Share your Black Friday stories from years past

[crnnurse12]

Last year was the first year I took off as a nurse to go to Black Friday...and will never again miss it. My grandson, 5 years old, and I got up at 4am to go to Walmart for LCD TVS on sale. Three blocks from our house, the car broke down. The School coach and his wife stopped and ask could they help. Then ask where we were headed so early. We told them we were going to Walmart. They laughed and said Hop in, we are headed there. We left my car on the side of the road and headed to walmart to get tvs with no car LOL....When we got there, there were very few people there as this was a new Walmart that alot of folks did not know about. We got to the TV section and there was my grandson's babysitter. One of the guys around the TVS put 2 tvs in my cart and my babysitter took us home. What a day! I would not miss it this year. smiles, nancyc

[austin944]

A positive story first..

Two years ago Best Buy opened its doors maybe an hour or two early to passed out FREE (yes FREE :) ) Geek Squad T-Shirts and also coffee, doughnuts, orange juice, etc. that was amazing! I’ve worn that t-shirt ever year seine then (even though it’s only been one year LOL!).

Negative story..

(Our Best Buy line forms in front of the store, and then makes a giant U around the parking lot then forms a straight line). Anyway, last year some ancy people started to cut in line (they were on the side of the U farthest from the store). My friends and I were just right in front of some people who had cut in. the police had to come and get the people who cut back to their places. Everything was fine though :)

[ancra_ac]

I lost my sister this year so it will be difficult to do it this year, but I will try to make her proud and remember all the fun and laughs we had.

So sorry to hear about your lose. It is good to hear though that this was something special you shared. You will be able to think about all of those great times while getting deals she would be proud of.

[sgvjon]

I've been BF'ing off and on for 7 years and my story is from last year, where we decided to go to Circuit City instead of Best Buy. I wasn't that excited to go to Circuit City because I thought Best Buy had better deals (but hey I didn't drive, so I couldn't complain really). We were there camped out since Thanksgiving afternoon, 8 people taking different shifts (going home to eat dinner then coming back) and we were 4th in line behind 3 families. It must have been around 1 or 2 am that I started thinking "hmm... maybe Circuit City is better than Best Buy for BF", and started picking what items I planned to purchase. 10 minutes before the store opens and I receive vouchers for some deals that I was interested in... people 4 or 5 spots behind us started throwing stuff at us and making fun of my race just because we got the vouchers and they didn't. This totally ruined my Holiday mood and not to mention supported my original feeling that Circuit City sucks and I should've went to Best Buy (which we did immediately after leaving Circuit City).

[Sandi852]

About 10 years ago I was in my car waiting for Target to open. This was back in the day when people didn't line up outside the door. It was a very icy black friday and the parking lot was a sheet of ice. As the doors opened, everyone got out of their cars and started to run toward the store. About 50 feet in front of me, a very pregnant girl slipped on the ice and fell. People just kept running around her and stepping over her. I stopped to help her up. She was unhurt, embarassed and quite thankful. I just couldn't believe that nobody stopped to help her.

[crashcartjockey]

About 3 or 4 years ago I was waiting in line outside of Walmart. I had got to the store about 5am (it opened at 6 that year). The line was long and ran down one side of the store and was heading the length of the parking lot. I was about halfway down the lot. But the line only went one direction away from the doors, since the store had used grocery carts chained together to block the other direction.

 

About 5:30 everything changed. A few people decided that the line was too long for them so they decided to move the carts that had been chained and stated a second line. Of course, the people who had been standing in line the longest tried to explain that the store had done this to improve flow into the store. This didn't deter the people form moving the carts anyway. Eventually that line began to grow and grow as well. And as you can imagine, the folks who had been in long for hours were now getting rather heated as was the discussion about where people should be getting into the line at.

 

About 5:55, it reached its peak. Discussing had long since moved on to shouting and screaming. Before most of us knew it, the fists began to go. The brawl lasted up until the doors opened and of course, the doors got blocked up by people and what Walmart had tried to prevent, happened because a few people were too important to wait like everyone else.

[TazErase]

My favorite that I use every year...

When the cutters try cutting in at 2am when the rest of us have been there since the day before.... just find the biggest guys and let them know that these people just cut in front of them. Not my problem since I am still one of the first 5 on line, but there are always a group of some very big guys somewhere on the line that will confront the cutters and escort them to the rear of the line.

