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Black Friday.


Lisa O`Brien

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So,it`s finally arrived here from the States,even though we don`t celebrate Thanksgiving here,which precedes it. Who is going to be splashing the cash this Friday then? Would love to say me,but i`m skint,as per usual. My son wants an XBOX One,and suggested I buy it this Friday with its ensuing discount,but  i`ve told him he will have to wait until Christmas for it. If you have the money for Black Friday,what will people be buying?

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Have  a look at 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_%28shopping%29

 

It's now happening in this country.

 

Also Monday 1st December is 'Cyber Monday'! (the Monday following Black Friday)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber_Monday

 

Again credt to the USA in starting this. But for the UK I think it's the day 'everyone' orders their Christmas presents online as it's after pay day - or something like that.

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There has been a few online sites that have had around 20% discount already.

 

M&S and Debenhams to name just two.

 

I keep getting on-line offers from most of the big high street retailers these days.  I just collected an order from one of them yesterday!  That's nothing to do with Black Friday!

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Thanksgiving is my second favorite holiday.  I look forward to being with the family, sitting around a table with the people I love and realizing how fortunate I am to be with them.  

 

And, oh yes, eating a traditional Thanksgiving meal.  I like to think that since it is time and food we are sharing - it tends not to be as commercialized as other holidays.  

Edited by Anjuli_Bai
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Thanks for the information everyone.  Not sure Black Friday is really useful in view of what seems like back-to-back sales throughout the year.  And I certainly hope we don't import Thanksgiving too!

 

On a personal note of thriftiness, I always buy Christmas wrapping,  crackers, tree decorations etc. immediately after Christmas - W.H. Smith amongst others sells off this year's stock at half price and they're just as good next year!  And stocking fillers, too ...

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Thanks for the information everyone.  Not sure Black Friday is really useful in view of what seems like back-to-back sales throughout the year.  And I certainly hope we don't import Thanksgiving too!

 

On a personal note of thriftiness, I always buy Christmas wrapping,  crackers, tree decorations etc. immediately after Christmas - W.H. Smith amongst others sells off this year's stock at half price and they're just as good next year!  And stocking fillers, too ...

 

 

Well, then you can give thanks that Thanksgiving remains on my side of the ocean.

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Around this time last year - I don't think December had even started - a shop was advertising their 'early post-Christmas sale.' I asked the saleslady if it wasn't actually a 'pre-Christmas sale.' She rolled her eyes and told me that of course it wasn't a pre-Christmas sale, what would be the point of a pre-Christmas sale just when everyone needs to buy Christmas presents? Still trying to work that one out :-)  

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Well I have just taken advantage of it and been through my kids Xmas lists. Saved quite a lot of money on full prices, but maybe I would be able to get better discounts later on, who knows?!? 

Was especially pleased with the 30% discount I got on a clothing item for my youngest son that I wouldn't have paid full price for, but know I wouldn't be able to get by the time the sales kick in due to the size he needs being only available in a few items and only online.

 

At least I feel I've done the major part of my Xmas shopping, so hurray for Black Friday!

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Ridiculous and quite shameful scenes on the news this morning,with people fighting over the 'bargains'. I think it was ASDA where that poor little girl was squashed against the doors, then propelled through as they opened. As people rushed in for whatever 'bargains' they thought they were getting, she just stood there, tearful and utterly bewildered, until what I guess was the 'responsible adult' accompanying her, grabbed her by the arm and marched her off into the scrum.

What is wrong with people? All that for a cut price telly? Apparently, all the real deals were gone anyway,after the  earlier bun fight. There was however, a £3.500 bargain quad bike in the foyer. Surprisingly, nobody was interested in that or the microwaves piled high. 

Well done to anyone who has managed to get a genuine bargain, but as the reporter said, with year round sales and no doubt further discounts to come from retailers desperate for trade, are we not just being taken for a ride? We should know these stores have warehouses full of stock they want to get rid of. Put in one or two real bargains and hope when they're gone, people might buy the rest of the crap. Give the big day a name and up the hype to hysteria level and millions will answer the call. Queue all night in the rain? No problem. It is a social event until the doors open, then the ugliness of human greed takes over.

Anyone who can step over a distressed child in their quest for a 'cheap' telly - what a novelty these days! - deserves to be taken for a ride. 

Sorry to sound off, but the sight of that crying girl made my hackles stand! 

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I avoid the stores anytime I think it will be busy.  .  

 

However, I've never personally seen this kind of behavior - know it exists but have never seen it.  And, I don't recall it ever being reported in San Diego.  

 

While Black Friday may be imported - behavior is not.

