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."