To be shocked at the dickheads in the Black Friday riots.

[NomorepepperpigPLEASE]

Woke up to lots of videos on my news feed of people actually brawling over tvs. Police men holding on to items while grown adults are trying rip it out of their arms. Men and women actually pulling, pushing and climbing on items with £30 off!

I feel sorry for the shop workers today. What A bunch of animals.

Agree it is horrible, by chance though I went into my local Boots and had been genuinely wanting a certain electric toothbrush (as recommended on Mumsnet) for several months - delighted to find it reduced from £250 to £99 , no crowds or pushing though. .

Had a good moan about the ghastliness of it all this morning but I've just poured myself a glass of wine and bought a lovely Mint Velvet sweater from John Lewis at 20% off so maybe it's not so bad .

Humans at their best Tesco and co must be lapping it all up - there's no such thing as bad publicity......

No-one is blameless in this debacle, The shoppers are greedy hysterical wankers, the shops are soulless shameless manipulators and the media (I saw loads filming the "events") were throwing fuel onto the fire - great telly, huh!

Every one a cunt.

I popped into town today for a few bits and pieces. I wasn't there for very long but tbh I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. It was just very busy and felt more like a Saturday than a Friday but other than that it was fine.

This is also the first year I've heard of Black Friday. Have we always had it and I've just been oblivious to it or is it some new thing?

I was just thinking about the Edmonton thing. The Ikea there is right next to the Tesco that had to shut I think. Eww. It's a sort of mania that takes over I guess.

I went to asda this morning hoping to grab Frozen dolls, around 30 people there at 5:30 when we arrived, and around 400 just before 8, all calm and civilised staff had all items behind a barrier, they let 10 in at a time, you told them what you wanted they put it in your trolley then followed the cones round to tills and the let the next 10 in.
One worker actually looked at me like I had sprouted a second head when she tried to put a tv in my trolley and I had to tell her I was only there for a bloody ice skating elsa doll.

Yeah... If you're going to take an American tradition (which is totally cool btw), you should probably look at how Americans actually do it. Including just keeping the stores open over night so there's no crowd bursting in and trampling each other, having black Friday "pre-sales" so that there's a few days to get the stuff, having crowd control measures, lines in the store for each sale item, and ticket stubs you can trade in for items behind the counter. At least learn from our mistakes from previous Black Fridays. We had to make massive changes to avoid people continuously getting hurt and killed.

Every black Friday I've been to (with the exception of walmart, because it's walmart and people are shits even when there's not massive sales) has been pretty smooth with most people being polite. It's crowded, and you occasionally get shoved a bit as people rush for an item but for the most part it's pretty tame and there's a bit of camaraderie among bargain hunters. The stores here stock up as much as they can in the back so even by afternoon when the crowds die down, there's still sale items.

But I guess more to the point, with all the online sales, I'm shocked people bother to leave the house instead of just having their stuff delivered.

Bulb - off topic but do you ever look at the 'People of Walmart' site .

Ragwort Yes.

Then I get immensely disappointed when I go to Walmart and everyone just looks normal.

They're not animals o.p. Animals wouldn't behave like that.

Dh had a day off and ds1 was on inset day. Ds2 has been saving for an xbox 360 for months so dh and ds1 drove to Asda at 5:30 this morning.

As they chatted to the people around them in the queue(they were 30), they found they would go in 10 at a time. The people in front offered to take ds1 with them so he could be more likely to get one.

Another customer in front checked they had one for dh&ds1 before buying his.

It was very civilised, good humoured and a great atmosphere.
Ds2 was thrilled to have paid for it himself.

In my supermarket we sold 50 tvs in 15 mins. As security walked past the queue someone asked if he would be on his own and how he would cope if it became a scrum.
Security replied they would spark him out.

We had no trouble.

As someone who works front of store all I can say is that it was bloody hard work, lots of complaints about stuff not on offer/sold out or just because we were holding an event at all.

One person shouted because I couldnt tell her the origins of black friday- she wanted chapter and verse.

Thank you to the lady who raised her eyebrow and grinned at that one, and to all those who were polite, friendly and offering wine.

I work in retail, our store (large discount chain) didn't do Black Friday. Instead they doubled staff discount for the evening. A most excellent win/win scenario.

I can't imagine ever being so desperate for a piece of electrical equipment that I stoop that low tbh.
I saw something on house of Fraser's website earlier,a mixer at £60 from £120, only a few months ago I almost bought one and researched them quite well so I know that standard price is between £49.99 and £69.99. Hardly the bargain they want me to think it is.

I'm fairly sure at least half of these bargains are normal selling price and just have inflated rrp's.

I do wonder who those people were storming Asda, the daft women in her wheelchair and slippers at the front of the queue. The women dragging her young son behind her. Surely it isn't sensible or responsible to behave like this. Where do they get the time? Surely they aren't grabbing for a TV because they don't have one... It's people's greed, I was unlucky to be caught up in the Croydon riots a few yrs ago. Those scum were stealing designers shoes, expensive trainers and literally threatening anyone who was trying to stop them

Then they burnt down that family furniture store that had been in one family for 100 yrs. Total scum bags...

And a new Christmas custom is born... Black eye Friday. I got a sales email today advertising 'black Friday weekend' deals!

It's just awful! I've deleted over 20 "black friday deals" emails, some retailers sent two or three!
People aren't scrapping out of desperation, it's pure greed and hype.
These people presumably have a few hundred to be able to afford new tellys.
I just don't understand it.

The TVs that people were going mad over were pretty lower end of the range and I'm sure cheaper on amazon. I guess some people don't know how to shop around and like a rumble.

I saw a pic with two kids ho seemed to be together - they looked like mid teens - trying to peel some poor woman off some tv box (help the TV wasn't I side or it would be in pieces). Scary stuff. Mob mentality.

When our local m&s has a big sale there are people sweeping shelves of clothes, and piling their trolleys high without even looking at size/ style. They must be selling them on eBay or something.

It could have been handled better by some shops. DD said her local ASDA had a cordoned off area and people were allowed into it 10 at a time. All very civilised. Perhaps next year shops should be more wary of opening the doors and allowing a free for all.

Boots had Black Friday SMA powder toddler milk for £6.50 - about three quid off. Made my little 'un use his teddy as a cosh to batter the other weaker babba's away (only joking!)

They do that in the Next sale, Nicename. Some people spend hundreds, then go back a few days later and return most of it .

So depressing to watch....
People literally fighting to get their hands on TV's and white goods.
The anger on some of those faces makes me loathe our shallow money obsessed society

Hedgehog it was just ridiculous Did anyone see the clip of ppl fighting over goods while on an escalator. Someone could have easily got trapped and lost their foot.

And these are the stores that insist on their staff watching loads of health and safety videos and make them do health and safety role plays.

Blatant hypocrisy

Loathsome concept.

Advertised and promoted (even I had emails from Wal-Mart - they'd clearly forgotten they disguise themselves as Asda over here) so that people are encouraged to over-spend and scrabble for material possessions as if they had no other purpose for existing.

And aside, if we can't write on a 'blackboard', how can we have a 'black' Friday?

Then I get immensely disappointed when I go to Walmart and everyone just looks normal

Ohhh no, in my Walmart I do quite often literally stop and stare in astonishment at how people look.