The alarm on the nightstand at my mother’s house was set for 3am this morning to wake us up for the unthinkable. The smell of turkey and pumpkin pie still lingering in the air, we made a pack – we were going to camp out at Wal-Mart.
All who know me know I hate Wal-Mart. They put small businesses out of business and bully their vendors. They deflate profit margins, make competition impossible, and are working towards a global monopoly where they could then price anyway they want.
But the economy is bad, so I’ll get off my soap box and admit if we are going to recover, people have to buy things – anywhere they can. I wanted to see first hand if we are on an up-tick. I also heard they were letting people sleep in the store before opening at 5am alongside the items they wanted to buy. Camping out next to stuff in the store? Camera phone in hand I went to bed with visions of Mullet haircuts and grown folks in pajamas dancing in my head.
I’m not as perky and enthusiastic at 3am and I imagined I would be at 9pm. That aside, the scene inside was not what I expected.
These were everyday people. Sleepy like me, all trying to get a little more for their Christmas dollars. There were orderly lines, marked with gold balloons down almost every isle and somewhat helpful associates with “event staff” name badges.
And an event this was.
This line in the pet isle was for $219 lap tops. The woman I spoke with wanted to get one for her daughter who left for college with out a computer because they couldn’t afford one. Psp’s were $89.99, and I was told this is a steal. I didn’t know what this was before, but I was in the minority because the line stretched for 2 isles.
I spoke with a lot of people -- what is this line for? When did you get here? How much is that? Most people were buying gifts. And I saw lots of people paying with cash.
So I continued to wonder around when I stumbled on one line away from the rest. It was long and separated and took over almost 4 isles in the toy section. At the front, an army of event staff stood on tall pallets handing out flat screen TV’s.
“How much are these?”
“$249.99, 32 inches.” The event man said proudly. “But you can’t get a ticket, they were all given out a long time ago.”
I wasn’t in the market for a TV, but $250 bucks was unbelievable. I walked down a few more isles, past the end of the line, and there, low and behold, an event staff member had more tickets. He didn’t realize there were supposed to be no more. He wasn’t told it was supposed to be over. I could buy one. I could get on line and walk away with one. I paused for a moment before I crossed over to the dark side down the Barbie dress up isle…
I won’t bore you with the gory details of all that happened next. But know that football at my house on Sundays will now be viewed in HD.
Wall-Mart (1) verses this Big City Girl => Wall-Mart wins – TKO
