite working retail... But my funniest memory still from past years is the time I sent my dh to we be toys to get a fisher price tool bench and the little women pushed him around so bad that he's not been out shopping on black friday since. Mind you he's 6'5 but those women with their carts totally intimidated him!!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Last year sitting out in front of Kmart in a blizzard on thanksgiving morning at 5am, The manager of the store came outside with a huge coffee pot and donuts and fed the people in line. Nothing like hot coffee when youre standing in a snowstorm. Coolest thing I have seen.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A few years ago on Black Friday I was lucky to get my husband to tag along with me. Much to my surprise he really enjoyed himself. He now looks forward to getting out early, standing in line and making a mad dash for that special item. I am hyped for this years sales.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

me and my sister love this we start out about 2am to get a good deal . i like to get more then i wont i like to help the older people out they dont have a change to get one so put exters one in my carked for them .i will stand up for them so get out of my way
Link to comment
Share on other sites

one year my parents and i went to teh bigger city and they have a a walmart and best buy near each other...welll both had items on sale that u couldnt pricematch at the sotres...so the parents went to walmart and i went to best buy....i stood in line at best buy checkout-lane for two hours for only 3 items!!!!...and i think they were cds and a dvd mom want me to pick up...wait it was a PS2 game...i had to be crazy lol...but it was fun and met a lot of good people and a lot of stories...i wished i had a notepad and pen to jot them all down and made a journal out of them...oh well... Edited by sigrist_2000
forgot the nt on could lol
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My first year, a lady told me to get out of the way --if I didn't push I shouldn't be there. My best friend (who lives in another city) now get together every year a do our Black Friday shopping. We have come home early from Thanksgiving, gone to Thanksgiving together and have met in between places to do our Black Friday shopping! We plan weeks ahead of time, plan our route, plan our purchases, and get absolutely giddy over the whole process!!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Years ago, my first Black Friday stop was Walmart. They had a Nintendo Game Cube bundle deal. The sale started at 7:00 am. I had to park in another business' parking lot and walk to the store. I was able to find the Game Cube, bulk stacked in electronics, and Walmart associates were handing them out. I was trying to make it to Best Buy for the early morning specials so I knew I had to check out fast at Walmart.

 

Self checkout lanes can be real timesavers. For some unknown reason, the Walmart faithful were avoiding the self checkout lanes. At 7:20 am. I walked right up to a self checkout lane and checked out. I walked the half mile back to my car and made the drive to Best Buy where I promptly waited an hour and a half to check out. Best Buy needs self checkout lanes!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My friend and I ran into another girl we knew from work on Black Friday. We were waiting to get into Target and discussing our strategy. When we got in there this other girl took off to the dvd section and whipped a dvd at my friend. The dvd flew over my friends head and over two aisles almost hitting someone else. This girl was trying to be helpful, but is way too enthusiastic.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

my best story I remember was Bestbuy the last year that McDonalds did the Best Buy bucks. After camping overnight and being on of the first 10-15 people inside I ran throught the story to gather up my plunderings. Of course not having time to get a cart I had a stack of items piled in front of me pushing them around the store using my shoulder, iincluding 2 microwaves, a powered subwoofer, and a 5 piece Klipch home theater spekaer set
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 years ago I went to my usual first stop: Wal Mart. I went for a few DVD's and an MP3 player but on my way I saw a great TV that no-one had grabbed so I nabbed that. I brought everything to my car and loaded it up, locked the car, put my cart back and went back to the car to realize that I had locked the keys inside! I had to call a locksmith and pay $100 to get into my car. A few days later I realized that I had made a mistake in my checking account and the Wal Mart check and the $100 locksmith check both bounced!!! WORST BLACK FRIDAY EVER.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A couple years ago my cousin & myself got in line at Walmart around midnight. We were 5th in line trying to snag a laptop and a desktop. While standing outside we had 2 sleeping bags, hand warmers, gloves, earmuffs & scarfs. When they opened the door we had our strategy that she would go get the desktop & I would get the laptop. Well 5...4...3...2...1 the doors open and we take off running. Hooray I grab a laptop and I go to look for her. She's sitting on top of the desktop because she didn't have a cart and it was too heavy for her to pick up. We push the desktop to the line and carry both computers to the truck. We then proceed to do the rest of our shopping at other stores. We get home around 1 in the afternoon and realize we had lost our sleeping bags, gloves, earmuffs & scarfs when we took off running. We laughed soooo hard.....
Link to comment
Share on other sites

:cheesy: I am sooo excited to go shopping on Black Friday this year, 2009. I am 34 years old and have never been able to go. I hear so many exciting stories and can't wait to see the mad rush of people fighting over items waiting to be released in the stores!!!! I may not even buy anything, but just the experience of watching the people will be rewarding enough, I hope!!! Best case scenario is that I will find some good deals and a few laughs!!! CAN'T WAIT!!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Last year, I took my two younger, but beefy brothers, with me shopping on BF. It was their first experience with the glorious chaos that we all look forward to each year. We had about a 30 minute drive to our first stop which was going to be Target. During the drive, I was coaching them on the specifics of the items for which we were going. I kept repeating the item, followed by the original price, followed by the sales price. I then had them recite the information back to me. I told them that it was imperative that we, at the least, get the Star Wars Lego set that was going to be on sale. I honestly think they thought they were listening to the rants and warnings of an overly excited and somewhat overzealous crazy woman, who just happened to be their sister. When we arrived and they witnessed the line of about 300 people waiting outside to get inside, their smirks quickly faded. We made our way into the store and we all armed with our cell phones to keep in touch. I decided they should go together since it was their first time, I could handle myself just fine. After about 10 minutes, I received a text from my brother that they had retrieved the Lego set. I then saw my brother walking toward me clutching the set for dear life. He had a "deer caught in headlights look" and asked if we could leave. I told him to find his happy place and let me pay for my items. I literally had to pry the Lego set from his hands, in what I refer to as the "death grip". Needless to say, they told me not to ask them to go with me again.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...