A Taste of Black Friday
November 25, 2005. Black Friday.
Why Black Friday? Its supposedly the day when retailers in the US experience a return "on the black" on their balance sheets (some are even said to garner in as much as 50% of their profit from Black Friday ’til New Year!). Why is it momentous? Read on.
USD 378.00 HP Pavillion Laptop. USD 999 42" Viote Plasma TV. USD 250 JVC Camcorder.
Appetizing, isn’t it? So much so that people lined up all around US just to grab a slice of this awesome deal — approximately 2 million people all around the country to be precise. What’s amazing is that folks actually stomached the sub-zero centigrade temperatures of the Ice Queen’s Season. What’s more amazing is the line that grew out of proportion in the sleepy town of Sierra Vista — I laid witness to it grow myself — like a dragon feeding on a goldmine. Though the cold was mostly unbearable, the passion of grasping a few of the much advertised products make it like the Holy Grail is at hand, ready to redeem us from our lustful clamor for goods.
The prior night breezed by without a shutter of sleep. So did my cousin, Kris, and his cousin, Maureen. Walmart was scheduled to open at 05:00; and the "doorbuster" sale was supposed to last from opening time ’til 11:00 only. After much deliberation, and much assumption, we decided to queue up at 3:30 AM; good enough time to be at least part of the first 10. How wrong we were.
3:30. the Three Black Friday Newbies decide to go to the nearest Walmart.
3:45. The Trio arrived at Walmart, chagrined at the 400++ people line waiting for a piece of the Sale. People even started collecting carts in their anticipation of their purchases.
4:00. Already a part of the 1/4 end of the line, more people start arriving. Other folks queing are getting anxious and restless; some even professed to God Almight all hell WILL break loose when someone cuts in on the line. My half-frozen ear hears battlecries to protect the line from behind and the front from would-be barbarians that will arrive later.
4:45. THE LINE MOVED!!! The shockwave can be felt throughout the Belly of the Dragon. Fiery passion and rhetoric, as well as ravishing remarks about the holy goods keep the spirits high. Like tigers pumping with adrenaline, every muscle was ready to pounce and devour the sedentary boxes awaiting us.
4:55. Pandemonium. There’s no way to say it. The crowd was a waterfall being funnelled to a bottle.
5:00. Disappointment. Depression. Anger. Dissillusionment. The goodies were gone in a flash. An hour of freezing at 28F can’t be compared to those that braved the same cold since the day before. But still, the wait was very unsatisfying. Dissapointingly so.
5:30. Home. With regrets. To home with empty hands and lost hope. USD 378.00 laptops was Jesus’ grail. And we swear to Him he told us we had a right to it. It wasn’t so.
With heavy eyelids, and an even heavier crushed spirits, thoughts sped through my mind like a million voices. They were voices of dissappointment, of surprise, of a shock on reality. Capitalism. An amazing system of overt greed, insatiable lust, and an over efficient system.
Wow.
