“Take that money watch it burn, sink in the river the lessons I’ve learned.”
– One Republic Counting Stars
Today is Thanksgiving. And, chained to our retail jobs, the BF and I stayed in town. When he took off at 2:30 for work I began to wander around the house looking for entertainment. I ate a piece of pie first and then I ate a sandwich. I watched Jimmy Fallon and then half of Kimmel. Fallon is the funnier of the James’. Then, I began to get restless.
The BF is on the management team at the local Wally World so I decided it was high-time I experienced the madness. So, I channeled my pie-eating loneliness into something better, an investigative report (sounds fancy, right?).
I fed the dogs and headed out around 5:42 P.M. Gretta the Jetta and I found safe haven in the Home Depot parking lot, about two football fields away from the manse that is the local Walmart (Observation: No one says Super Walmart anymore because they are all “Super,” a.k.a. with groceries).
Our first observation: CAMPERS. Yes, shoppers have moved on from the tent to the heated and semi-plumbed contraptions. I counted 5 (in view).
Observation #2: Cops
Well, dear citizens, if you need a cop tonight you are out of luck.
Tired of seeing the parking lot? Me too. I headed inside and was given a map detailing where all the sales would be in the store. The most hilarious had to be the produce section turned toy store. At second five the clock strikes 6 to begin the first sale. Listen for the “Oh, boy!” Dying.
The toy area was to be avoided as were the areas clogged from lines for the big ticket items like flat screens and video game consoles. I decided to do a loop to see if there were any smaller items worth waiting in the checkout line for (nope) and see what other people watching I could do.
Here are the crazy craft ladies… Turns out they were after bath towels and 700-thread count sheets.
Most items were a free for all, as you can see above. Giant pallets had been rolled out earlier and unceremoniously ripped open by the first customer that could squeeze past an employee at 6. Being a 24 hour Walmart, there was no line up or infamous rushing in of hot bodies.
Next it was time to check out the lines. Certain high demand items required a lime green wrist band, obtained from a Walmart-er wearing a yellow vest (god, bless them). The 32″ TV was a huge hit and people were getting very territorial and accusing each other of cutting like it was the first grade. Below we see John Doe getting his wristband taken in exchange for his TV. The smug man in black in the cop in charge of this line. The guy in orange is the Walmart employee who decided to go casual for the evening.
Then we have the view from the other side. Those specks are the people above and those are the TV’s waiting for their homes…
The best part of the extravaganza had to be the prayer circles formed around items not going on sale until 8. There were employees there to make sure they weren’t taken. But, I definitely saw a few contraband items in carts.
“Make new friends, and keep the old, one is silver, and the other you meet at Walmart on Black Friday Thanksgiving.”
I’m not sure if the guy in the bottom right was laughing at me but I definitely got a few laughs as I was taking this picture, especially from people hugging TVs and tablets. Maybe they realized how silly they are? Maybe they hugged their tablet a little tighter?
RUNS WITH MARKERS 
That was great Grace! Very enlightening and a bit scary! Aunt Carolyn and Aunt Andrea