Black Friday: Not worth it

Sam Weiss, Senior Reporter

My very peaceful, quiet Thanksgiving evening could have been extended for several more hours. Instead, it was cut short at around 8:00 due to my desire to score some great deals during the Black Friday sales event.

Sacrificing the rest of my Thanksgiving night came at small cost, I thought. The only thing I felt that I was giving up were four measly hours with the old folks. Even though many others had chosen to sacrifice even more memories with their family, I still got a good place in line.

When midnight came and the shops opened, I had a fresh look at the best deals the store had to offer. I was disappointed.

Pacsun, a store that is notorious for giving good deals, had all of the original deals that they have on a daily basis. I looked in any shop that may yield a deal on a quality item for a relative.

Gamestop and Victoria’s Secret both had their lowest quality items on sale. Games that were years old had their prices bumped down no lower than 50 percent off. Victoria’s Secret had very few items on sale that weren’t perfume.

I really wanted to get my mom, who was in the hospital, a gift. The best quality gift that wasn’t sold out and that I could get an affordable deal on was a local business in Santa Barbara, California. It was an Afghani jewelry store.

Even though I was visiting family in California, I knew that deals were no better, if not worse back home. My brother went to all shops that I had looked at (not including the local business that was a jewelry store) and reported that the same situation that was in Santa Barbara was also apparent in Colorado.

Due to the fact that I wasted an opportunity to make some more memories with my family for some low quality items on sale and same prices for all other products, I really regretted my decision to go wait in the cold so that I would have first bid on something that I could buy any other day for relatively the same price.

Black Friday is not worth it. I would much rather be relaxing at my house after eating a large Thanksgiving dinner, than to be waiting in line all night. The deals aren’t great, and there are better things you could be doing.