I woke my dad up at 1:45 and we proceeded to put on several layers of clothing. I had 6 layers on top, including my coat, and about 3 layers on the bottom. Yay leggings. I also put on some hardcore socks, but made a poor decision in shoes. My toes pretty much froze the whole night. Note to self: don't wear crappy shoes for Black Friday. But anyways. We got bundled up and put a bunch of other random crap in the car like a portable DVD player and lawn chairs, and made it about two houses down the street before we realized that we had forgotten my dad's cell phone and the newspaper ad. So we made the typical Lehman return to the house before we had made it down the street. Classic.
Best Buy is right next to Office Max, and when we got there around 2:30, the line started at the door of Best Buy, went all the way across Office Max, and was wrapped around the store. So we got our place in line and set up our lawn chairs and began the freezing process. It was pretty insane. There was a bunch of people with tents set up and a bunch more sleeping on the sidewalks with sleeping bags, including one couple canoodling in the same sleeping bag. Pansies. Just stay up all night. Anyways. About 40% of the line was Asian. My dad was probably part of like, 3% of the line that was over the age of 30, at which point I realized just how cool my dad really is. I actually almost felt like I was hanging with a bunch of homeless people in Mongolia (I did look it up, and Mongolia is an Asian country that does have characteristically long and cold winters) and should have brought sandwiches and juice, except that the people there obviously weren't needing food if they were standing in line at Best Buy, where the cheapest item you'd be waiting outside of the store for would be like, $150. We were behind a group of college-aged Asians who were very entertaining to watch, and in front of a couple MSU guys who are also managers of the Michigan State football team. That was a plus.... lots of the people in line being attractive college-aged males.
The first hour or so, I sat and people watched and froze, wishing that I knew Chinese or Korean or whatever the language that the guys in front of us were speaking. I can't tell the difference between Chinese and Koreans. That's probably horrible, but I can't. Some dudes for Boost Mobile came out. They all kind of looked like they were from the Mexican Mafia. They gave us granola bars and Sunny D and Boost Mobile flyers that were really just one more thing to sit on. They actually kind of swore a lot. One of them was like "F*** at&t," at which point I thought about hiding my at&t phone. Around 3, the tickets were supposed to be coming out, so I walked to the front of the line to see if they were starting that yet. By 3:20, nothing had happened and I was starting to get a little worried that the newspaper ad had told all lies and that there weren't any tickets and that all the Asians in front of me where going to take all the Toshibas. This may be stereotypical, but I mean come on, out of Dell, HP, Mac, Sony, and Toshiba, which one sounds most Asian? Totally Toshiba. I kinda felt like a fox or something too because I just kept walking back and forth and back and forth, observing the line/my competition. I counted that there were 115 people in front of us. I got tired of walking back and forth and ended up sitting across the street from the store on the light pole, just watching to see if anything was going on. I think around maybe 3:45, they started handing out wristbands. I hadn't read anything about wristbands, but it got me excited anyways so I went back with my dad. They gave us the green wristbands and said that this would ensure that people in line would get the wristbands and would be let in first and those that didn't have wristbands obviously were cutting everyone else in line and they would know and do something about it.
Liars.
Around 4, people were getting ancy (antsy?) and they started putting away their tents and such. That got us from around the corner and actually about 10 feet from the actual Best Buy store instead of behind Office Max. At that point, I went to the car, turned on the heat, and shoved my feet in the air vent because I could not feel my toes. After about 20 minutes, I had regained some feeling, and thought that I saw that they were handing out the tickets, so I went back to get in line. Around this point, my dad assumed his typical tendency and talked the ear off of the guys behind us. And they were cute. Unfortunately, my dad asks a lot of questions. Kind of weird questions too. A little embarrassing, but overall comical. Around 4:40 I was getting kind of nervous because we hadn't gotten computer tickets and there was only 20 minutes til the door opened. The washer and drier and tv tickets had already gone by and I was about to give up hope. But at like, 4:50, a mere/lucky 10 minutes before the hoard of costumers stormed, they came back with the computer ones. They were all out of tickets for lots of different laptops, but not the Toshibas :) I got my ticket and felt SO relieved, but still really nervous at the same time. I wasn't sure what the point of the ticket was honestly. I was also worried I was going to get trampled.
