When the Going Gets Tough the Tough Go Shopping. The REALLY Tough Go Shopping on Black Friday.

My main Thanksgiving meal, the first of several until our turkey supply is depleted, is over.  I figure I have an hour before the football games and tryptophan kick in so I’d better type fast.  I imagine some eager shoppers are already lining up for the Black Friday Eve sales that begin at 6 PM on Thanksgiving. 
 

Henry Ward Beecher once lamented “Alas!  Where is human nature so weak as in the book store?”  If Mr. Beecher was still alive, I wonder if he would change his lament to “Alas!  Where is human nature so weak as in the e-book store?”  The answer to his question might be Black Friday sales.
 

Sinclair Lewis died when 1951 was only 10 days old, but his observation that “People will buy anything that is one to a customer” still rings true 60+ years later.
 

Erma Bombeck once opined “Shopping is a woman thing. It's a contact sport like football. Women enjoy the scrimmage, the noisy crowds, the danger of being trampled to death, and the ecstasy of the purchase.”  Or as one unidentified woman instructed her grandkids “Get in there in front of me and block and tackle and make your grandma proud!”

In honor of the economic spurt that we know as Black Friday, here is a plethora of observations about shopping from a diverse cross-section of America:

“Women usually love what they buy, yet hate two-thirds of what is in their closets.” ― Mignon McLaughlin

The quickest way to know a woman is to go shopping with her - Marceline Cox

I always say that shopping is cheaper than a psychiatrist - Tammy Faye Bakker 

Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping.  ~Bo Derek

The other line moves faster.  ~Etorre's Observation 

A bargain is something you can't use at a price you can't resist.  ~Franklin P. Jones

Shopping:  The fine art of acquiring things you don't need with money you don't have.  ~Author Unknown 

Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice.  ~Dave Barry 

Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.  ~Oscar Wilde 

 

Black Friday: Because only in America, people trample others for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have - Anon 

One unnamed shopper rejoiced that “Yeah!  My medical bills for the Black Friday Store fights are were less than what I saved!" That may sound far-fetched until you consider that police received a report in Sacramento that one eager shopper in line outside a K-Mart was threatening to stab others in line.  That brings one question to my mind:  K-MART? REALLY? 

Dave Barry explained the religious significance of Black Friday (or something) as follows: “Once again we find ourselves enmeshed in the Holiday Season, that very special time of year when we join with our loved ones in sharing centuries-old traditions such as trying to find a parking space at the mall.  We traditionally do this in my family by driving around the parking lot until we see a shopper emerge from the mall, then we follow her, in very much the same spirit as the Three Wise Men, who 2,000 years ago followed a star, week after week, until it led them to a parking space.” 

Me?  I miss the good old days when Back Friday was actually on Friday. 

Happy Thanksgiving!