No More Black Friday Fiascos for Me

You know those early-bird Black Friday deals that so many retailers have begun offering each year on the morning after Thanksgiving? Well, I contend they are inherently unfair to the consumer.

A couple of years ago, I saw an ad on Walmart’s Website advertising a laptop computer for less than $300. I wanted one. So, even though I don’t like going to bed early and I hate getting up a second before 6:00 AM, I decided to hit the sack before midnight and set my alarm for 4:30.

I got up, splashed some water on, got dressed and headed for Walmart. I got there a couple minutes before the witching hour, but the parking lot was already so packed with cars that I had to park illegally in one of those striped handicapped areas. It wasn’t a true parking space. They always stripe off an area around the actual parking places that is large enough to park a bus, or a couple more cars. So it’s not like I was actually depriving anyone of a space.

Anyway, I braved the throngs and went inside, looking for my deal. It was barely past five in the morning when I was told the computers, all 30 of them, had already been sold. “How can that be?” I asked the clerk. “It hasn’t been five minutes since they went on sale.”

He told me they had started handing out tickets at around 2:00 AM, since Walmart is open all night. So the shoppers who were in the store at that time were the lucky ones who got to take home a new laptop on the cheap.

So that begs the question; if Walmart’s ad said the computers would go on sale at 5:00, then why were they giving out tickets to purchase them at 2:00? It meant, virtually, that everyone who had a ticket prior to five o’clock already had their computer in hand. They had a ticket, so all they had to do was trade it in for a computer at 5:00. It wasn’t fair to those shoppers, like me, who were naïve enough the think that a sale starting at five o’clock would actually start at that time.

In desperation, I went to Circuit City. They had also advertised a laptop deal, not quite as good as Walmart’s, but not bad. I knew I didn’t have much of a shot. By the time I got there it was already 5:30. But I was up and out, so I thought I would at least try.

I learned the same story there. Even though the store didn’t actually open until five o’clock, they started handing out tickets to those waiting in line a couple hours early. Again, a 5:00 AM sale had actually become a 3:00 AM sale. I learned my lesson.

The lesson learned was that since all the really good items are gone before the sales start on Black Friday, and the only way to get one of the products you’re shopping for is to get to the store hours early, spend most of the night there, and hope you’re one of the shoppers that get a ticket. I’m not going to play that game. I’ll forego the bargains. What I might have saved in dollars is spent in time and angst.

So, this year, I did a bit of shopping on Black Friday again. But I slept in until almost eight o’clock. I got up; my daughter and I went out for breakfast, and then we proceeded to Walmart where the Black Friday deal on a Blu-Ray disc player was for only $128.

When I got there, there were no more of those items left on the floor, so I asked an associate to check the back room. He said he didn’t think there were any more back there but he would look. I reminded him that the Walmart online site assured me that he did have some in stock.

A few minutes later he came out and said he had found two of the units, hiding on a shelf behind a bunch of carts and boxes. He would have to move a lot of stuff so it would take him a few minutes to dig one out. Oh, and one more thing: The price was no longer $128 since it was after 11:00 and the early-bird special was over. The computer had automatically kicked the price back up to the regular $198.

I told him I had no delusions that I would actually be getting one for the sale price. So I said go ahead and dig one out for me.

I happily walked out of the store with a full-priced Blu-Ray disc player. It was my first one. And although I would have been much happier had I gotten it for the sale price, I wasn’t going to play that early-bird game again, no matter what the savings.

Things We No Longer Need

My latest column is about how technology has made some of the everyday items we still use obsolete. To read it, please go to my other blog, Wilstar's SciTech Blog.

Priest: If You Voted for Obama, You're Going to Hell

Did you vote for Barack Obama for president? Well, if so, it’s off to hell for you unless you repent and perform some kind of penance. At least that’s the view of one Catholic priest in South Carolina.

The Rev. Jay Scott Newman of St. Mary’s Catholic Church told his parishioners that they should not partake of Holy Communion if they voted for Obama unless they confess their grave sin and do penance for it. Seriously folks, a Catholic priest has publicly told his congregation that their eternal souls are in jeopardy of being condemned to hell unless they repent of their evil political ways.

His main problem with Obama seems to be the president-elect’s support for abortion rights laws. He claims that Obama is pro-abortion, which is not true. He is pro-choice. There is a difference.

I am not in favor of using abortion for birth control. But I am in favor of letting the woman decide. It’s her body. I am definitely pro-choice. But I am not necessarily pro-abortion, although I would recommend getting an abortion in the case where a pregnant woman finds out her fetus is severely mentally handicapped.

I mean, let’s face it people. Forget the moral question for just one moment. Look at it from a point of logic and pragmatism. Why bring a deformed baby into the world with no hope of ever being normal and who will almost surely rely on tax dollars for support at some point?

Ok, so you can’t forget the moral question? Fine. Morality cannot and should not be legislated. There is no universal morality. It’s not the bible; it’s not the Koran. Morality is what society decides it is. We don’t need a list of commandments that tell us not to murder or rob our fellow humans. Everyone knew those things were wrong from the beginning.

And so-called pro-lifers insist that abortion is murder. Well, it most certainly is not. Murder is a crime that is coded within our laws of the land. Abortion is legal in every state. That means it is not murder. If you believe it is morally wrong to have an abortion, then don’t have one. Counsel others not to have abortions. Take out ads claiming that abortion is morally wrong, at least in your worldview. But don’t try to prevent someone who does not share your beliefs from exercising their rights by trying to take those rights away.

What if I thought it was morally wrong to allow a baby to be born knowing full well it would be a drain on society because it was discovered to be severely mentally handicapped. What if I lobbied to pass laws against bringing such a burden into society and forcing pregnant mothers to have an abortion if they were carrying such a fetus? Would I be wrong?

Yes, I obviously would be wrong. If you’re pregnant and you know you’re carrying a retarded fetus, you should have the right for yourself to decide if you want to give birth to it. And, by the same token, if another pregnant woman decides that she doesn’t want to give birth to her fetus, she should also be unencumbered by the moral judgments of others that seek to prevent her from exercising her right to terminate her pregnancy. If it’s fair one way, it’s fair the other.

Priests like Newman along with other conservative fundamentalists who believe they hold the key to everyone’s salvation give religion a bad name. They make religion dangerous. Religion is basically useless anyway. There is nothing that can be done with religion that cannot also be done without it. But it becomes far more worthless and even damaging to society as long as there remain those like Newman and Pat Robertson and their entire ilk.

Our country will be much better off when they finally go the way of Jerry Falwell. Unfortunately, there are many zealots-to-be, brainwashed by their parents and church, waiting in the wings to continue their oppression against freedom of choice in this country.