I Survived!

Black Friday, that is. I was (notice the past tense!) in the market for a laptop. We had been discussing it for awhile. With the traveling we do, it sure would come in handy. And I (mistakenly) thought the after Thanksgiving sales would be the best/least expensive way to go.

HA! This year, the stores were handing out pre-opening vouchers for the limited quantity offers. Which actually meant that they were sold out before they opened. So I struck out on the sales there, but did manage to get the external hard drive and a zip drive. Stopped for a coffee and I was on my way back home.

We're boxing up all the orders from Quilt Market. So I put in the info for the first shipping label, and lo and behold! The printer is dead. Several error messages on the printer, etc. So BACK into town I go. Purchased a new printer and got info on laptops that two other stores actually had in stock since they weren't a deep discount.

Back into town later that night to drop off the orders we had boxed. And managed to purchase the last computer of that model in the store. I think I'll be happy with it. Time will tell, since I haven't even taken it out of the box yet. I spent more money on it than originally intended. And I have no idea what time you had to be in line at the store to get the vouchers. The one young lady I was talking to while in line to get the external hard drives told me that out of curiosity, she had driven by the store at 11 pm on Thanksgiving night. And at that time, there was already a very long line.

I haven't ever been out shopping on Black Friday before. And it seems to me that the most important thing to have with you is a sense of humor and patience. I was at the second electronics store by 5:30 (they opened at 5) and asked the employee at the door about the laptops. They very politely told me they were sold out. So while making my way back out, a lady came storming through the door. Yelling obscenities at the top of her lungs at the employees at the door. The guys just smiled and said "have a nice day!" which probably only fueled her anger. Everyone around just laughed. If you're going to get that upset shopping, why go out - especially on that day?