Hide your wallet, hide your wife: It’s Black Friday

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, right? Nothing sums up the love and joy of the holiday season like verbally or physically berating your fellow shopper while on a blood-thirsty hunt to get that last flat-screen plasma TV.Like a recent meme says, “Because only in America, people trample others for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have.” Oh the irony—the repulsive irony.Most people have a love/hate relationship with Black Friday. The phenomenon that is Black Friday has changed rapidly over the past several years. What used to start out as early mornings—like 5 a.m.—then go on to great savings and a busy, but enjoyable shopping trip, has now become a headache. Most stores now open at midnight—and some even opened Thursday night. Some families might have a tradition of decorating their tree, making cookies or watching movies on Thanksgiving night—but I guess they’ll have to make way for becoming intense Black Friday folks.

While I could have gone out and braved the elements—both the weather and insane shoppers—I instead chose to enjoy my Friday off. Besides, relaxing comfortably behind my computer screen on Cyber Monday seems much more appealing.

Because of the growing online market, your average malls and stores have to boost their sales just to compete. Watching the coverage of this past Black Friday though, there hadn’t seemed to be an adverse effect on the stores yet.

There’s always a chuckle to be had when watching people push and shove to get through a crowded doorway so they can reach their beloved Victoria’s Secret unmentionables. There’s screaming and arm flailing among grown women—now that is scary.

And there are always the lovely people who threaten to hurt and, yes, even kill their fellow shoppers. Guys, you don’t need the “Tickle-Me-Elmo” doll that badly. The real champs were the folks in their pajamas and slippers, needing to be detained by police, while waiting in a line that wraps around the store.

More than the craziness of Black Friday, there’s the whole principle of the day. Instead of focusing on being thankful for what you have, people are so intent on what more they can get. It is just money. They are just possessions. It’s putting a selfish, negative spin on a normally joyous holiday season. Is it really worth it?