Black Eye Friday

What could possibly define the holiday spirit of giving and kindness and being with family than standing in line for days to buy something from Wal-Mart?

This looks like fun. (Reuters / Rick Wilking) 

Black Friday has become a holiday in itself. Thanksgiving - no thank you.

An extra hour of sleep perhaps, a little more time to enjoy that cup of coffee while actually reading the entire newspaper (and heck, maybe two papers).  Perhaps spending some time with the family watching a parade and a little football.  Nope, what could be better than heading to the store in the wee hours of the morning and spend the day literally fighting your neighbors over a 20 dollar toaster.


Only a few weeks have passed since my hope for humanity returned momentarily when the great city of San Francisco came together to give one true brave little boy the day of all days as Batman. But here I am again scratching my head with the news of gun shots, arrest, and brawls while, yes, shopping.

I've  even come across a dedicated web page keeping score of the Black Friday casualties.

And the list keeps growing.

The optimist in me is encouraged by the fact that people are willing to open their wallets after enduring a long, nasty recession over the past couple of years. Spending money can only help keep the economic engine running. More so if the attention of the consumers focus on main street and the local small retail stores as opposed to the mall and the big box outlets.

Did people actually camp out days in advance, miss Thanksgiving all together, just to spend a few nights sleeping outside a store.

But despite the viral videos and news outlets covering these shopping frenzies, the early returns from analysts are that the spending was quite at the level expected. Hard to believe given the volumes of people so eager to spend their paychecks.

Sure I'll head out and do some shopping. And heck, probably even find a few good deals while I'm at it.

I still have time, right?