I have never been shopping on Black Friday, so my first experience was from a retailer’s perspective. The boutique I work at opened at eight on Friday morning, and I rang people up for about three hours straight during our doorbusters.
I have always wanted to go Black Friday shopping because I have always pictured a nice, cleaned up image of what it entails. I know that people get trampled on and act viciously and wait for hours, but I imagine family traditions and the introduction into the Christmas season. Shopping is always more fun when you know you are buying something, and Black Friday is exactly that with the chance for deals and an adventure with friends or family.
Because I work at a small business, the Black Friday I worked was a little more like what I would want it to be as a shopper. There were definitely over fifty people standing in line outside of the store by ten ‘til eight. At least one hundred people had walked into the store within the first fifteen minutes of the morning (which is terrifying and possibly hazardous in a small store like this one.) The lines to each cash register were to and out the door. I checked out people for about three hours straight which at the time shoppers were getting the best deals. I never really got a chance to look up and see clothes everywhere until after the line broke around eleven-thirty.
Nothing too abnormal happened, but the classic crazy customer situation that always occurs in retail was just heightened and concentrated into a few hours. When I check people out, I have to individually type in the sale discount for each item, and customers do not get that. A handful were upset they missed some of the best deals and tried to work around the rules. A couple of customers took their cards out too early from the chip reader and were impatient when the transactions went void. There were rude customers, and I was running on fumes as I repeated all of the basic checkout statements.
However, all of these inconveniences for me are just the quirks of retail combined into a few hours. In the end, most families were grateful and happy with the deals they got. I fulfilled a pretty joyful scene on Black Friday, even though this trend has seemed to die down. Maybe all of the true craziness happens online.
I am just glad I got a positive view of Black Friday. The crazy days of retail are the ones I live for anyways.
