Friday, November 26, 2010

Are You a BFS?




by Jen AlLee


Today is self help day, and I really want to help you. But I'm afraid it's too late. You see, by the time you read this, you may already have sent yourself out on that most frightful of days...

Black Friday.

Now, I'm not belittling anyone who ventured out in search of sales today. Far from it. I just think it takes a very specific type of person to be a Black Friday Shopper (BFS). The typical BFS is...
  • Adventurous - You never know who you're going to run into in the Best Buy parking lot (or how much coffee they've been drinking)
  • A Plotter - Black Friday is no place for seat-of-the-pants thinking. A successful BFS comes armed with ads, lists, and a map of the store's floor plan.
  • Athletic - The BFS must be able to dodge slow pokes, hurdle merchandise displays, and squeeze through narrow aisles in search of the ultimate deal.
  • Nature Loving - There's nothing like sleeping in a lawn chair under the stars, singing show tunes with total strangers, then bribing them with coffee and brownies to save your place in line while you fight for your turn in the port-a-potty. That's roughing it!
  • Impervious to severe weather - It never fails... some of the worst weather of the year comes in the brand-new hours of the Friday after Thanksgiving. I personally believe it's the tears of myriad guardian angels wondering why their charges are up so dog-gone early. But that's just me.
In case you're wondering, I possess none of the above traits. While many folks were out this morning scoring great deals on electronics and polar fleece, I was snuggled warm in my bed with visions of the SG-1 team dancing in my head. (Actually, I had a dream last night that I was part of the Stargate team. It was fun, so I'm hoping I get to dream it again. I'll let you know how that works out.)

Here's wishing everyone a terrific Friday. And if you are one of those brave BFS's, share your secrets with us :+}


15 comments:

  1. My daughter and I just decided to go to JoAnn Fabrics with our coupons. Why? I don't know. There, you get two times to stand in line--at the fabric counter and then again at check out.

    I have a headache from too much food and frivolity. Why do we do this to ourselves?

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  2. I am enjoying my yearly Black Friday Boycott! And I think you forgot one, extroverted. There's no way I'm going out in those crowds. I'll go shopping on Tuesday morning around 10 am when everyone is at work, and I have the whole store to myself, thank you very much :)

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  3. Oh, and patience. There ain't no way I'm standing in those lines.

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  4. Loved the profile!
    I'm with Dina on this one! Home sweet leftovers is my idea of the perfect day after thing....

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  5. And I thought this was gonna be about that famous Bible study group
    :)

    Fun post, Jen. I'm not one, either.

    Patti

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  6. Dina, I'm not an extrovert, either. And I cringe at the thought of standing out in the cold. Two huge reasons for me NOT to be a BFS! Glad to see I'm in such great company with the rest of you ladies.

    Deb, you are brave. I'll admit, I do need to go shopping today, but I'm waiting until this afternoon. I need to go to Lowes and buy a bracket to fix that pesky closet rod of mine! I think it should be safe to venture into the hardware store by then.

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  7. Oh, and I did NOT return to my Stargate dream last night. Sadly, my dream involved garbage collection. Don't ask me why.

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  8. I was up early. But not that early! Got some good deals anyway. Toys R Us by our house opened at 10 PM last night. I considered going until my sister drove by and said the parking lot was so full, people were parking in the mall lot and walking across. The line of people waiting to get in (in the cold and rain) was wrapped around the building.Not a deal in the world worth that!

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  9. Oooh, I'm a BFS!!

    I'm not really an extrovert or even adventurous but I am extremely cheap...um, I mean frugal...and that's the quality that inspires me pull my lazy butt out of bed in the middle of the night. :)

    Happy Thanksgiving!

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  10. Well, we survived. Both my daughter and I have worked retail and have been one of those poor Black Friday workers, so we started to get that sick feeling when we saw all the cars in the parking lot. But it went well. Lines moved quickly. Both kids were happy and we were back home in no time.

    Good deals and I'm well on my way with the granddaughter's Christmas gift - a suitcase full of dress up clothes and costumes. And we didn't get there until 10:30 so I don't even feel like it wasn't like full combat shopping at all.

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  11. Fun post, Jen! I avoided shopping today, although I was tempted by the Target ad. Really tempted. Lisa, I saw that Toys R Us was open at 10 pm last night too, but it would have taken half price lego sets for me to brave that line in the cold.

    This morning we turned on the TV to watch weather and of course they had a live crew at the shopping center. I snuggled under my bathrobe and thought, yup, it's Cyber Monday shopping for me!

    Thanks! Hope you all are having a great weekend.

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  12. Good for you, Joy! Did you get what you were hoping for?

    I went to Target around noon. It was more crowded than usual, but not obnoxiously so. I went there just to get a shower curtain, but ended up with some movies on BluRay that were too good to pass up. Oh, and some Cella's chocolate covered cherries... because this is the only time of year they sell them around here, and they are a guilty pleasure of mine!

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  13. I was a BFS this year, along with Cousin Connie, her daughter Cheri, and my oldest daughter Jerah. We went to Walmart, Target, Burlington Coat Factory, and Old Navy. Only we didn't start until 8 am or so, thus we missed all the long lines. Traffic wasn't bad either.

    Parking, though, was...well, I automatically drove to the back of the lots. LOL.

    Best part of shopping was buying a Starbucks caramel brulee frappachino, which I shared with Jerah.

    Bargains? Hmm.

    I bought middle child's Nintendo DS for $89 instead of $129. Saved the boy almost $40 so all he had to spend was his birthday money.

    I also found Jerah a black trenchcoat at Target for $30, which she's using b-day money to pay for. She wanted one to help her develop her secret identity becasue she's going to be a super hero when she grows up. She's already been wearing black lensless 3D glasses to help establish her secret identity.

    I think there were some great deals out there...if one had the money and the need. Time and time again I came across things that I liked and figured were a steal-of-a-deal, only I didn't need any of them. Thus I didn't buy much.

    Well, I did splurge on a black London Fog lined short trench coat for me. I hate wearing heavy coats so this way I have some protection from the wind but aren't so bulky bundled. Reg. $150, on sale for $59.

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  14. Gina, the important thing is that you had fun. I know what you mean about seeing deals but not needing the items. Even though I didn't go out till noon, I saw some great stuff still available... just none of it needed to come home with me :+}

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