Toys R Us |

Black Friday

Posted by Justin at 18:17 Plain 'ol Cantankerous, rants

Jul 072014

: Image by thinbegin via Flickr

Do you get caught up in the business of what has become common in these here United States and gone forth into the great unknown that is Black Friday? You know you get a newspaper chocked full of advertisements to make your kids drool and then you head out into the cold early in the morning (or late at night) to get a “deal” on these things?

Well as I type this it is almost 7am. decent people should be asleep or just waking up if you are one of those “morning” type people. I am not one of those. Still, Toys R Us opened on Thanksgiving night at 2200, sorry, 10 pm to let the sales start. Walmart started selling stuff at 1201 am. Sometimes I am still amazed at the lengths that parents go to to make Christmas special for their kids. (*note, this is a stock picture and not of the toys r us I was at. if it were, I would have started about beyond the picture at least double if not triple the people that are shown here*)

Tonight I saw some very interesting points of Humanity. I saw grumblers and malcontents waiting in line with the placid and the comical, all hoping to get inside the store before the 12 degrees afforded to us by a doozy cold front froze parts that we would rather have not frozen. I saw people just grabbing things, for the sole purpose that they were on sale and then proceeding to misread the 20 items or less sign and seem to see an extra zero on it. I could blame fatigue, but it was on 0230 at that point.

One thing I didn’t see was people fighting over things. I have always heard stories of things coming to blows over a toy or a movie, but I didn’t see any of that. I guess the earlier times opening helped out with that. I also saw people in relatively good spirits. People who were forced to be together by the commercialness that Christmas has become. But most people were nice to each other, or ignored most everyone else (like I did) while plugged into my MP3 player. I thought at one point that there was some hope, albeit small and shrunken like the raisin you find under the stove next spring, that humanity can endure.

So yes I fell, no jumped, into the quagmire that is Black Friday and came out tired but unscathed on the other side. It made me all the more happy that we decided to have our kids make gifts for each other and for the Grandparents. It beats waiting in the cold. And then I got a call from my wife that you could get darn near everything online for the same price. What a load of crap.

I would so love it if anyone reading this would regale us with tales of Black Friday present or Black Friday past. The comment section is lonely and wants to hear from you. Yes you, guy in the red shirt, leave a comment! And then please share via one of the many exciting social networking sites listed below.

Thanks for reading, I can’t wait to hear your stories.

-Justin

Justin

Justin is the young Coot with a Cantankerous Soul who continues to be educated by older, more cootish Ralph and Bob. His Cantankerosity is his own.

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It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Posted by Ralph at 06:32 rants

Aug 032012

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 22: Christmas...

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Justin just reminded me that there are only two weeks until Christmas. Depending on your circumstances that might seem like good news or bad news but whichever it is for you, it won’t be long now. The big day is almost here, But the great thing about retirement is that somehow, it’s just not such a big deal.

For some folks this means a bunch of hassle. Take shopping. It as been years since I set foot in a Toys R Us but I remember in years past that I shopped late at night in a vain attempt to avoid the crowds.

Image via Wikipedia

These days I just don’t have much shopping pressure going on. I haven’t bought a Christmas present yet and when I do, I don’t plan to brave the crowds at the mall. I expect to do it on line from Amazon.

We don’t have a tree up yet. With the kids out of the house, it gets harder and harder to get our and do it. My wife thinks it is a waste of effort. I’d say right now we’ve got about a 50% chance of doing a tree this year. I know it is the right thing to do and the only way I’m going to work up any real Christmas spirit. But it is still a challenge. Around my house, my wife is Scrooge and I’m Bob Cratchit. Where are those ghosts when you need them?

And then there are the Christmas cards? I’m going to send them but my original plan to create a photo montage of the year is looking like a non starter. I’ve got pictures somewhere but I just don’t have the time to find them. Then I have to put the card together. Somehow that has to happen this week – or not at all. It will probably be a stock card.

I don’t do lights either. A few years back, I decided to put up Christmas lights since our new house is only one story. I bought them and put them up thinking that it would finally satisfy my son who had been whining for years about having the only parents that didn’t decorate their house. Well instead of patting me on the back he pointed out that my lights were crocked unlike Mike’s across the street. That was the end of Christmas lights for me. I’ll just enjoy Mike’s and if my son wants lights, he can put them up himself.

So that’s what I have left to do for Christmas this year. Compared to other years when the kids were little, it doesn’t seem like much. Still I wonder if I will actually get it all done. I haven’t even loaded the Christmas music in the CD player.

Well, enough about me. What about your Christmas commitments and priorities? What is your least favorite Christmas tradition and if you have eliminated it altogether, share that in a comment.

Who do you prefer to deliver the CNS news report?