This year was my first year working a Black Friday event at the place most notorious for the event, Wal-Mart. Our Black Friday ad went out weeks before, and all of us spent weeks preparing for it, getting assignments and getting everything organized so it would be perfect. We made sure to have plenty of people hired for the night and brought in a security staff to ensure our customers were as safe as they could possibly be. We have lines for items that we know we have a lot of or that people will attack as soon as the plastic wrap comes off. We had to create a new line just for the dang hatchimals. So after all this preparation, we all go home and try to sleep before the big day.

Since I'm a closer, I ended up working the 2-11 shift that day, and if you have ever met me, you know that at 11 I'm ready to pass out in my bed and sleep for the next 8 hours. So I was hyped up on sugar and caffeine to make sure I could get through the day. All of us working the actual event showed up at two, so there were all 50 of us standing in the back hallway, waiting for our assignments. We went into the main office and received our assignments for the day and then go stand out on the floor from 2-6 helping customers find the items they want so they can either wait in line or stand very close to the object, some of them trying to take the object beforehand. Although none of the items would ring up so they got thrown back up on the pallet and wrapped even tighter.

So finally it's 5:30 and you can feel the tension in the room, everybody is crowded around their object of choice and they are ready to do whatever it takes to get it. I got to cut open the plastic of the printer pallet when the 6 o'clock alarm hit and I had to tell you, it was nothing compared to what people said it would be. Yes, there were people grabbing above my head and tearing the plastic away from what I cut, but nobody got in my way or tried to shove me, one of the customers even politely asked me if he could grab one of the printers in front of me. However, the Pioneer Woman pots and pans went fast and hard.

After everybody grabbed the stuff they wanted and most of them had picked up the stuff they waited in line for, then all of us started cleaning up around the store. All of the pallets that seemed all consuming were soon gone and you felt like you could breathe and walk around the store once more, even though there were still people everywhere. Honestly, there was a lot left over that we kept selling during the weekend, especially the tools that came out of my department. This just goes to show that you can go to Black Friday on Thanksgiving and fight people over stuff or you can wait until later where there is still a ton of deals left over. However, I would totally recommend coming to the first part of the event if you want the really great deals like the hatchimals, phones and Pioneer Woman exclusives.