WHY do this over some cheap-assed item????

[Racket_Man]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...-mall#comments

2 women fist fight then pull out tazers over some unknown item.

[Gravekeeper]

My favourite Black Friday story thus far was the stabbing involving 2 guys with knives vs 1 guy with a hunting rifle.

Over a parking spot. -.-

Edit: Here we go!

[Greenday]

You know, yesterday was the first time I ever went Black Friday shopping. I went around 9pm Friday night and no one was around. Got a great deal on a TV.

It just astounds me that people go so crazy over it. There is nothing worth getting shot/stabbed/tasered over.

[Lace Neil Singer]

It's even reached us! O_o

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...s-8973447.html

I blame Walmart. After all, they own Asda.

[Greenday]

It's even reached us! O_o

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...s-8973447.html

I blame Walmart. After all, they own Asda.

The bigger stores seem to have the worst deals and the stock isn't enough. The first store I went to was Best Buy. Fair amount of stock, still lots of people there, prices weren't great. Went next door to PC Richards and no one was there, salesman didn't pressure me, plenty of stock, the same TV I got there costed $300 more at Best Buy.

[Andara Bledin]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...-mall#comments
2 women fist fight then pull out tazers over some unknown item.

Scarcity leads to reduced cognitive abilities and poor decision making.

Personally, I think that every store that sets up these Black Friday situations ought to be fined for every injury that occurs.

I refuse to take part, myself. I won't be involved in other people's idiocy.

[BlaqueKatt]

Personally, I think that every store that sets up these Black Friday situations ought to be fined for every injury that occurs.

wouldn't help. Wal-mart STILL hasn't paid the $7,000 fine from the 2008 black friday death of an employee.

[Pixilated]

And of course that's being lost in the shuffle ... but let some poor schmuck forget to pay his/her fine over something trivial and the justice system comes down on them like the proverbial ton of bricks.

[protege]

I blame Walmart. After all, they own Asda.

Considering that Wal-mart shows up *multiple* times on the link GK provided, I'm not surprised. That place does, after all, tend to cater to society's lowest common denominator

[Rageaholic]

Because humans can be really really stupid.

I heard police had to shoot one guy over this black friday bullshit.

[HYHYBT]

I actually went to Walmart on Black Friday this year. (A sick mom with a prescription waiting at their pharmacy will do that.) It was late afternoon, and still so crowded that, though my actual errand only took a minute, getting in and out of the building, much less the parking lot, was tougher than usual.

[Racket_Man]

What these situations remind me of is this (and yes there are OLD stereotypes described so beware you have been warned) and this type of behavior is not really all that new:

Fade in to the front of a old style slightly upscale department store. Pull out to reveal a big sign in the window that says:

SALE

Queue the hordes of female shoppers mobbing <pick your own> department and literally ripping stuff off the shelves and out of each others hands/arms.

I remember several 1940s or 1950s cartoons that lampooned this behavior.

But on a more serious note: I remember seeing a newsreel from the WWII era about a store that had acquired nylon stockings and placed them up for sale.

again Queue the hordes of female shoppers mobbing the department and literally ripping stuff off the shelves and out of each others hands/arms. YES there were fist/cat fight breaking out.

some women were filmed actually putting on the stockings out in the street in front of the store. I remember the narrator commenting something about the ladies just wanting to look/feel good.

Perceived or real scarcity creates this "mob" or "I MUST HAVE" mentality.

GODS help us if society does fall into ruin.

[s_stabeler]

to be fair, due to Nylon being used in the war effort ( it was used to produce parachutes, i believe) for all they knew, it might have been the only chance they got to get nylon stockings. it's still ridiculous, but it's more understandable than fights for 5% off something.

[Nyoibo]

Black friday is no worse than any other sale, it's just reported more.

[fireheart17]

to be fair, due to Nylon being used in the war effort ( it was used to produce parachutes, i believe) for all they knew, it might have been the only chance they got to get nylon stockings. it's still ridiculous, but it's more understandable than fights for 5% off something.

Pretty much this. I believe in some parts, women were using gravy and eyeliner to look like they had stockings. Then there was this...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnHSAY9AkvU

Black friday is no worse than any other sale, it's just reported more.

I dunno....the worst I've seen has generally been the giant rush of people hanging around outside Myer/Harris Scarfe/David Jones at 9am. No trampling though (also SA's trading laws don't allow boxing day trading...most of the time)

Although I do remember my English teacher once telling me how at one point we DID have a black-friday-esque sale (post-Christmas) but that was promptly stopped after two women got into a fistfight over a fridge.