It began on Wednesday, November 23, two days before Black Friday. After an exhausting day at school and wrestling, Tyler Thomas, a fellow Bethel Park student, and I arrived at Best Buy at exactly 9:12 PM.
We entered the Best Buy vicinity not only prepared physically, but also mentally. The store was still open and I walked in to discuss setting up our place to sleep, the tent. After confirming permission to set up, we posted the tent right on the side walk and officially took our place as the first Black Friday customers.
Along with that, we guaranteed ourselves this year’s Best Buy door busters: A 42” LCD Sharp for $200, a Lenovo laptop for $180, an Asus Transformer Tablet for a mere $250, and a Dynex 24” LCD for just $80, and that is just the beginning. In my pocket, roughly $850 and in Tyler’s a total of approximately $2,500.
Furthermore, the night had began to chill as the temperature had been dropping as time went on, and eventually it was near freezing.
With the tent set up, we decided to venture to Tyler’s residence as well as my own. In order to have a comfortable night, we were going to have to gather more blankets, more layers, and some food. So off we went, first stopping at Tyler’s house to get three chairs and a few more blankets. After, we went to my house to get even more covers and I put on a few extra upper body layers (seven total to be exact) and three pairs of pants.
I believe we all had underestimated the weather conditions, but nonetheless, we all claimed to be ready for the once a year experience that everybody seems to frown upon due to missing Thanksgiving Dinner with the family. And honestly, I can eat turkey whenever I want. So, ecstatic and of high spirits, we returned to Best Buy with our new appliances and a full stomach after stopping for a quick bite at McDonald’s.
So, upon return we unpacked our blankets, set up the tent, and played some football. Generally, we just relaxed and talked for a few hours until the next group of customers showed up at around 11:30 PM; by 12 midnight, the temperature had dipped below freezing.
Unfortunately for some, they had lacked the appropriate mental preparation in which Tyler and I had mastered through previous experiences. So, their inability to cope with rigid conditions, even though sporting the utmost proper attire, influenced them to make an early retreat home. They could not see past toughening out a mere single night of bitterness for the ultimate prize.
In the morning, Tyler and I arose triumphantly at around 6 AM. Together, we viewed the night as sort of test, and we had passed.
After finally exiting the tent, we were greeted with the presence of about fifteen new customers who must have arrived while we were asleep. Their tents were posted as well, except of course behind ours. It was later brought to my attention that there would only be twelve of the 42″ TVs and that even the people at the end of the line at 6 AM would not be able to get what they had come for. They were about eight hours short in time, and their money shrunk, too.
So, our appetite grew and to my surprise the Market District right up the hill was open. I set off for some food and we resupplied our tanks with a dozen donuts to last.
The temperature even began to climb and the day panned out for us. We listened to music, caught football, and did other simple things to pass the time.
Ironically, at about 3 PM a reporter from the Almanac interviewed and took pictures of us. On November 30, 2011, we were featured on the homepage of the Almanac (http://www.thealmanac.net). She questioned us about the types of items we were looking to purchase, our time of arrival, and other broad things, but what the article didn’t capture was the true experience of a Black Friday goer.
As the sun began to set heading into the evening we were always on the lookout for “cutters” or line-jumpers. The etiquette is that the first fifteen or so people who arrive become friends and generally gang up on anybody who attempts to snatch a spot in line.
At about 6 PM, we experienced our first encounter with an infamous, typical cutter. With no intent to hide the obvious, a man of around forty years of age began to study the inside of the Best Buy through its windows, occasionally checking his cell phone and puffing on a cigarette. I do not understand what goes through such a person’s mind, but to think that it is even remotely possible to take the place of somebody who has dedicated their own gracious time to this event is beyond me. This man walked behind the chairs in which Tyler and I had placed and stood, expecting to last the next six hours in line…without anybody saying a word to him. I motioned Tyler to my side and we discussed the situation at hand, hoping to rid him of everyone’s presence. Tyler said that he would deal with it, and I knew he would shortly be back. Casually, Ty approached him and asked him what he was here for.
He plainly stated, with complete lack of emotion, “The TV”.
The oh so popular TV that people were willing to disrupt common morals and ethics to get. I felt as if I was in an awkward position, even though I was not directly involved. The challenge is what broke the cutting man’s patience.
Tyler spoke with hostility and authority, “Don’t think you’re cutting these people behind us”, loud enough so that our accquaintences behind us had heard the commotion.
They approached, appalled that someone would actually try to commit such a deed. They surrounded the cutter, as each man and woman behind took this act as a direct attack. Without words exchanged, the man knew his place as he stepped out of line, breaking the silence like a shot in the dark. His steps to the back must have been long and dreaded. I believe it became apparent to him that he would have no such electronic device (TV) in his arms at the end of the night. Humiliated, the man accepted both his defeat and his spot in the back of the line. Things had started to heat up, as they do with every line with a population of over 1,500 people. Another attempt at cutting was diminished by a man known by the name of Cleveland. His efforts to keep uniformity were unmatched. He was not there for soley materialisitc purposes, but rather shopping for his wife and child, both of whom were currently hospitalized. He became the “go-to-guy” in situations that needed to be handled by an adult.
As the night neared 10 PM, tents were packed, chairs were packed, all accessories were packed. Tension rose, and the eagerness was shared mutually. We wanted in. The police had arrived to deal with life-threateneing situations, we wouldn’t want anybody to be trampled. More and more people drove by snapping pictures of us, we were pretty famous one could say. The once single file line had turned into a sort of waving parabola, thicker at some points as people tried to bunch up. All of this, of course, irrelevant to Tyler and I, who caught football comfortably at the front of the store.
It neared 11 PM and tickets had begun to be distributed. This approach proved to be a more methodical and ethical practice in comparison to the mad rush which is common in most stores to this day. Unfortunately, that is how a woman died not too many years ago. These tickets were technically an item in itself. It listed the name, description, and picture of each doorbuster. In our case, Tyler and I would profit by collecting as many tickets as possible and selling them to the less fortunate at the back of the line for a higher price. A simple piece of paper could go for as much as $100 (may vary). If one did not have the ticket to the Sharp TV which everybody wanted, it could not be purchased. With our tickets collected, 12 AM had finally arrived.
We entered the store, and were greeted with a clap from the Best Buy employees, though, nobody can truly empathize unless considered within the same situation. We purchased all our materials we had tickets for, nothing special really happened. Of course, it was extremely crowded as Best Buy has a max per store of 1,000 people. We did not leave until around 4 AM. I walked out for what I had come for, and a little more: TWO 42″s (there were only twelve in the entire store, and Tyler had got one also), a Dynex 24″, a LCD screened printer, a laptop, a case, a wireless mouse, and a copy of BattleField 3 for the Xbox360. Before I made my exit, I decided to sell some of the tickets I had.
As I waited for Tyler to check out, I approached the front of the door and as people walked in I asked them what they were there for. If they saw something they liked within the contents of my tickets, then I made them a reasonable price offer, and they would either accept or decline (and leave without it, and I would throw the ticket in the garbage at the end of the night). As I was about to make a sale of $20, the store’s manager angrily approached me and forcefully removed the tickets from my hand and told me to get out. Luckily, I had already made my purchases and Tyler and I proceeded to the Acura to end the night(s), good ones at that.
AddversitY had caused some to break mentally, physically, emotionally, and even spiritually. We had gotten what we had come for: the experience which in my opinion is just as good as the doorbusters. Thus, next year at about this time, look for Tyler and I; I can assure we will be first.
