Me Knows Better Than to Say This... But I will. Jimmy swore off participating in Black Friday sales years ago, but I must have forgotten and somehow my wife talked me into doing the Thanksgiving Day blitz in her stead. She had to work and since sleeping was my only excuse... weak as it was, I was elected to go.
The task assigned to me was simple - get to The Home Depot before the doors opened at 5am, pick up an artificial Christmas tree, return home and go back to bed - simple enough. My wife circled the item in the flyer and specifically pointed out the $49 pre-lit Christmas tree. That was the intended target - simple enough - piece of cake - can a corn.
I strategized that since only men would probably go to The Home Depot and very few of them would ever wait in line in the middle of the night (especially for a Christmas tree), my chances would be pretty good if I just got there 5 to 10 minutes before opening. Therefore I decided to "sleep in" until 4:30am, and still get a good place in line.
When I arrived at my pre-calculated time, I was somewhat surprised to see 100+ individuals in a long line stretching down the sidewalk. For crying out loud... this is only The Home Depot store. Who in their right mind would be standing in line to get tools and stuff? Yes... women. Apparently this artificial Christmas tree was a high demand item so this was going to be a bit tricky to maneuver around highly trained shoppers that they were.
At precisely 5am, the store opened and the orderly queue filed in as many shoppers dispersed through the store. From behind 20-30 people I could see people making a mad dash picking up long boxes I could only assumed where my intended target - the $49 pre-lit Christmas trees. But the crowd in front of me stopped and no one could move. I continued to see the stack dwindle right before my eyes so I had to make a drastic decision. The only other guy in the store, stood right in front blocking my path. He was pushing a huge flat top carrier and he couldn't move from the mass of bodies starting to backup in the aisle. I asked him if his wife also forced him to pick up a Christmas tree and he said no... he was headed in different direction and unfortunately could not get though... so I climbed over him and walked across his cart... all with the most brotherly love possible... after all this was Christmas. Sorry bro.
I could not have waited any longer as I arrived just in time to proudly grab the last box and fend off the multitude of ladies I had just thrown to the side. I had my trophy and it still displayed the $49 sign on it as proof of my superb hunting skills. I walked up the counter and quickly paid. Total time elapsed in the store - less than 5 minutes.
As I was walking back to my vehicle, it dawned on me... she said "pre-lit" and the other phrase I remembered from the night before... "don't get the pre-decorated one." I think the other part she said was, "LET ME REPEAT... DON'T GET THE PRE-DECORATED ONE." Uh oh... 50/50 odds now.
Since it was still dark outside, I had to wait until I loaded the vehicle and then I turned on the lights. At this moment, Jimmy had a choice: Return the item or go home. Since I didn't want to set an embarrassing world record for the earliest retuned item ever - 7 minutes after the official start - I decided to head home and insist that she said she wanted the "PRE-DECORATED." Better luck next year hon.
The task assigned to me was simple - get to The Home Depot before the doors opened at 5am, pick up an artificial Christmas tree, return home and go back to bed - simple enough. My wife circled the item in the flyer and specifically pointed out the $49 pre-lit Christmas tree. That was the intended target - simple enough - piece of cake - can a corn.
I strategized that since only men would probably go to The Home Depot and very few of them would ever wait in line in the middle of the night (especially for a Christmas tree), my chances would be pretty good if I just got there 5 to 10 minutes before opening. Therefore I decided to "sleep in" until 4:30am, and still get a good place in line.
When I arrived at my pre-calculated time, I was somewhat surprised to see 100+ individuals in a long line stretching down the sidewalk. For crying out loud... this is only The Home Depot store. Who in their right mind would be standing in line to get tools and stuff? Yes... women. Apparently this artificial Christmas tree was a high demand item so this was going to be a bit tricky to maneuver around highly trained shoppers that they were.
At precisely 5am, the store opened and the orderly queue filed in as many shoppers dispersed through the store. From behind 20-30 people I could see people making a mad dash picking up long boxes I could only assumed where my intended target - the $49 pre-lit Christmas trees. But the crowd in front of me stopped and no one could move. I continued to see the stack dwindle right before my eyes so I had to make a drastic decision. The only other guy in the store, stood right in front blocking my path. He was pushing a huge flat top carrier and he couldn't move from the mass of bodies starting to backup in the aisle. I asked him if his wife also forced him to pick up a Christmas tree and he said no... he was headed in different direction and unfortunately could not get though... so I climbed over him and walked across his cart... all with the most brotherly love possible... after all this was Christmas. Sorry bro.
I could not have waited any longer as I arrived just in time to proudly grab the last box and fend off the multitude of ladies I had just thrown to the side. I had my trophy and it still displayed the $49 sign on it as proof of my superb hunting skills. I walked up the counter and quickly paid. Total time elapsed in the store - less than 5 minutes.
As I was walking back to my vehicle, it dawned on me... she said "pre-lit" and the other phrase I remembered from the night before... "don't get the pre-decorated one." I think the other part she said was, "LET ME REPEAT... DON'T GET THE PRE-DECORATED ONE." Uh oh... 50/50 odds now.
Since it was still dark outside, I had to wait until I loaded the vehicle and then I turned on the lights. At this moment, Jimmy had a choice: Return the item or go home. Since I didn't want to set an embarrassing world record for the earliest retuned item ever - 7 minutes after the official start - I decided to head home and insist that she said she wanted the "PRE-DECORATED." Better luck next year hon.
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