I'm working at Panera Bread on Black Friday. Normally, that wouldn't be too bad (especially since I'm not opening), except that said Panera is at the busiest mall in the bloody state. On the other hand, the company did realize that carrot > stick, so they're giving out $100bux bonuses to everyone who works that day and, uh, today. You wouldn't think that the Monday before Thanksgiving would be busy, but what do I know.

I'm sure as HELL not looking forward to finding a parking spot, though. Might be a good time to drag out ye olde Vino 125.

I don't really need anything, so I'm not going out on Black Friday unless some shop offers up a killer deal on some better PC speakers or maybe games/CD's.

I am never going out on Black Friday. Never have, never will. It's just not worth the hassle.

Comp USA has some early bird specials on Thursday night from something like 8-11 PM, how bad do you think it would be during that time?

I remember opening the bagel shop where I used to work around 5am on Black Friday.

There were literally riots and violent soccer mom's trying to get into Walmart. They broke the windows, demanding their cheap vacuums and DVDs.

It's great to be an American.

Believe it or not, I miss it. Over here, there is no Black Friday. I have to explain the concept of it. Granted, I might miss it because I miss holidays that are associated with it (Thanksgiving and Christmas) which aren't really celebrated.

I guess that's because I am the type of person who LOVES to go out, find the good deals on holidays, and let people know. The last few years though (save for getting a few music CD's) the deals haven't been so great. Also, more and more are going online (although it is ridculiously impossible to take advantage of some like the Circuit City laptop deal for 300 that sold out in 10 minutes).

I would still do it, but not expect to really find anyway. Game-wise, I really have seen NO good deals anymore.

I'll be working on black friday so I cant do anything. I wasnt really going to go out anyway. I was originally planning to, but then after seeing the deals available I was unimpressed. Last years deals were a lot better. Nothing really exciting this year.

New computer, digital picture frame, and car cd player from Circuit City, a portable dvd player from Wal-Mart, and a 150 piece tool set from Pep Boys. The rest of my time I'll be spending at JC Pennys. I need a new outfit with some boots for the Christmas party they'll be having at work.

Hopefully everything will go as planned.

I'll be getting in on some of the Black Friday madness. I've done it on some years, including last year. This year two big items I'll be targeting are a laptop since an old one died a few weeks ago and a ubernormous HDTV (probably DLP to rep my company and all) since the Black Friday discounts are way better than any available employee discount. And as usual, I'll be grabbing any other cheap hard drives and various devices that I find.

Other than computer stuffs and electronics, I also hit up some clothing and shoes stores/outlets. My wardrobe tends to get some major updates after this weekend of the year. I also always come out with at least another pair of shoes. Plus it's a great start for Christmas shopping.

But if there's complete mission failure, there's always Cyber Monday to look forward to.

I can't stand large crowds. They literally make me go batshit insane. My floormates thought I had some sort of nervous breakdown because I left the DC (dining commons) abruptly after a huge Christmas dinner and didn't leave my room for a couple days, and barely talked. It seriously screws with my head. I hate people, and I'll do anything to avoid situations like Black Friday.

It's worth paying an extra $30-$40 for an item on the off chance that I need it if I don't have to deal with Black Friday nonsense.

There's still decent deals in the afternoon after everyone has cleared out. Maybe not quite as good as it would be otherwise, but at least it isn't insane.

For those who work retail on Black Friday, or for those who have gone a few times, what do people tend to flock to? I've never participated in the maddness, but i'm trying to get an hdtv and am thinking the dealz maybe worth the hassle. I'm hoping since i'm looking for a large, expensive item, and essentially ignoring the small, cheaper stuff that the crowds won't be as much of an issue. Unless a few hundred other people have the same idea.

Also, Naz, i haven't heard about Cyber Monday - i can well enough imagine what it is but i figured you generally get good deals online anyways...

I usually don't shop on Black Friday, but this year is different. We're planning on getting an HDTV (at last), and since I'm the only one willing, I'll be dropped off Thursday night at whatever place has the best deal on one. Aside from that, I'll just have to see in tomorrow or Thursday's ads what kind of deals are going on, be it in games or any sort of electronics. I also might stop by Kohl's sometime on Friday and see if I can get some cheap clothes.

