Friday, November 26, 2010

A thought for Black Friday

There is something slap-happily incongrous here: a day of thanksgiving followed by a day devoted to buying more stuff. True, the stuff is for other people, who themselves might be out buying stuff for other people — people like (let us hope) us.

comments: 6

Pete said...

And now stores (like Sears) are trying to preempt Black Friday by now being open on Thanksgiving for the first time. Pretty soon Black Friday will be obsolete, and shopping on Thanksgiving will become more important than spending family time together. Sick.

Michael Leddy said...

One thing with Thanksgiving though: people doing serious cooking are unlikely to want to be out before dawn to shop. Perhaps shopping will remain a post-meal effort. Or maybe the cooking will go, replaced by turkey-themed take-out.

I did my bit for the economy today by going out for Thai food with my family. For most of the time we were having lunch, we were the only people in the restaurant.

Elaine said...

Since I hate to go shopping even on a day with no crowds and traffic, Black Friday means I am the despair of retailers. Instead, we put up our tree and added some decorations, played Russian Bank and Skip-Bo, and had a second feast on left-overs. Viola! Thankful!

Michael Leddy said...

Our game was the one played in Inglourious Basterds, asking questions to figure out a person’s name. It sounds simple, even dumb, but in practice it’s great fun, at least the way our family plays it.

Other Elaine said...

Botticelli? I used to play that with friends (and even my colleagues who car-pooled to remote West Clermont School District from Cincinnati--45 minutes each way.) Good fun! (I haven't seen the movie yet; am about 10 years behind.)

Michael Leddy said...

I haven’t seen the movie; that’s just the way my fambly knows about the game. Nor did I know the game has a name. Thank you, Elaine!