I used to work for WalMart , two years at the store. On black Friday all employees who worked the overnight (me) plus those who start early left our regular duties to stand by dozens of skids put out in the main aisles starting at 5:00 am. At 6:00 am the door would open and literally hundreds of people, some getting there at 1:00 am, poured into the store and you're there to make sure nothing gets ripped off. One humungous excersize in futility. Craziest shit you ever saw. People falling over themselves to pick up a name brand DVD player for ten bucks.

The way I see it... companies yet again trying to part you from your money, by heavily discounting shit you most likely don't need.  Yup, the lure of 75% off is too hard to resist for some folk, and they'll spend money hand over fist to pick up a 'bargain' that all to often goes into a cupboard and never sees the light of day until the purchaser is forced by the hoarder psychologist to put it out for the garage sale.

Yeah, I'm a cynical bastard, ain't I, but we all know somebody who simply can't resist a 'bargain', don't we?  I mean, it's alright if you really need the item(s), but don't let 'Black Friday/CyberMonday have you max out the credit cards and have the effing banks sending threatening letters about repossession and/or foreclosures.

You're way too hard on yourself, Cap'n.

I wouldn't call you cynical.

Hehe, you got me there, Doc.

Oh, and here's a story that reflects my thought on the Black Friday sale mentality... link. 

It more or less agrees with me... that it's a con job intended purely to separate consumers from their money.  For the handful of items they sell off at cost or below cost, their sales on other [non-sale] items more than adequately cover their 'losses'.  Once through the door and a clear decision to buy has been made, the shopping mentality takes over in most consumers and something WILL be purchased. 

It's a case of "while I'm here" and bright packaging/marketing techniques take over the 'once rational mind... especially if they miss out on the door buster specials that were the draw card to begin with.  It's like "I can't go home empty handed after queuing here since midnight yesterday', so they'll take home something... anything to make the trip and endless hours of waiting worth it.

Marketing wiz kids count on this kind of thinking, which is why they plan these events at certain times of the year, to coincide with holidays and a perceived need to eat more/better/differently and gift friends and family, etc.   Thing is, when you consider the markups and artificially inflated prices, they're doing you no favours by heavily discounting various goods, nor are they losing anything, so is it really a sale or a "come in sucker" ploy? 

For mine, it's "come in sucker and give us your money" and I'll never attend.  We have Boxing Day sales here in Oz.  I've never been to one, never will... wouldn't stand endless hours in a queue, cos I hate queues at the best of times, and people get trampled in the mad rush to get in.  With my bad bones and etc it is not the place for me... not to mention my aversion to greed driven marketing/advertising, etc.

Has there ever been any other kind of marketing/advertising?

Nope!  Should line up advertisers/marketers with effing bankers and de-gonad the lot of 'em.

What is it with you and gonads?

WTF is 'Black Friday' and 'Cyber Monday'?

Sounds psychotic...

They are something akin to your "Rumarie". Spock.

Rumarie, has been described (by Neelix) as a festival "full of barely clothed Vulcan men and women, covered in slippery Rillan grease, chasing one another."

In the terran holidays 'humans' chase bargains, employing subterfuge, violence, MACE and other means to attain said bargain.

Folks remember: Expect phishing!

1. If shopping online (if only to avoid MACE and being trampled) don't use WiFi. Hook up by wire to purchase.

2. Use a credit card not a debit card (you're more protected from fraud).

3. Mouse over any links!

4. Use ONLY https links to order goods.

5. Check out "restocking fees"... if you return something, find out what it'll cost to return it!

And be safe out there...

If there are any ladies out there who would like covering in grease, I am available 24/7

It's not that I have a preference for them or anything, but I do feel more bankers [and advertisers] should be without them... it prevents more evil spawn coming into existence.

Nah, they're rich. They probably have sperm on ice, just in case some Australian bloke seperates them from their plums.

Hehe... the gonad removal could always be done by blowtorch... which could be used later to fry up some banker tadpoles to feed the pigs.