Types of Black Friday Shoppers

With one day to Thanksgiving it's safe to say that the shopping frenzy has begun. The traffic is horrible, the stores are packed, and the blood pressure is rising. Yep, tis the season to have a panic attack. But while Thanksgiving is awesome (I mean come on - the food, the family time, the . . . well, that's about it) we Americans celebrate something even more awesome. Yes, you guessed it.

BLACK FRIDAY!

Ok, so I've only been Black Friday shopping once in my life. I'll pause here while you laugh and/or roll your eyes. Honestly, I would've gone more times but I was actually too scared (and too broke) to go - seriously, have you seen the 6 o'clock news? People go bananas out there - B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

But anyway, the one time I did brave up and go I noticed there were certain types of shoppers that I saw at almost every store we went to. So I decided to make a quick list of the different types of Black Friday shoppers.
Disclaimer: These following descriptions are from my own personal observations and in no way reflect ALL Black Friday Shoppers. So let's just get on with it and have a laugh. :)

The Crazy Ones
When most people think of Black Friday they usually think of crazy shoppers foaming at the mouth as they tear through crowds of people to get that one thing that's finally been marked down to a reasonable price. And while most shoppers aren't like this, there are a few that go completely bonkers as soon as the black paper is pulled back and it's time to shop.

Seriously, I went to Walmart and stumbled upon the strangest sight I'd ever seen: women - grown women, mind you, with kids and grandkids - were fighting over bed sheets. Literally, they were knocking each other around and bags of sheets were flying through the air. It was like feeding time at the zoo. I just stood back and watched in awe (and slight horror) as ladies attempted to tear each other to shreds for - wait for it - sheets.

The Crazy Ones are usually the ones who make the evening news for giving someone a black eye (no pun intended) or pulling a knife, so you definitely got to watch out for them. My advice, stay as far away from them as you can. You'll be able to recognize them by the wild, hungry look in their eyes. But whatever you do, don't show emotion. They can smell fear a mile away.

Which brings me to the next kind of Black Friday shopper . . .

The Strategist
The Strategist is completely different from the Crazy One. First of all, the Strategist starts planning for Black Friday at least 2 weeks in advance. They check out the ads online and in the newspapers, they have text alerts sent to their phone, they arrange friends and family to stand in line at certain stores and grab certain items, and they print out maps to every store they want to visit, so they'll know exactly when and where their stuff will be on sale. They usually get to the store super early and hover around the products they want, scoping out the other shoppers with eagle eyes as they wait for the craziness to begin.

Most of these kinds of shoppers are considered Type A and mucho organized.

Yeah, if you guessed that I'm not one of these kind of shoppers you're right. I tend to fall in another category all together . . . .

The Unprepared
Every year there's always that one person or persons who thinks that Black Friday really won't be as bad as everyone says. They're the ones who don't believe the hype; they actually think that they can just do their normal shopping on Black Friday. Silly rabbit!

Unfortunately, I was one of those people. When my family asked me to go Black Friday shopping I agreed because I just wanted to see if everyone got as crazy as they said. I didn't even plan to buy anything. I was just gonna stand back and watch, be a spectator, not a player.

Then everything changed when the Black Friday shoppers attacked. ;)

Ok, I'm just kidding, but when we pulled up to Walmart and saw that every parking space was taken (and I mean EVERY one - from the front of the store to the gas station) I knew we definitely weren't in Kansas anymore. I had no clue how to pace myself, even if my first Black Friday shopping experience was pretty tame. We went to Walmart, Best Buy, and Target and by the time we got to Target I was falling asleep. So I was completely unprepared.

Now keep in mind that there are some level-headed shoppers out there who don't lose their cool on Black Friday and I applaud them, but we all know there's a part of us that kind of wants to see the people go cray-cray over a $150 50 inch flat screen . . . even if we won't admit it.

So if you're going shopping this Black Friday good luck and be careful. Oh, and remember what I said about the Crazy Ones - they can smell fear.

Happy Shopping!