By Staff
Yes, I did it. No, I don't think my husband understood why I did, but I did participate in Black Friday.
The Friday after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday around the nation because it's one time during the year that business owners have a chance to get their financial reports written in black instead of red.
After getting up at 4 a.m. and hitting the road a half hour later, I'm thinking that it's called Black Friday because it's still dark out when you start the day.
Now mind you, I wouldn't dream of getting up before 6 a.m. on any other day of the week unless there were some sort of emergency. But, since the items I saw in the sales brochure were only available at &#8220drastically reduced prices” until 11 a.m., I felt it was an emergency of sorts.
Apparently I wasn't the only person who thought that the Friday morning sales could be considered an emergency. I was among what must have been a million people (well, maybe not quite that many) who were out to get a bargain.
With so many people in the stores it's hard not to bump into someone now and then. I can't even begin to imagine how many times I said &#8220excuse me”. The funny thing is, everyone else was saying it too.
There have been Black Friday's that I've participated in that I never heard the phrases &#8220excuse me” or &#8220sorry,” however, this year I did hear it a lot. For some reason people seemed to be nicer, more understanding and almost too patient.
One gentleman in the store seemed to be everywhere I was in the store. I'm sure I said excuse me at least once to this man and I even remember uttering the &#8220I'm sorry” line to him on one occasion. He seemed quite pleased that I had apologized to him, because it gave him an opportunity to respond. He was empty handed, with the exception of a coffee mug in one hand. No cart, no shopping basket, no armload of holiday gifts or wares. He was donning a wonderful smile and responded to my apology with a comment that let me know he was enjoying his morning.
My husband would have fainted if he'd heard those words uttered by another man. He doesn't like to shop, period, let alone getting up and fighting a crowd with a turkey hangover before the sun comes up.
At any rate, I was happy to see people enjoying themselves while helping local merchants ring up their profits. I was thrilled to see people being courteous and helpful to each other in such a buzzing environment.
With the holidays upon us, the day encouraged me that there will certainly be joy this season.
Lisa Tindell is a news writer for The Brewton Standard. She can be reached at 867-4876 or by email at lisa.tindell@brewtonstandard.com.