"thanks, you are being super awesome."

I want to borrow this phrase. It just amuses me. Glad you are feeling more comfy in the relationship, smonster. Oh! I wanted to tell you things about recycling on the Marine Base here. I toured it and was thinking of you. They are scary efficient. It made my eco heart swell a little. But it's a lot of used ordnance so maybe not on the day we're supposed to be Thankful.

Ugh - family moment. So my soonish-to-be brother-in-law mentioned the spectator details on my niece's boots. And I was impressed. Until he mentioned how much he likes feet. I had repressed that bit where he talked about his foot fetish previously.

This is not information that I need. Ever really. I'm going to try and repress it again.

So my sister is engaged and I probably just ensured that everyone else will only ever remember he like likes feet. Which? As long as I can forget, I am fine with.

This seemingly permanent foreigner is wondering what the evil of shopping is? This is the biggest holiday, is that it? And everyone should have the opportunity to have it at home?

My ish is that people are complaining bitterly that WalMart was open today depriving the employees of their opportunity to eat Thanksgiving dinner with their families but obviously lots of businesses are open and that's because people patronize them. It's disingenuous.

I mean enough people want to outlet shop that a freeway I've never seen slow had a quarter mile backup on the off ramp at 7:30 on a Thursday. And places like movie theatres have always been open. Obviously Thanksgiving is a little less sacred than people claim.

My stepmom both commented on how awful it was that Walmart employees couldn't be home today and she went there earlier because she knew they'd be open. Cause and effect...

Mostly it's the hypocrisy that annoys me. Stores would not be open if customers didn't shop there.

Okay and the fact that the freeway suddenly being a sea of brake lights and swerving cars startled me. There were a lot of dumb drivers on the roads tonight and I was already cranky.

OK, but feet is the cutest of the run-of-the-mill fetishes, don't you think? And the most useful... so long as she's getting all her other goodies, its only a bonus -- nice shoes, pedicures, foot rubs. It's really win/win.

I wouldn't judge his fetish on its own but I'm side-eyeing him thinking it's a nifty family conversation in a pretty conservative group.

I don't want to think about why my sister is posting her pedicures on Facebook.

The evil of the massive shopping on Black Friday is largely the hypocracy of it in immediate proximity to Thanksgiving. Here's all the things we are so so thankful for...now we're gonna crush strangers in throngs of crazed consumerism. Plus, on the emergency services end of things...it's incredibly annoying to know that responders can barely fight through the crowds to get to the woman seizing in the floor near the electronics dept....upsetting.

I worked retail for years - there are a bunch of lies associated with it. First , it is not the biggest shopping day of the year. that day is about 1 week before christmas. Second, about 98 % of the sales - started on the Wednesday before . There are limited bargins for some stores - but that is just to get you in.

What I truely dislike is the encouragement of feeding frenzy behavior. While I get that being a part of something big is exciting, in the end it is still shoping.

and - as a btw, I like the crowds and the excitement in the air . Even working wasn't the worst. At least I wasn't bored.

Mom and I have done the Black Friday shopping thing every year I haven't worked retail. We don't go to Target or Walmart or the big electronic stores where the lines always seem to be long and crazy. We usually go to the mall, and I have gotten very good deals at certain stores. Mom and I get to spend the day together, and it's fun. If it gets too crazy, we leave and get breakfast somewhere. I have also worked many Black Fridays, the worst being at Victoria Secret because they are giving away those free bags every year, but I never really minded them. The days are usually very busy, and the shift just flies by, and like beth said, it's not the busiest shopping day of the year. It was much worse working the few days before Christmas when we were out of everything and couldn't order anything for anyone because they needed it NOW.

Tea: Mom and I didn't go Black Friday shopping this year because she ate things she shouldn't have yesterday and is now sick.

Here's all the things we are so so thankful for...now we're gonna crush strangers in throngs of crazed consumerism.

This.

I resent the forced, wildly manipulated, herd mentality of it all. And that people give into it without thinking.

As beth b says, 'Black Friday' is an illusion. Consumers are tricked into thinking that they are saving massive amounts when much of what they buy is probably cheaper at other times of the year.

Someone I otherwise respect very much made several comments yesterday of an 'it's racist, but hey, it's about a sporting event, so I get a pass' (and is a person of color) nature on facebook yesterday and then followed it up with "I can't help myself, I'm headed to BoxStore."

I just don't understand getting caught up in the fervor.

Like beth, I've worked retail during the holidays and didn't really mind it. There are, obviously, a higher percentage of anxious people, but whatever.

It's just the corporate bullying that bothers me.

eta: I should add that I am not making a link between racism and consumerism, though that is another area rife with racism. In this particular case, I was already looking 'side-eyed' (what a great phrase from up thread!) at that person. The 'uncontrollable' shopping just added extra, 'whuh?'