According to marketers, the day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday and the Monday after is Cyber Monday (see Gordon's post last year on Cyber Monday).  Yesterday, however, I had the opportunity to do some holiday shopping, and I felt like I was carrying a tray of Margaritas around the neighborhood at 8:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning.  I suppose that some of the craziness last Friday is due to a mob mentality:  we're all here in line, and my overspending looks like nothing compared to yours.  This craziness, however, does not extend to last night after dinner.

On Thursday, my mother and I saw that Wal-Mart was advertising as a "door-buster" a DVD/TV combination in your choice of Dora the Explorer or SpongeBob SquarePants for $79.88.  This seemed like quite a bargain to us, but neither of us wanted to get up at 5:00 a.m. to stand in line for it.  So, we let it go.  When we checked the website mid-morning, the TVs were "out of stock."  Darn.  On a lark, I stopped in to the Wal-Mart last night to see if any sets were left over, and to my surprise there was a whole stack of them.  Although a rumpled sign told me that they were $79.88 from 6-11 a.m. Friday morning only, they were still $79.88 at the register.  However, I felt no sense of shopping victory lugging my cart with one of each for my kids (presents from my mom).  I felt very conspicuous and kind of dirty standing in line with TWO TELEVISIONS behind a woman buying butter and a man buying lighter fluid.  I needed the roar of the crowd.

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