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It is precisely because of the awful way British people seem to behave en masse is why I think it should be banned. We seem to lead the world in football hooliganism and drunken holiday brawls and this seems to be a yet further manifestation of antisocial behaviour. The police have been called to several stores and since they are stretched to the limit, it seems ridiculous to need to call them away to such incidents.

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I read today that two areas in Manchester had trouble. Stretford and Salford. I`ve lived in both those places,each one for many years. So glad I no longer live there,especially if people are carrying on like that. Salford i`m not in the least bit surprised about,as it`s a hovel. But I thought the people of Stretford had a bit more decorum. Obviously not.

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I'm not religious but I find the commercialisation of Christmas totally depressing. Of course I spend money at Christmas, but I really try to savour the time with family and friends. It is really difficult to make the children understand this balance with this type of hysteria going on. Sickening.

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Around this time last year - I don't think December had even started - a shop was advertising their 'early post-Christmas sale.' I asked the saleslady if it wasn't actually a 'pre-Christmas sale.' She rolled her eyes and told me that of course it wasn't a pre-Christmas sale, what would be the point of a pre-Christmas sale just when everyone needs to buy Christmas presents? Still trying to work that one out :-)  

A few years ago I went to a shoe shop on Boxing Day to get dd some new school shoes. Signs everywhere saying 'BOXING DAY SALE', but hardly any shoes in the sale, so I spoke to an assistant. "Oh", she said, "The sale started last week..."

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It is precisely because of the awful way British people seem to behave en masse is why I think it should be banned. We seem to lead the world in football hooliganism and drunken holiday brawls and this seems to be a yet further manifestation of antisocial behaviour. The police have been called to several stores and since they are stretched to the limit, it seems ridiculous to need to call them away to such incidents.

I quite agree. We do seem to lead the world, whether it is drunken street 'scenes' or hijacking of legitimate demonstrations to go on a looting and burning spree,or any number of embarrassments. Apparently, society is to blame. Around Christmas in this town, certain roads in the centre are closed to traffic after dark. This is to avoid the drunken revellers getting run over as they stagger through the streets. Buses etc. are rerouted and people generally inconvenienced as usual, because nobody need take responsibility for their own behavior. 

As for Black Friday, no the behavior is not imported - we provide that ourselves -  but there has been a fair bit of coverage of similar scenes across America, Michigan was featured on Friday night. I gather people have been taken to hospital and I believe in a previous year,a member of staff at one store was actually killed in a crush. 

I don't suppose B.F. will be banned as there is far too much money to be made and that's what it's all about innit! I must say I did find the cheerleaders at ASDA giving it their all, while the mayhem went on rather amusing.

Edited by Jacqueline
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I agree this kind of behavior occurs in the USA as well as the UK - definitely.  What I meant - and I should have made it clearer - it is not the fault of the event - be it a sale or a sports event - it is the fault of the people involved.  Importing a holiday or an event is not the cause. The supposition that minus the event the behavior would not occur doesn't really take us to the problem.

 

At one time there was an annual parade in San Diego celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday (it's also a national holiday), but the parade turned into an excuse to rampage through the stores and a mall in the downtown area.  So, after a few years of this the parade was permanently cancelled.  Yes, that did take care of the rampaging, but the propensity is still there.  It also robbed those who wanted to celebrate by peacefully attending or being part of a parade.  And - that's what is so troubling.

 

If the answer was to cancel holidays, sports, parades, etc., other excuses would be found for those looking for license to rampage, loot, etc - such as a judicial decision with which they don't agree.

 

I well remember the looting which took place In New Orleans after the hurricane Katrina.  I can understand desperate people taking bottles of clean water, or food - but stealing televisons?  And laughing while doing it?  And not caring that it is being filmed by a news channel for the entire country/world to see?   Those aren't desperate people trying to survive a storm - those are criminals.

 

We can't cancel hurricanes, unfortunately. And if we cancel or "not import" a holiday or a sale, etc., are we not then relinquishing our freedoms and choices to the thugs?

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It was reported that the police were called to my local Tesco.  Strange, because I went in to do my normal Friday shopping, and the store was fairly quiet.  It doesn't have a big electrical section, so they must have sold out of cut price tvs early in the day.  And exactly how many television sets do people need anyway?  We have had the same modest one for about 6 years now, and have no desire to change it.  After all, the programmes remain the same.

 

I did go down Oxford Street earlier on Friday, and every store was advertising 20% (or more) off for Black Friday.  When I looked closer, it said in teeny, tiny letters, "On selected lines."  So I assume that means that all the unpopular, old, or difficult to shift stuff.  I didn't notice any riots.  The streets were jam packed, but these seemed to be tourists gazing at the Christmas lights, or people looking for Paddington Bear statues!