The doors opened at 5 and everyone cheered and rushed in, including a bunch of stupid people who had come at like, 4:50 and just ran in with the line instead of taking their place in the back. Green wristband protection my arse. I made a mad dash for the side where the computers were, and everything was blocked off by towers of boxes with electronics in them. I couldn't find Toshiba ANYWHERE!!! I thought about trying to leap over boxes of printers, but figured that would most definitely classify me as one of those Black Friday crazies. I had my dad stay in this one area while I ran around, and then I heard someone yell "If you're getting a new computer the line is over here" at which point me and a bunch of other people stampeded towards the guy. However, it was pretty much just a random detour to get back to exactly where we had been, just farther back in line. Douche. But my dad who had followed my directions, ended up like, 10th in line for the computers. They were taking people one at a time to get them and those with tickets got first priority. I had the ticket, so I had to go up and kind of cut people to join my dad, and some people were stinkin pissed. Mostly the door jumpers, cuz they realized they were pretty much screwed without the tickets and even though they thought they had screwed the system by running in anyways, they had failed. Suckers. At that point, I held my ticket close to my chest and almost felt like I had a golden ticket like in Willy Wonka. I hear that people are crazy and will take stuff right out of your hands. I thought about putting it inside my shirt but then thought better of it.
We got to the front of the line, and an employee took us and hooked us up with the computer. I was SO happy. Our checkout dude reminded me of a white Carlton. We got out with the computer/printer/microsoft at like, 5:45ish, and then went back in cuz my Dad wanted to look at a couple things and I wanted to look at movies. I found my parents a nice Christmas Present to get for me (Office Season 5 for $14.99 :)) and also got a 4 Oceans movie set ($10) for my mom that I am also quite aware will more than likely end up in my movie case. We had to get in line for the register, which was nuts. They had had a separate register for the computers, so that went a lot faster. But the regular register line was backed up and winded all throughout the washer/drier section. We finally made our purchases and peaced out about 6:30. We got back and woke my mom up and told her all about it until like 7:15, at which point I went to bed and the sun had risen. It was the third time this week I had been up past 7am. NOT OKAY!!! My poor dear sleep schedule. I say as I type at 4am. Grrrrr... It doesn't help that I slept in, undisturbed, actually even mouth open and drooling until STUPID 4 PM!!!! That is the latest is have EVER slept in. Ay yi yi. Not good not goood.
Well that in a nutshell, was my Black Friday experience. In the eyes of my Sociology/Social Work professors, it was American consumerism at its worst. In the eyes of Oliver Beans, it was the focal point of my economic contribution. Oh. Also, the entire time my dad was regretting not going to the Best Buy on the other side of town because he figured there'd be less Asians, err, International students, on that side of town wanting laptops. Tonight on the news we heard that they had to call the police at that Best Buy because of some incidents that had occurred. I found that rather hilarious. Guess we made the right choice.
After I woke up, I went to Liv's. Her dad set up my new computer, and we watched Dorm Life, ate food, and even saw John for a little bit. Then I came home and realized we don't know our wifi password. But alas, it is time for me to go to bed. Before the sun rises. I took benadryl to assist. Also, I just figured out today how to post pictures. So here's a few.
There's the "Before" picture with my father, taken when we had first arrived. He's so photogenic.
The crowd in front of us around 4:30ish
THE GOLDEN TICKET :) :) :) SUCK IT NON-WRISTBAND-WEARING-SISSIES!!!! Dangit I AM one of those people.
Couple of my favorite people in the whole wide world :)
And that's a wrap.
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