I'm Lindsay Ferrier, a Nashville writer with a passion for family travel, exploring Tennessee, and raising kids without losing my mind in the process. This is where I share my discoveries, along with occasional deep thoughts, pop culture tangents and a sprinkling of snark. Want to get in touch? Use the CONTACT form at the top of the page.
November 25, 2007
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For the first time ever, I participated this year in Black Friday, that fateful day-after-Thanksgiving in which thousands of people line up at ungodly hours of the morning for big time bargains.
Apparently, I was part of a record number of people participating in the sales event of the year. The rationale is that the economy is doing so bad that people are going to extraordinary lengths to stretch their dollars for Christmas. In one article I read, a woman who had spent the night in front of Best Buy explained that she had lost her job, and so she was willing to do what it took to get an eight hundred dollar laptop for a mere $400.
Hold up.
Is it really a good idea to buy a laptop after losing your job? Couldn’t that $400 be better spent on, oh I don’t know, groceries? Or rent?
True to form, I saw dozens of people outside Best Buy and Wal-Mart, their carts laden with plasma monitors, computers, and video game consoles. A number of these people looked like they were struggling financially, if you know what I mean, yet they had certainly racked up the deals at 5am. At least when their houses were foreclosed on, they’d have that 42 inch flat screen TV to take with them, and they could sleep peacefully knowing they paid only a grand for it when it retailed for $1500.
I was talking to my husband about what I’d seen and it reminded him of the time he’d interviewed a man who was facing hard times and living in what my husband remembered as “a rathole.”
“It’s been real rough,” he told my husband. “This Christmas, we’re having to budget only $500 a person.”
Mkay.
I’m starting to feel like a real Scrooge.
This post originally appeared on Parents.com.
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