Black Friday Blues

Today many retailers in the UK adopted an American tradition: Black Friday. In what may have been a coordinated campaign several major supermarket chains had sales that were so silly they were irresponsible. Police had to be called to various locations & there were many fights & acts of violence.

So why has an American tradition turned into an opportunity for decent British citizens to be ashamed of their fellow countrymen/countrywomen?

A brief history of Black Friday

There are rumours (which I believe started on Facebook) that Black Friday is a term from the days of slavery when slave traders used to try & sell off their remaining slaves before the winter.

The truth is that the term “Black Friday” was’t used in general terms until around the 1950s; a full century after slavery was abolished.

Since then it has many meanings ranging from:

• A term used by Philadelphia Police to describe the sales on the day after Thanksgiving.
• A day when people would call in sick in order to get a “shopping&rduo; day off of work.

For quite a few facts that you never knew on Black Friday Visit the Snopes.com page on Black Friday.

Was there a Black Friday in the UK last year?

Actually: Amazon.co.uk were the first in the UK to offer Black discounts as they started offering discounts in 2010

It looks like Black Friday is here to stay. Let's just hope that the health & Safety Executive take a look at the practices used by retailers such as Tesco & Asda this year & conclude that next year there must be systems in place that will keep the shoppers safe. My suggestion would be security guards/stewards & barriers. More realistically there could be a ticketing system similar to the one used in many Argos stores.

Hopefully this is not a sign of things to come and we won’t see Black Friday in the UK again.

Irresponsible retailers

This year there have been several scenes that the major retailers should have anticipated. By not having enough staff on to deal with their sudden increase in traffic these retailers have broken a basic rule of business: keep your customers safe.

I feel for the people who were attacked today simply for purchasing a TV. It would not surprise me (in this age of litigation) if these retailers didn’t see any legal action against them for a range of claims.

Ashamed to be British

Scenes like this…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PpJMjGYIUw

…make me ashamed to be British. What happened to queueing, remember that? It’s the art of waiting in line until those before you have finished fulfilling their requirements & needs.

Upon viewing scenes like this my immediate reaction was to feel disgusted that fellow Human Beings could act in such a way. Were they trying to buy discounted food in order to feed their family on a very tight budget? No…they were trying to get their hands of cheap underwear; TVs & the like.

A 72” TV for a 5 year old’s bedroom anyone?

Yesterday whilst I was waiting for my son’s school to open it’s I overheard a “parent” telling her friend that Asda was to be selling off 72” TVs & she was thinking of getting one for her child.

Her child is in my son’s class & so is only 5 or 6. Our 5 year old son doesn’t even have a basic TV in his bedroom. If he did he would fall asleep watching TV every night. Instead he has books and toys in there.

I mean, come on! Who on Earth buys their 5/6 year old a 72” TV for their bedroom? No doubt it is to go with their consoles & all their bloody killing/war games.

Rant over: carry on!