Black Friday Advice

Ahhh...It's that time of the year again. Black Friday. The shopping day from hell for some retail associates and shoppers alike. The biggest sale of the year! Black Friday, for those who don't know, is what they call the day after Thanksgiving. There are midnight madness sales, and special 5 a.m. 'door busters' as well. People stay up all night shopping, and then keep shopping well into the early morning hours. This shopping day can be somewhat of a horrible experience for some, especially those poor retail associates. I worked in retail for years, and I know how bad the day after Thanksgiving can be.

If you have never been shopping on Black Friday, I am going to give you a little 'preview'. Stores have these incredible sales on this day. They tend to put some of the really 'hot' items at incredible prices! Sounds great right? Well, they only stock so many of these items, so it's first come first serve. Some of the electronics stores have such great deals that people will sleep outside the store the evening before, just so they might have a chance at a few of these dea;s. Some stores will then open their doors at 5 a.m., only letting a group of people in at a time. So, although they have incredible prices, there is no guarantee, unless you are the first person in line, that you will get anything you came for. Then there are the midnight madness sales. Madness it is! Shoppers are tired, rude, and 'racing' and pushing there way to get to what they want. I am not sure if the deals are worth all the frustration that comes along with them, but I myself am going to try to brave it this year. I am not working retail any more, so I don't have to be at work at eleven o'clock at night, or 4 o'clock in the morning anymore! So now that you know what Black Friday is, I am going to give you some pointers on how to make it a better experience for you, and your helpful retail associate as well!

The very first thing to remember is that you are there because you want to be, it was your choice to go shopping on this day. Your retail associate has to be there, it is there job, and YES, it is mandatory that they be there. If you have ever worked in retail, you know that you do not get out of working that day, even if you are dying! Stores are fully staffed on Black Friday. The next thing to remember is that a lot of people ate turkey either a few hours prior, (if you are at a midnight madness sale), or the night before, so they are tired. Not to mention the fact that it is the middle of the night or very early morning,depending, and some people were out sleeping on a side walk all night as well! Now everyone knows that tired people are cranky people. Be pleasant. Enough said.

The next thing to remember is that everyone is most likely going to be after the same thing you want. After all, that's why everyone is there, for the great deals. So now you are tired, and you have to race around the store trying to get to what it is you want. You have people hitting you with their shopping carts, and just being plain rude and very unfriendly...don't be one of those people.

Now, think about the people that are working in the store...they too are tired, and while you have the holiday off, they don't. They are there to help you, so try not to be rude. They don't know the price of everything in the store, so don't get upset and assume they are stupid because of this. There are thousands of items in most stores...oh, and you want the sale price too, but are in way too much of a hurry for somebody to scan the item for you...too bad. The retail associates do not have super powers, and while they did study the sales flier, there are a lot of things to remember, so please be gentle with them.

You are going to have to wait in an enormous line when you check out. This is not the cashiers fault. Remember that the store is fully staffed, so they are going the fastest they can. It is also not there fault that after you stood in line for the past forty five minutes,the person in front of you forgot their checkbook in the car, and now needs to run outside. Or maybe they grabbed something with no ticket to scan. Remember this, it doesn't matter that you know the price. That does not help the associate put the item into the computer. They need the numbers off the item, as well as the price. Don't get upset and start complaining. The associate will do this as quickly as possible. While I am thinking about it, make sure that you have everything you need before you get into the line. Make sure you have your wallet, or checkbook, and look at the items you are throwing in the cart. If there is not a bar code on something, grab a different one, or better yet save someone else the hassle later and take the one that has no bar code, and then another one that does have a bar code, this way, you have taken the one with no bar code home, so there will be one less 'price check' later in the day.

Here's another tip...save yourself and everyone else some aggravation...find a babysitter! Your kids shouldn't be at a midnight madness sale. They will whine, they will be annoying, it would be better for everyone to just leave them at home. The cashier, nor the people in line, want to here your kid throwing a temper tantrum because they think they need candy, or various other items that are always in the check out lanes.

The number one thing to remember is to be pleasant, say good morning, or evening...say please and thank you...say have a nice holiday. Smile! As hard as it may be to do, you must! If everyone did this, the experience would probably be a lot better then it is now. Don't forget to be courteous to the retail associates as well. They don't want to be there either. It's their job, and although you may run in to a few bad ones, most associates are there to help, (although they would much rather be a bed sleeping). They managed to put a smile on their faces, and say Happy Holidays to you, return the courtesy!