What Does Black Friday say About Us.

I have survived another Black Friday by sitting on the sidelines.  I recall the experience of a friend my age last Thanksgiving.  His son and family were out of town, so grandpa had the assignment of going to the store to purchase the big screen TV at a discount price.  He was waiting outside the store in plenty of time, but he was not prepared for the terror he was about to face.   I could sense the fear in in his voice days later as he described the aggressive, borderline violent, behavior of the other shoppers.  I don't even recall if he achieved his goal of hauling home the TV.  I was just glad he survived to tell the story.

The whole Black Friday tradition disturbs me on multiple levels.  I don't like what it says about our consumer driven culture.  We seem to want more and more, while wanting to pay less and less.  Then there is the aggressive nature to which some of us will go to get what we want.  Finally there is what is required of the store employees who have to stock the shelves and man the registers for the Black Friday shoppers.  For many that means giving up Thanksgiving family time. Maybe we are just taking advantage of those at the bottom of the workforce.   I recently read report that pointed out the retail employees are among the lowest paid employees in the country.  They rank right along side fast food workers.   It is not surprising that some Walmart employees picked this weekend to protest the way they are being paid and treated.

Just when I had thought I had heard everything I didn't want to hear about Black Friday an other news story caught me ear.  One of the Dallas TV stations sent a reporter to cover the shoppers camped outside a Best Buy store in Plano, Texas.  It was two night before the doors would open for Thanksgiving night bargains.  The problem was the tents were empty.  Seems people had pitched their tents and then gone about their business.  They had staked their spots at the front of the line, leaving those who wanted to play by the rules behind.  Those individuals were angry, and planned to confront the absentee shoppers.  I have not heard anymore, so I can only hope things worked out.

I am left wondering what all this says about our culture and its value system.  What kind of message are we sending to the world, much less the children who observe our behavior.