How pathetic does your life have to be ...

... if you're already lining up at a store for Black Friday?

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/11/15/black-friday-shoppers-line-up-over-one-week-early/

 

While you were out "saving" that $200 on the TV, you lost $320 (or 40xhourly wage if earning more than minimum wage) by not going to work for a week and you still spent money to buy the TV!

 

Honestly, if Best Buy offered to give me $1000 worth of merchandise if I would just camp out outside the store in line for 8 days, I'd laugh at them.

These people are pathetic.

 

I thought you were going to say, "....to have more than 11,000 posts at SportsJournalists.com."

 

Yeah, god, that is pathetic. Anyhoo, on a Thanksgiving visit home last year, was forced into waiting in line for a K-Mart. Everything was picked over in 15 minutes. Went to a Wal-Mart at 2 a.m., and plenty of selection and hardly anyone there. I would daresay the lining up is more functional as a rare societal bonding experience than as a smart shopping thing.

 

If you're not getting one of the big-ticket items, or something that's only on special for those first 2-3 hours, then yes. I agree.

 

Horse squeeze. It's all part of our pathetic pursuit of things to make us feel better about our sorry-assed lives.

 

In case you don't notice under everyone's avatar, I'm a picker compared to other posters. And you probably could have written a novel instead of your 7,000+ posts.

 

My town has a new Chick-fil-A coming after the new year. Since I'll probably still be unemployed, I plan on waiting in line to get free food for a year. It may be the only way I eat in 2013.

 

The problem with Black Friday is most of the "Big Ticket Items" are either old, shitty or both.

Just glancing at Best Buy's ad, they have a nice little Canon point and shoot for $80. It got very average reviews and while it's being offered at a huge markdown from it's MSRP of $250, it's a modest markdown from the $100 it can be had for from respected internet sites, and the $110 from Amazon.

And that's just the current price. Tech like that could easily shed $10 or $20 more in a month, so you could plausibly get it for the exact same price before Christmas. Even if you didn't, is $20 worth it?

That's not to say they're all crap deals. Some of them are nice. But, in my opinion, they're hardly worth camping out for a week, let alone a day. Then again, I'm sure the camping and craziness is part of the allure.

 

For the first time in forever, the wife may actually get me out shopping on Black Friday. But only because we have a specific need we have to address. Our deep freezer has died and needs to be replaced ASAPronto.