Black Friday.

It’s what everyone likes. It’s what everyone wants to do. It’s what they call madness.

Imagine yourself standing in line outside in the fall/winter cold from nine o’clock at night until midnight waiting for the various stores and malls to open the door out and let yourself have some air conditioning. At that moment, you are then at the next stage/challenge. You are now in a foot-race with hundreds of people running towards the best electronics with the best deals possible, running like they’ve never run before. Take a moment to look around you, at the people’s faces. They're full of greed, wanting to get their holiday shopping done along with getting the best deals no matter what…even if they get hurt. One question though, is it worth the risk?

Is it REALLY worth the risk? Are the deals even good? Do you want to get hurt and possibly severely injured just for a fifty dollar discount? Ask yourself these questions when you're shopping. Your health is priceless compared to those deals...so do you think its worth it? I don’t. What about you?

It really isn’t worth it...and I’ve learned it the hard way.

Black Friday shopping isn’t easy and it is not fun! You’ve got to wait outside for a long time in the freezing cold. Stores open up and then you fight for the gifts and presents and then turn out to be a failure at getting what you want. Then that person gets sick for about a week and has a couple cuts and one bruise.That person is me. Black Friday is a messy failure. Its a complete failure. You get nothing out of it. It is not worth it. Because the thing is, it is not worth the time and it is not worth the effort. I failed to get what I want. That happens to many others and people get mad, angry, and sad because they can’t a gift for their children or parents. They can’t get whatever they want at a time where they might be able to afford it (if the price is good and is an actual sale). Literally the three words that describe Black Friday are FAILURE, WASTE, AND GREED! People fail to get what they want, people waste their time for something that is not worth it, and people have greed and just shove anyone in their way and either get hurt or get someone else hurt and just keep running, not paying attention to anything going on except for the fact that they apparently NEED SOMETHING DESPERATELY OR ELSE THE WORLD WILL END.



Have you ever wondered about the employees that work on Black Friday? Probably Not.

Have you ever wondered about how tired and annoyed they are when people keep asking questions and screaming and misbehaving? Probably Not.


Have you ever wondered about how they are using their holiday time to help and work at various stores instead of being happy with maybe their family and friends? Probably Not.

These Employees are trying to help and work for some money instead of spending their holidays like the others. That is not fair at all. I mean, if Black Friday wasn’t a big mess then it would be ok. But, it isn’t. These Employees have to work on a HOLIDAY! People should do one of two things to make it fair for the employees. 1. Have no Black Friday in general and give the Employees a break since it is their vacation/holiday...or 2. Have Black Friday be less of a mess, the people shopping just calm down and just shop like regular people as if it wasn’t Black Friday. This will allow Employees to be more relaxed and comfortable when their working instead of them being in a panic or rush to help every customer.

Many people say that Black Friday isn’t worth the time. In a vote conducted by CBS DC, 43% of Black Friday shoppers don’t think Black Friday is fun and that it is too risky. That shows that almost half of the Black Friday shoppers aren’t satisfied with Black Friday shopping. In another vote conducted by CBS DC, 7% of people said that Black Friday was the best shopping day of the year. However, about 75% of people also said that Black Friday is an all out battle that puts people in a bad mood! Another survey that was conducted by the 8th grade Section 3 class at the RAUC had results that 70% percent of the students disagreed that “Black Friday was fun and that you got everything you wanted with the best sales.” This shows that the majority of the people going shopping for Black Friday don’t really enjoy it and creates problems and more madness aside from the madness within stores.

Many people also like to argue that Black Friday gives you all the best deals for the things they want for the holidays. But sadly, they are wrong. Vera Gibbons, a financial expert, said many things about the Black Friday deals. She said that exercise equipment and winter coats are the most heavily discounted in January, which meant that people buying stuff within this category aren’t saving as much as they think they were. Gibbons even gave a list of what not to buy on Black Friday. She said not to buy kitchen electronics and small appliances because on average, they are 16% less expensive in early December than on Black Friday! Vera Gibbons also said to avoid buying toys because, “You get a better deal in the couple weeks leading up to Christmas, maybe two weeks prior to Christmas.” The madness continues as Gibbons said that 97 million people are expected to shop on Black Friday versus 33 million on Thanksgiving! So with many people shopping and risking their health, how can people get their shopping done? There is too much madness and people need to stop risking their health for prices that aren’t even worth it.

There are many other ways to do holiday shopping while not risking your health. It’s called Cyber Monday. It’s a way to shop using technology. It’s a way to buy what you want for the right deals without getting hurt in the process. Many people have already avoided doing that like 8th grade ELA teacher, Mr.Saveriano at the RAUC. And he says that Black Friday, “is a bad way to do your holiday shopping.” Black Friday is just a made up thing that became a national term in the 90s and just a regular thing in Philadelphia...and to be honest, it should have stayed that way!