Day 217

I suppose a blog about a year free of buying would be remiss without addressing the proverbial elephant in the room.

Black Friday–which is now apparently preceded by Dark Grey Thursday

Although, it does seem a bit cliché doesn’t it?  I was actually going to ignore Black Friday which inexplicably gets capitalized in all of the news stories I have read, like it’s the title of an actual holiday like Labor Day and Independence Day.  Plus, we are spending our holiday weekend at a lovely family-friendly resort* and obviously I didn’t have plans to venture out shopping so I assumed today’s shopping orgy would pass me by unnoticed.

Except it didn’t

Because when I woke up this morning, I had a little red icon on my phone beckoning me to my NINETY-SIX emails, of which about 92 of them were from various retailers all trying to seduce me with their deeply discounted wares.  Some retailers sent several…in case I didn’t get it the first time. Clearly, I need to spend some email time doing some opting out.

At the hotel gym, I watched TV while I stepped, ran and pedaled.  And, Black Friday was not only the lead news story on every channel, it was practically the ONLY story on this morning.  In forty minutes, there were virtually only stories about shopping and great deals.  I’m assuming the Middle East didn’t reach peace overnight; so I’m guessing, if nothing else, there could have been SOMETHING to say about that on CNN.

And then, while walking to get a cup of tea, I passed the golf pro shop that had “Black Friday Deals” neatly lettered on a placard outside the store.  I am pleased to report there wasn’t a crowd inside, just one, slightly bored looking, clerk.

But again, I digress.

If you are still shopping, I am all for getting a great deal.  I do question the whole non-event, event we have created out of the day, but clearly I am in the minority and I will admit; I have been out a time or two over the years.

I guess tomorrow is shop at local stores day (or something like that) which seems to me like a much better idea even though it was conceived and promoted by American Express and might be a little self-serving of them.  I guess they needed another day of retail frenzy between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Still, can you imagine if that day reached Black Friday like frenzy?  That might actually save small businesses and subsequently the US dollar. Although, I’m not an economist and don’t actually know what I am talking about, so I wouldn’t start posting that on your Facebook page as fact…oh what the hell, go ahead, I haven’t noticed much fact checking on Facebook, so you might as well join in.

You could write something like, “According to experts (that would be me), if each consumer were to buy one item at a local business for each item they purchased at a mass merchandiser on Black Friday, the US economy would turn around on Jan 23, 2013 at 4:01 PM.“

I like it.

*The resort we are staying in is the JW Marriott which offers a very nice military rate of $106 plus resort fees a night when available as part of a “Salute to Those Who Serve” campaign when available which I think is nice. And, even if you are not military, I think they offer good off-season rates.  I am not getting paid nor compensated in any way to say it is lovely, the kids have been having a ball and I would offer that each member of our family would agree they are far happier spending money on something like that than a cheap cashmere sweater or half-price toy.