Grant posting here... yeah, I know been awhile.
Black Friday really starts Thursday and here's my story. Thanks to a post over on Duck Notes that listed two websites on Black Friday deals, Becky was able to get a head start on the deals that would be available. One stood out to her and she suggested that I try to purchase the item. The special deal was going on at Best Buy and there was a minimum of 5. This item wasn't in the newspaper ad but was only shown on their website.
Since the item wasn't in the newspaper ad, I figured this would improve my chances of getting one. I contemplated as to how early I should arrive at the store as I know people start lining up fairly early. At first 3AM sounded good with the store opening at 5AM. However, during my wonderful 11hr Thanksgiving shift at the restaurant I thought about how awesome this item will be for Becky and I just as we are about to move into our own first place together. I chose to head up to the store after work. At 9:45PM, as Becky is getting ready to go to sleep herself, I headed to the store thinking an hour or two nap in the car would be nice before people start showing up.
How WRONG was I... I pulled into the plaza and notice quite a few cars in front of Best Buy and a radio and news van there. I parked the car and started walking towards the building. At first you would have never guessed it was the line to the store, but more of a line to get into a not so trendy bar minus the alcohol, to an extent. There was karaoke and line dancing for most of the night and early morning. Unfortunately, my spot in line was far from the front of the doors and past much of the dancing. At 10PM I found myself on the side of the building about the #119th person in line. Best Buy has two more stores to its left, which the line passes to give you an idea of how long the line actually was. Of course it was longer then needed to be because people had tents, chairs, coolers, sports equipment, grills, and yes karaoke gear.
I was able to get to know my neighbors in line pretty quickly. They were all fun to hang out with for the night. Two guys about 4 people in front of me drank 24 coronas and some cans of miller light while they waited. There were a few guys behind me also drinking. I would of never thought of people drinking in a line to go into a retail store.
One of the gentlemen in front of me was there for the same thing I was. Having just over a hundred people in front of me and assuming they'd probably only have five of these items I was a little worried that my time in line maybe wasted especially with the guy in front of me going for one. I talked to Becky on the phone briefly and then she went to bed. Although, she told me before going out there she would keep me company on the phone while I was out there but she didn't last long. During our conversation she felt as well that my chances were slim in accomplishing the goal. I figured at this point I would stick it out. The few other people in front of me were going for laptops and also computer monitors and other small stuff.
The police drove by every so often although there was no real trouble and of course they had to make fun of every one waiting in line for hours through out the night. During the night as every one sat in the grass in their chairs, tents, and sleeping bags we watched as the sprinklers begin to go off across the street. People then began to joke that our section is next and glanced around to where the sprinklers were but no one took it seriously. Well maybe they should have because around 2AM sure enough the sprinklers came up from the ground near the street and begin spraying everyone. Luckily, I didn't bring anything with me and I was able to get out into the street with without getting soaked. On the other hand, the people sleeping on blankets in the grass or lounging in their chairs or even the people that just so happened to be standing in front of the sprinkler got drenched and all their belongings did as well. It was quite funny actually, and most people laughed at it. We all joked about them doing it on purpose and taping but no video tape has surfaced yet. The temperature wasn't too bad starting off but as 3:30AM approached I was getting pretty cold. Only having the basic jeans and jacket on along with just standing around didn’t help the dropping temperatures.
A long awaited site around 3:30AM, the employees began arriving. This meant the opening of the doors and handing out of tickets! Since I had never done this before I was unsure what these tickets were, but it was explained to me a little earlier in the night that at 4AM employees would come down the line of people and ask if you're purchasing in a category (phone activation, TV’s, laptop, desktop, etc.). Some items which they had limited quantity of were the ticketed items. This way people wouldn’t have to run over the person in front of them and the people that were there first got the item they really wanted. Now with the employees showing up people started to get antsy and begin to rise and clean up their camping site. After most of the tents, chairs, blankets and other stuff were put away the line got noticeably shorter but not with less people, just less distance between people. I was now on the corner of the end building.
Finally 4AM! The moment of truth, I will finally find out if I've wasted hours of sleep or if I will praised by Becky (yeah right...). As I had waited hours in line on the side of a Best Buy, I realized that there was just a little more time left as the ticket people came down the line. You too will have to wait a little longer for the result of the item I was going after. Some categories go past and the guy with laptops gets to our area. Two of the laptop deals were gone. One was a laptop for $250 and another for around $375. One of the guys in front of me was disappointed but took a ticket for a more expensive laptop instead $599. I am not sure if he decided to get it or not. The lady in front of me was pretty upset as she was going for one of the $250 laptops. She took a ticket for a desktop computer for $3 or 4 hundred and something. It was about 4:30AM now she was contemplating whether to get the desktop or not. She decided she didn’t want to spend that much on a computer since all she does is purchase airline tickets and emails friends. Her computer before broke on her, she described the problem but nothing I could explain to her how to fix there in the line. She then left... I was pretty surprised when she walked away empty-handed after all those hours. As an older lady she probably didn't enjoy the over night wait as much as some of us younger guys did that were there. I felt kind of bad but there was nothing I could do and it's just the luck of the draw to an extent plus you know this when entering a line that is more then a hundred people long.
After this I began to worry. I would soon be in the same place since I was only there really for this one item. Once the people around us noticed she left they talked about how bad that would suck. I agreed but I said even if I don't get what I want I'm still going to take a walk around the store for fun. Also while they were handing out tickets they also were handing out maps of the store. They roped off one end to some of the aisle and created one main loop around the store which had one aisle branching off into individual departments.
Best Buy had some employees out watching the line and I guess some one asked them how many of a certain item they had and it got back to us as 8. I know the guy in front of me taking one so now there are 7 and there are about 118 people in front of me. At this point, I convinced myself I probably wouldn't get it just so the drive home wouldn't be so bad. I heard the guy call out the category I was waiting for he's only a few people in front of me as he hands out a few tickets to them. As he came to the guy in front of me I watched as I knew he was getting the same thing. He had the paper ad in his hand and was trying to get tickets to several items. Their was a similar item to the one I was going for that was in the ad but different brand. The ticket guy was confused as there wasn't tickets to the one in the ad and it took him some time to realize it. Meanwhile I'm standing there looking at the book as he flipped around trying to see if there was more then one of the tickets I needed. Finally, he was giving the guy in front of me the ticket I was looking for. As he pulled it out of the binder I see another ticket behind it! I was relieved but I wanted that ticket in my hand as soon as possible. The guy and his girlfriend continue to ask questions about other stuff, it felt like for at least 10 minutes. It was now my turn and I had got my ticket! At this point I could care less about anything else. I was guaranteed this item that I had waited 7 hours for.
Before we get to the actual item let me just say when they opened the doors and started letting people flood it was crazy. They had news cameras at the front of the door and people from the press. The media had people inside of the store facing the front doors to get shots of the people running in. It was a sight to see and felt like something from the movies as being part of the heard going into the store.
Of course I purchased my ticket item and they told me I have to drive around to the back of the store to pick it up. I got into the car and turn the key...nothing. I left the lights on. This night I had taken my father's truck which doesn’t have automatic lights. I made call home and my father was on his way to get me. We picked up the item in his truck and went home. I went to sleep shortly after taking my item inside.
What is the item that would cause a person to put them through so much you might ask? Well it's a
Panasonic 42" Plasma HDTV.
It was more fun then I had thought it would be, but I don't know if I'd do it again. Next year is Becky’s turn.