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It is precisely because of the awful way British people seem to behave en masse is why I think it should be banned. We seem to lead the world in football hooliganism and drunken holiday brawls and this seems to be a yet further manifestation of antisocial behaviour. The police have been called to several stores and since they are stretched to the limit, it seems ridiculous to need to call them away to such incidents.

 

Fiz we don't lead the world in football hooliganism - it's just reported in our press more than the hooliganism in other countries is reported in their press.  Some European and South American countries have a far worse problem than we do but we do not really hear about it!

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Well, we hear about it when things get out of hand to the point where players and referees are hunted down and killed because of things that happened on the field (which, so far, doesn't seem to be happening in the UK). But Britain does seem to have a reputation, at least in Europe, of having fans who are there to get drunk and fight every bit as much as to support their team.

 

Nevertheless, the thing I don't particularly like about this isn't just the fact that it gives people the opportunity to behave like total idiots, it's the fact that another country's tradition is being imported. Again. We never used to have trick-or-treat at Halloween (in fact Halloween wasn't that big a deal, probably because it was so close to Guy Fawkes night), we never used to have Black Friday, or bridal showers or baby showers; I remember all those things were new to me when I moved over here. Now somehow they've become part of the landscape in Britain too. A few years ago when some relatives visited us for Christmas in California, they were amazed how all the Christmas TV programming (and a lot of the theatre and cinema Christmas events) shut off like clockwork on Christmas Eve, having been around for the whole of December. In the UK, the Christmas stuff on TV tends (or tended - maybe this is another tradition being taken over by the American way of doing) to hit its peak between Christmas and New Year, a time when Christmas is a thing of the past on American television.

 

I realise it isn't just that Britain is aping America in all these things, I think it's just part of the homogenisation of cultures to make life easier for the multinational corporations to peddle their wares, but I really don't like it. It's bad enough that just about every high street in the UK looks like every other high street, but it's sad when they're beginning to look just like American high streets too.

 

Then again, one ironic thing is that just as Black Friday is reaching Britain, it's getting made obsolete in the USA because many of the large chain retailers are opening on Thanksgiving, so it's less and less the case that Thanksgiving is a holiday and the shopping frenzy starts on the Friday. This year, a lot of shops have had their Black Friday for the whole week, including Thursday.

Edited by Melody
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Well, we hear about it when things get out of hand to the point where players and referees are hunted down and killed because of things that happened on the field (which, so far, doesn't seem to be happening in the UK). But Britain does seem to have a reputation, at least in Europe, of having fans who are there to get drunk and fight every bit as much as to support their team.

 

 

 

Holland, Germany, Italy, certain Eastern European countries too!  I've long since lost most of my interest in football but I get very annoyed when people assume it is only the British (or specifically the English) who behave in this way.  It's time we pointed this out!

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Melody, on top of things you mention, I would like to add the school Prom.  This is an entirely American thing which has taken off in a big, big way here.  A friend of mine teaches in a primary school (for those of you in the US, the children in the top class would be 11), and parents are spending vast amounts on very adult dresses for the girls, hair, makeup, stretch limos....the list goes on and on.  And children are demanding it. 

 

The worst examples of hooliganism I ever saw was when I was on holiday in Greece once, between some Dutch and some Swedes.  When the police were called, the only common language was English, so the police thought every single one of them were from England.  It is not as if a Greek policeman would be able to tell the difference between a native Brit and a foreigner speaking English, but it is very convenient for other countries to pin the Bad Behaviour medal on us!

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Well, we could turn this all around and look at all of the many customs, holidays, parliamentary form of government, language, dress, drama, music, literature, architecture, civic activities, social norms, etc., which other countries (including the USA) have imported from the UK - and mostly  to positive effect.  

 

From California to Texas, Cinco de Mayo is celebrated - imported from Mexico.  As well as a huge presence of Mexican food, art, dance and other customs.  

 

Downtown LA looks like Southeast Asia - with imported holidays celebrated, restaurants, arts and crafts,  

 

New Orleans still has a heavy influence of its French history - which is what makes the city interesting.  

 

Pennsylvania has a background of German and Dutch history and influence along with the British influence.  Many of the older neighborhoods in Philadelphia look very much like those in the UK.  

 

In San Diego there is "Little Italy" and in Philadelphia there is the "Italian Market" - surrounded by neighborhoods with people either descended from those countries - or newly arrived.

 

In other areas of San Diego - there is a large population of people from Somalia, Sudan, Iraq, Japan, China, Iran (especially Chaldeans).......and on and on.

 

I don't see this as a threat - I find it rather interesting and certainly colorful.  I certainly enjoy the varied restaurants!

 

The only thing that I would ask of all these various people is that when they come here - they come to join in - add their bit to the melting pot - not demand that we become what they left behind.  

 

As for proms - who's in control?  the parents?  the children?

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