The day (or really early morning) after Thanksgiving

I did something today that I swore I would never do: went Friday after Thanksgiving sale shopping. And it was unbelievable.

It's 8:30 now, and I've been up for just under 3 hours. I was awoken by my brother at 6 am when he and my mom and Eric (Scott's friend from down the street) got home from shopping for leather jackets (yes...they got home at 6). We stumbled off to staples, which was as I would have expected. There were maybe 15-20 people in the store, taking advantage of some deals. The only shock was that the DVD burner that Eric wanted for $40 was already sold out! Anyway, I bought a jump drive for a friend, and some cheap batteries (my palm will soon be back in action!), and we moved on.

The real jolt came as we arrived at Office Max. It didn't open until 7 am, but I was confused as to why Scott seemed worried that we were running late was we went up Glenwood towards where Office Max is located around 6:40. When we parked, it became clear. There were about 60-70 people in line outside of the store, waiting. We quickly got in line, and in the next 20 minutes before they opened, the line at least doubled in size. I don't understand it! Eric was telling us about how last year some guy tried to jump to the front of the line, and some other guy punched him in the face!

Once we got into the store, it was a mad house. People pushing and shoving. Several packs of 100 CD-rs that were free (in 4-6 weeks, after a rebate of course) were shattered open on the floors. Desk chairs that look very much like the one I have in my room were strewn throughout the aisles (they were on sale for $19.95). I grabbed all the stuff I wanted: a smaller jump drive, a USB hub, a three pack of VHS tapes, and a 100 pack of CD-rs. Then I went to look for Scott and Eric. After about 10 minutes of looking, Scott yelled at me from the registers, "David, you'd better get in line if we wanna leave in the next hour." He later told me he had forgot to tell me the first rule of rebate shopping: Get your stuff, get in line, and meet outside. I understand that rule now. I went to the end of the line, which was half way across the store, and waited for 45 minutes! But even worse, by the time I left, the line was over twice as long!

Maybe this is boring some of you, if this all seems common place. But I had no idea. I ended up spending about $130, $10 of which my friend should pay me back for, $20 of which I spent on a memory card for my camera, and the other $100 I should be receiving back in the next 4-6 weeks as rebates.

All in all, I would say this morning was interesting. When I was in line, Scott said to me "People are so stupid for doing this." Before I could point out that he was here too, he added, "And that doesn't preclude me."