Topic of Choice (4)- Jamie Englert

I’ve never been much of a shopper but one thing I do enjoy is watching people go crazy over holiday shopping. Black Friday is quite the event in America and it seems to be getting bigger and “better” every year. Not only are stores opening at midnight, some are not even closing Thursday night. Some sales are starting days before and lasting through the whole weekend. These sales are the cause of the long lines at 1 AM wrapped three times around Best Buy, the parents fighting over the last new toy at Toys R Us and the many, many, many aggressive drivers in the parking garage. I have made few Black Friday appearances because, to be honest, I value sleep. Nevertheless, one year I did go with my mother, sister and grandmother and will never do so again. I should have known what the day would hold when they told me their motto of “Shop till you drop, then crawl,” but silly me thought that was a joke. The three of them seemed to be superhuman that day-never yawning, weaving out of lines like it was an art form, finding bargains that were not even advertised and yet still remaining in the Christmas spirit. I, however, clearly was not trained in this skill of Black Friday shopping which resulted in me crashing about 1/3 of the way through. It’s a bizarre phenomenon that occurs the day after Thanksgiving, but who knows, maybe one day people will have to eat their turkey and pumpkin pie in the car because the sales are happening even sooner and waiting is obviously not an option.