Oh, that's awful.

Stores use sales as an excuse to get rid of all the crap that's been gathering dust in their warehouses, with a few - a very few - actual bargains to get people into the store.

How awful!

Damn! And our parking lot is damn near empty at the moment. Oh, well. I guess I should be thankful bookstore customers don't generally move in stampedes and trample people to death. (Well, except for Twilight readers, of course.)

I don't know what it was, but I was dragged out by my mother this morning and while the mall's parking lot was filled over capacity (complete with fuckers parking in the aisles)...there were no one in the stores. It was really, really weird.

That is absolutely ridiculous and so terribly sad. What a bunch of barbarians. All to get a bunch of stuff.

I never go out on Black Friday. It's not worth the stress and hassle.

Is this mania even about bargains anymore, or just the herd bowing to the latest manufactured ritual?

Dear Heloise:

I have a bit of a dilemma - We got a new 50" flatscreen TV for Xmas this year. The whole family loves it! It was a *great* deal, and I just can't resist a bargain! But every time I switch on the TV, I have a vision of the terror-struck eyes of that young man as he fell beneath our feet. So my question is:

Do you have any tips for how to dust a flat screen TV without damaging it?
Animals.

After reading the related article on CNN, I think the Walmart corporation should be charged with negligent homicide.

I'm surprised there aren't more incidents just like this every year. It makes me angry that people can be so callous. People were stepping over the guy to get into the store!

I think there is a real !!WANTZMOARSTUF!! mentality, even in good economic times, that I just don't want to be a part of. I know people who barely have two nickels to rub together, yet when they head out on Black Friday, they come home with stuff they can't use or didn't want or don't like that was thrown in free or nearly free with a purchase, or that they bought because "it was a great deal ... we'll find someone to give it to." Bah humbug on that. That's participating in one's own manipulation and adding to the consumer goods bloat that grows larger and larger.