[xtypo_dropcap]I[/xtypo_dropcap] asked a friend if she was looking forward to the holidays. Big mistake. I was hoping my polite query would inspire a quaint tale of a family tradition, or at least a smile. Instead she looked as though I had just played a cruel joke on her.
“I hate the holidays,” she confessed as we stood on her porch in a well-to-do suburb north of Chicago. Exasperated, she listed the obligations she would have to perform over the next few weeks—traveling with two kids, extra cooking, preparing her home for out-of-town guests, and the most dreaded task of all, shopping.
“I know I must sound like a scrooge, but Christmas is so commercial and corporate now. It doesn’t have anything to do with what it’s supposed to be about,” she said. Later, she indicated that despite her resistance, she still felt pressured to go along with the crowd.
Identifying consumption as the actual national pastime, the late George Carlin famously observed that this is a country of “people spending money they don’t have on things they don’t need.”
This phenomenon can best be seen in the shopping event known as Black Friday, referring to retailers’ consistently profitable Friday after Thanksgiving. It entices shoppers with unbelievable deals in the hope that they’ll buy way more when they get there.
And they do. Chicago-based ShopperTrak reported that retailers nationwide made a record $10.69 billion last Friday.
Even during a recession American overindulgence is a pretty easy target, but Black Friday delivers a whole new level of ridiculous. It’s an event in itself, but it also serves to kick off a month long frenzy of rabid consumerism, or a “Consumers Gone Wild” if you will.
You may recall in 2008 a Black Friday in New York turned deadly as an impatient and unruly mob of shoppers, unable to wait for Walmart’s 5 a.m. opening, shattered the building’s sliding glass doors and flooded into the store. A Walmart employee was killed and a pregnant woman brutally injured in what the New York Times called a “blind rush for holiday bargains.”
That same day in Ohio, a woman collapsed outside a Target waiting in line to get into the store. No one in the crowd helped her because the overly eager shoppers didn’t want to lose their hard-earned place in line. However, some did hurl candy bars in her direction in the event that the woman was merely suffering from low blood sugar.
This year, the Associated Press reported that a woman in Florida began camping outside a Best Buy for nearly a week so she could be the first to take advantage of its Black Friday specials. I’m not sure what deals she finally won, but Best Buy reportedly gave her a free iPad for her dedication and sacrifice.
In researching this column, I watched several Black Friday videos of adults swarming into various stores as they battled for a limited supply of discounted merchandise, like zombies who simply preferred jewelry and electronics to brains.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with giving gifts, but I do appreciate attempts to dial down the insanity. During our conversation, my friend informed me that this year she has told her kids that they will only receive two gifts each. I understand they were both fine with it.
My mom suggested an even more reasonable option. She has warned me for months not to get her anything for Christmas unless it’s edible.
“I don’t want anything that I have to find a place for,” she clarified.
Inspired largely by shows examining the excessive consumption of hoarders, she has decided that no matter how well meaning the gift or fabulous the bargain, she does not wish to invite more clutter.
“I hate the holidays,” she confessed as we stood on her porch in a well-to-do suburb north of Chicago. Exasperated, she listed the obligations she would have to perform over the next few weeks—traveling with two kids, extra cooking, preparing her home for out-of-town guests, and the most dreaded task of all, shopping.
“I know I must sound like a scrooge, but Christmas is so commercial and corporate now. It doesn’t have anything to do with what it’s supposed to be about,” she said. Later, she indicated that despite her resistance, she still felt pressured to go along with the crowd.
Identifying consumption as the actual national pastime, the late George Carlin famously observed that this is a country of “people spending money they don’t have on things they don’t need.”
This phenomenon can best be seen in the shopping event known as Black Friday, referring to retailers’ consistently profitable Friday after Thanksgiving. It entices shoppers with unbelievable deals in the hope that they’ll buy way more when they get there.
And they do. Chicago-based ShopperTrak reported that retailers nationwide made a record $10.69 billion last Friday.
Even during a recession American overindulgence is a pretty easy target, but Black Friday delivers a whole new level of ridiculous. It’s an event in itself, but it also serves to kick off a month long frenzy of rabid consumerism, or a “Consumers Gone Wild” if you will.
You may recall in 2008 a Black Friday in New York turned deadly as an impatient and unruly mob of shoppers, unable to wait for Walmart’s 5 a.m. opening, shattered the building’s sliding glass doors and flooded into the store. A Walmart employee was killed and a pregnant woman brutally injured in what the New York Times called a “blind rush for holiday bargains.”
That same day in Ohio, a woman collapsed outside a Target waiting in line to get into the store. No one in the crowd helped her because the overly eager shoppers didn’t want to lose their hard-earned place in line. However, some did hurl candy bars in her direction in the event that the woman was merely suffering from low blood sugar.
This year, the Associated Press reported that a woman in Florida began camping outside a Best Buy for nearly a week so she could be the first to take advantage of its Black Friday specials. I’m not sure what deals she finally won, but Best Buy reportedly gave her a free iPad for her dedication and sacrifice.
In researching this column, I watched several Black Friday videos of adults swarming into various stores as they battled for a limited supply of discounted merchandise, like zombies who simply preferred jewelry and electronics to brains.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with giving gifts, but I do appreciate attempts to dial down the insanity. During our conversation, my friend informed me that this year she has told her kids that they will only receive two gifts each. I understand they were both fine with it.
My mom suggested an even more reasonable option. She has warned me for months not to get her anything for Christmas unless it’s edible.
“I don’t want anything that I have to find a place for,” she clarified.
Inspired largely by shows examining the excessive consumption of hoarders, she has decided that no matter how well meaning the gift or fabulous the bargain, she does not wish to invite more clutter.
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