[Guest primal]

Last year it was cold and snowing. The amount of people who brings babies and tots to stand in line at 2 am makes me sad. This is not fun for children and I have seen a few accidents with kids getting knocked down becuase of every one rushing in the stores. Come on parents leave the little ones home warm in bed. I love kids and have 2 myself, but I would never ever bring them to black friday shopping. . If I couldnt find a sitter I just simply wouldnt go. Lucky for me this is the ladies day in our family and the Dads have to take care of the kids for as long as we want to be gone.

[ann1e88]

My first BF 8 years ago my husband and sister IL went to Walmart and got a large TV when we got it out to the car we couldn't get it into the trunk. So we had to take it out of the box and push it into the back seat leaving very little room for my sister IL to sit. Mind you this was all in about 28◦ weather. We laughed so hard but had such a great time we have been out every year since!

[TopperChic87]

Ok, this is just one of many..the first to pop in my mind.

 

This was BF 2006 if I remember right. I had a group of 6, including myself. 4 were at other stores and myself and my best friend were at Wal-Mart. We were both waiting by stacks of DVD's and electronics. We met this very pregnant woman waiting, and all of us started talking, swapping stories. My friend mentioned that she would be worried the woman would get hurt.

 

Well, paper starts flying, people start shoving, and the two palettes we are standing by start to get moved. The pregnant woman gets knocked over by someone behind her, and falls in between the palettes. Her purse and stuff all falls to the floor, so we both hold on to her things and help pull her up from between the palettes. Thank goodness, she didn't get hurt.

 

She was tearing up, because she really didn't think it would be that crazy. After the craziness dies down, we all stand in line together, and wind up exchanging e-mails. I've seen her out and about to this day, and we always stop to chat.

[makingch1]

Im new here. Well I have browsed the forum but just registered today.

Anyway...... Last year my husband and I went out for the $200 laptop at BB, (yeah right). I wasnt a big BF shopper before that so I didnt realize the insanity before last year lol.

We headed out probably about 10 pm, the line was around the building already, tents, portapottys etc. We waited a couple hours but gave up and left. We also wanted the hard drives from Staples so we decided to head over there, this was probably 4 or 5 am. There was hardly any line at all so we hop in line, probably the 5th people to the front. AWESOME!!!!!!!! I think they were opening at 7am? So we wait. The guys came out with tickets for GPS and something else and we asked if they had tickets for the hard drives to which they said no, there is a lot of them. Ok fine, no big deal we thought we are right at the front it shouldnt be a problem. Doors open and it wasnt too bad really at first, we get inside and the IDIOT manager says ok everything is behind the customer counter to avoid mobbing and we are supposed to follow this worker around in a line through the store and come back around to the counter. Everyone starts following this girl and we get near the counter which is now packed FULL of customers (using the word lightly). The GPS GONE! The hard drives, GONE, Everything else GONEEEEEE! All the people from outside came in ran up to the counter without tickets mind you and bought everything while the manager had us playing follow the leader. We were SOOOOOOOOOOO MAD. Everyone is screaming at this dumbass who refused to give rainchecks or anything. It was a mess. I wouldnt be surprised if that guy lost his job.

 

BTW I live in Minnesota and BF last year it was FREEEEEEZING! I ended up buying things I could have gone out at 3 pm for after standing outside in -30 degree weather for things we didnt end up with anyway UGH!

[flyjar]

In 2005, I got a Yamaha 6.1 Receiver and JBL 6.1 Speaker package from Best Buy for $200 dollars. It was supposed to be $300, but they messed something up. I got an instant $100 from Best Buy (I think this was the error) which brought it down to $300, and a $100 mail in rebate. That was my best Black Friday.

 

Ad - "Best Buy Yamaha 5.1 Channel Receiver with JBL Speaker Package - $299.99 AR"

[mrstoots]

This one happened in 1998. It was the first (and last) time my husband ever went BF shopping with me.

 

My mother had passed away that August leaving behind my three much younger sisters (they were only teen-agers). They had been wanting a computer and never had one. My husband and I decided with all the crap that they'd been through that we would get them one. Naturally good ol' Wally World had one on sale. It was one of those HP models, I believe.

