This morning, I had the...um...privilege of joining thousands of other bargain-hunters in their annual Black Friday quest to ransack every store in town. The post-Thanksgiving sales are legendary for how they transform ordinary Americans into discount-hounds, sniffing out cheap deals with a level of productivity, organization, and zeal the likes of which are largely absent the rest of the year.
At one store, staffers were practically throwing TVs into shoppers' carts as they passed by on the way to grab Wii Fits or Bean Bags. But don't delay - getting to the store just minutes after it opens means facing the risk/unwarranted disappointment of missing out on the must-have items - big-screen TVs, pet sweaters, and Dora the Explorer scooters.
As a self-confessed Black Friday rookie, I faced the hypocritical dilemma of mocking other shoppers for their devotion to getting a top of the line vacuum cleaner for only $399 (the equivalent of a round-trip flight to Hawaii, I might add, but hey, it stops you from ever having to bend down or use those awkward dials) while standing in line with my new TV/DVD combo.
And we wonder why other nations laugh at us.
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