I'm still undecided on whether or not I'm doing it this year. There are quite a few things I want to get (mainly for myself), but I'm wondering if the hassle is honestly worth it. Last year I waited in line for two hours at Circuit City just to get three things (two of which were actually on sale, but I've actually seen cheaper since then), which was ridiculous. There are definitely more things I want to get this year, but who knows if it'll even be worth it (despite going pretty early last year I still didn't get everything I wanted).

I currently work at Mervyn's in Morgan Hill, CA, and have to be up at 2AM to get to work by 3AM cause we open at 4. Sigh, I'm gonna hate that friday, but at least we get time and a half. Anywhoo, if anyone wants any discounts, just get your stuff rung up at the shoes department and mention gamingforce. I'll give yall' a 15% bonus off for no reason just because its so busy that my bosses won't notice. Plus, if you buy one of our jackets (I think its the fleece one), you'll get two extra absolutely FREE. Plus, I think I'm still gonna head over to the new target after my shift, just to see if anything is left. Too bad Xboxs aren't experienceing too much of a price reduction on this day.

Lawl-Mart has gotten pretty shitty with their policies now. No one can EVER have a full weekend off. You either work Saturday or you work Sunday. They put in a few months back that dress code for EVERYONE. Ugh. I hope to god I never work there again.

As to Black Friday, it's just too crazy. One year my dad actually thought he was going to do some Christmas shopping on BF. I laughed. To get shit done you have to beat the soccer moms and all those deal grabbers who are waiting in their cars at like 4 am in the parking lot, waiting for employees to come outside and unlock the doors. Then you have to run and HOPE you can get something popular before everyone else (and then if it's something huge like a Wii, expect offers for it all throughout your shopping, while keeping an eye on your buggy.)

I don't know why people go so apeshit on BF (other than the obvious, gotta have it now/last minute shopping crap). I salute all you in retail. I don't want to deal with that ever again. :|

The past two years I've gone to my local Best Buy's BF sales. The first year it was great, last year was chaos, so hopefully they'll have gotten their act together this year. It's a lot of fun since I go with a group of friends and we have a great time while waiting in line either via DS multiplayer games, card games, or board games (Risk and Monopoly work great).

This year there's really nothing in the ad that's catching my eye (Except a $100 19" LCD monitor. Yes please!), so I'm just going for the fun of it. It's something that I feel I can handle once every 365.25 days. That and going to bed after I get home feels great.

PS3
 

I'm planning to buy a PS3. Are there any good online deals on Black Friday?
Also, what is recommended? 40GB or 60GB...?

Amazon.com had the customer vote Thanksgiving deal, but I was too late :(

Six hours to go. I'd like to wish everyone the best of luck on getting what they want. This is my first BF shopping experience so I hope everything turns out all right. Have fun everyone!

Remember, last year had the launch of the PS3, and people were buying them on Black Friday just to sell them on ebay....

I've been to an early morning Black Friday sale just once--it was in wal-Mart, and I bought one item.

My mom has said this to me this year:

"We're checking out Wal-Mart's parking lot. If it's full, we're going somewhere else...."

I love my mom. :)

I went to CompUSA earlier tonight to try and get their earlybird specials that were being held on Thursday night from 9:00-Midnight. I got there at 10:00. They were fucking closed. :mad:

I went to radio shack to get my $99 brown Zune. They had been open for 5 minutes (I'm assuming because the ad said they opened at 6am.) Out of stock. So was newegg. Had to buy it from Dell online. Came out cheaper that way anyways, but I still kinda wanted it today.

The wife and I bought some clothes at my mom's JCPenney store before that, also. But no more shopping for me.

I saw some of the most crunk shit of my life today at Best Buy

Best Buy had this like $299 laptop -- and my location only had one. Two 40-year old women got into a slapping match over the only reserve ticket for one and ended up tearing the thing in half, so the staff had to go back in and print up another one and some smelly redneck ended up getting -- he proceeded to sell it to someone else in the crowd for 250 bucks.

People are so fucking stupid.

I was thinking about getting up this morning and going to check it out [since i went last year for the PSP deal at wal-mart, thanks GFF for letting me know about that :D], But after reading Night Phoenix's post...i'm kinda glad I didn't.