 

So there we stood at 4:30 in the morning in the freezing cold with a mass of other people waiting for the store to open. We didn't have to worry about a run on the computers from these people. No, these fools were in line for one thing and one thing only--the much coveted FURBY!

 

That's all everyone in line was talking about: "Furby this" and "Furby that". So when the doors opened and everyone began to move, my husband decided he was going to go ahead of me to get in and get his hands on one of the computers, "just in case".

 

I didn't get to see it, and wish I had to enjoy the laugh, but as my husband entered the store, he witnessed a Walmart employee standing on a table in the snack bar area, Santa hat on his head, megaphone in hand shouting, "FURBYS ARE GONE!".

 

At this point my poor husband turned into a fish trying to swim upstream against a school of fish swimming the other way. People pushed and shoved him just to get back out the door to leave. The one item they had come to purchase was gone. My husband said, "I've never seen a Walmart clear out so quickly in my life!":eyepoppin

[hnybee411]

I have two. The first one I was at wal-mart a couple of years ago and this lady was there with her grandson. He was playing with some kind of elmo doll. This lady walks by and looks at the kid and goes, "I was wanting one of those" and takes it from his hands. His grandma and I both just kind of stood there with our mouths gaping open. Finally I recovered enough to say, "Are you kidding me? Give the kid back the toy." She argued with me a little bit, but she finally did.

 

The other is actually my husbands story. It was the last time he went out for BF. He'd gone to Joann's to get something from my wish list that was half off that day. He's standing in the aisle looking at stuff and this lady rams him with her cart. I mean rams, he had dark bruises and everything. He turned to her and asked what her problem was. She said, "You're in my way." He picked up the end of her cart and flipped it on its side. He was so mad. Decided then he'd rather just pay full price than deal with that.

[saiynee]

OMg some ofthese stories are crazy. How horrible that people try to take things from children, batter each other with carts and turn their backs on pregnant women in distress. I would never in my life behave so horrifically.

 

I will admit, I have never gone out on Black friday early. No, wait, I did once. DH and I went to Kohl's one year at 7:30, saw how croweded it was in the parking lot, and drove back home. I did go to Sears and Target after 11:00 last year, and that was fine. But of course I was just getting PAs. LOL.

 

I am actually going to go out first thing this year. There is a razor that I want to get for my husband, and I want to experience the madness first hand.

[debbiedana]

Mine was about 6 or 7 years ago. I was out by myself that year, at Kohls right at opening. I had three or four of their huge bags, plus a FP dollhouse for my niece. I checked out, and went out the side entrance with lower level parking. A very nice man held the door open for me, and said he was just waiting for his wife, it was too much craziness in there for him that morning. I thanked him and went to find my car, attempting to juggle far too much stuff. I was even kicking the dollhouse along b/c I couldn't carry it.

 

Well lo and behold, it was the one time I didn't park downstairs. I parked on the upper level lot. I couldn't walk it outside so I had to drag my crap through the store. The nice man was still at the doors. He asked if I needed help, I told him what happened, we both laughed, and he helped me carry my stuff through the store and out the other exit and to my car.

 

There are still awesome people out there on BF!!!

[KBsDarling]

the moment Dh and I ALWAYs talk about is the year of the first jcpenny snowglobe. They handed them out upstairs(genius) and so many people crammed onto the escalator it broke..would go up a few steps and then slide back down like a chain or a gear was missing a part...i have a fear of escalators/elevators anyways but being in the middle of that thing while it jerked and wheezed cemented that fear LOL

[kgm520]

Nothing as amazing as these stories, but the scurrying and scared little mouse in Linens at my local Kohl's was a "big hit" two BFs ago. :)

[jellybean051901]

I always go with my sis, mom, and sometimes my aunt. Last year when WM had the big projection TVs we were about 8th in line. There were only 8 TVs available. There was a couple behind us and then two of three teenagers and a parent. The group of teenagers went from about 4 people around MN to 10 or 12 by 5am. They were obnoxious all night long. When the doors were about ready to open they started pushing and acting like jerks. We did not want a TV and neither did the two guys in front of us. We let the couple behind us in front of us. Then my family and the two guys stood in a line shoulder to shoulder so the kids could not get around us. They were pushing and cussing us the whole time. When they finally did get in the door, one tripped and then it was a mass pileup in the middle of the aisle. I thought it was hilarious:D. Then again, maybe you had to be there.:)