Black Friday Brings Nightmares and Victories

On November 28th, 2008, the nation became witness to a brand new sort of shopping chaos as stampeding customers, agitated employees and too-good-to-be-true deals settled in on Black Friday.

For some, Black Friday bears no meaning, serving as the day of recovery after Thanksgiving.

For others, Black Friday  had been a chance to get gifts at discounted prices with time to spare.

This years' shoppers, however, changed the playing field with a bloodlust for their discounted gadgets and toys.

Student and Black Friday shopper Ben Geece shared his account of the eventful morning, "I went to Best Buy with my friend and waited in line at 3:00 AM just to see the first 10 people into the store walk out with 5 discounted computers a piece!"

Geece reported a fist fight or two over some more elusive items, but no blood was spilt at the Roseville Best Buy that day. "It was brutal," Ben said, "and I didn't wind up getting any of the deals I had scoped out."

Theater attendant Alex Bradshaw gave some details on his Black Friday experience, "I didn't know any online stores had the same sort of bargains as in stores, and I was certainly NOT expecting to wind up buying a Playstation 3."

Bradshaw found a very limited-supply bargain on Amazon.com where he managed to secure a Playstation 3 video game bundle for under $300.

Black Friday consumers were definitely seeing red in this year's shopping escapades. Next year's Black Friday falls on November 27, 2009; retailers beware!

The 2008 Holiday Blues

The working class have been impacted by a new combination of low job availability and low gas prices this holiday season. People don’t have high gas prices to worry about anymore, but more and more have no job to drive to this time of year.

“The economy has really thrown us for a loop,” said unemployed student Evan Kolar, “gas is cheaper but a lot of people are in the same sort of pinch.” Evan had been working in landscaping to keep himself in school, but now fears that worsening conditions might not let things go as planned.

Times aren’t only getting harder for students, as employment rates have dropped in many established career-related sectors as well.

Bruce Vilente, formerly retired and now seeking work, has gotten what he calls a bad start to the holiday season this year. “It was hard enough to decide to come out of retirement, but I thought I’d find a job after 15 years of experience in my field” Bruce said. This Christmas isn’t off to a very merry start for Bruce, who has been seeking employment as a Teller Room Processor for 6 months.

Britney Geller, a student at Sierra College, has taken the same economic motivation a bit differently. “I was really worried at first, it didn’t look like I would be able to go home for Thanksgiving,” Britney said. But she was able to visit home for Thanksgiving. “When I realized I couldn’t find a second job, I decided I would have to find new ways to cut expenses to make ends meet,” Britney said. 

By removing her TV subscription, gym membership, and religious Starbucks indulgences from the budget, she has found what she calls a financial “sweet spot” for the time being. Britney gives this advice to anyone else feeling the pinch, "drop the things you don't need, and all sorts of new opportunities can open up."

First-time Voters Speak Up in 08 Election

The recent election on November 4th energized first-time voters to unfamiliar heights this year. This excitement ramped up to an exemplary display at a polling location in Loomis, California.

Steve Patwell, a facilitator at the polls in Loomis, said that they had seen roughly 20% more voters under 25 on election day. "I've probably seen about 50% more first-time voters than in the last presidential election. Even my lazy son got off the couch and voted!" he said, referring to his 19 year old son. Steve said that he was sure that the political heat had inclined more first-time voters to step up and voice their decisions on the ballots.

As a first-time voter myself, I saw a multitude of voters in the 18-21 age group at the local polls throughout the day.

Wendy Sullivan, a first-time voter and Sierra College student, said "I've been watching the debates on TV, so I'm pretty excited to be involved this time around!" Wendy said that she had several friends who had decided not to vote, and said "[they] took the easy way out in not helping to shape our future."

Another first-time voter, Brett Jing, expressed disbelief at the thought of simply not voting. "My family has always put a lot of emphasis on our role in telling politicians our needs. If you don't talk, they won't listen!" he shared. He shared that his awareness of the topics at hand in the election elevated his inclination to educate himself in the matters.

His enthusiasm, however, was not shared with all eligible first-time voters though, as seen in the case of Gary Dashe. Gary shared his apathy with a chuckle, "I couldn't just get up and care about the election. It just wouldn't be right."

The enthusiasm among these voters was generally quite astounding. Of course, there will always be those who will abstain from voting, but this lack of enthusiasm will simply result in those voices not being heard.

Economic Turmoil

The working class in California is really starting to feel it now; the mortgage market crash, banks declaring bankruptcy, and now shift and budget cuts!
The financial ramifications of the current state in California are becoming frighteningly apparent. More and more are we hearing about financial crises hitting the everyday worker by- you guessed it- slimming wages.
Tina Fondren, a bartender at Macaroni Grill in Roseville, California says that her hours have been cut almost in half over the past 2 months as management has made manpower adjustments in the restaurant. "We've all seen a mild decrease in hours, but peoples' attitudes at the workplace have changed even more." Tina reports that since management can no longer give employees the hours they need to pay the bills, several individuals have become cold and hostile in what was formerly a warm and friendly restaurant. "I think everyone is affected by it- just to different extents."
Gene, a front desk attendant at the Days Inn in Rocklin seemed slightly more hopeful. "Times are going to be tough for a while, but I really think that things will turn around for us hard-working types," he shared, optimistically.

Sleep Schedule Adjustment

College students are notorious for a few things these days. Getting into trouble, changing majors, and sleeping in every chance we get. Though this year, student Luke Swafford was a bit surprised with what he noticed once his early school schedule kicked in.
He, like many college students, spent his summer enjoying a lax lifestyle and the finer points a summer can offer. But rather than his 8 AM to 4 PM class schedule being the nuisance he'd expected, he found it was the key to getting back into swing of productivity. Waking up early, he explains, gave him more of a boost for his classes. He also found he had increased attention span compared to his late-sleeping summer days.
Fellow student Matt Fondren had a similar claim about his experience with waking up for the first week of school. "I had a very lazy Summer Break. But now I think waking up for school makes waking up for work way easier," he explained, "it's really evening out my schedule."