What Does The FL Think of So-called Black Friday?

[sheeplady]

Although it was a modest Christmas by modern standards, my mother went into debt every year to provide it -- we didn't have credit cards, but she'd pawn stuff, and get a small bank loan to cover the rest. The older I got and the more I understood what "debt" was, the guiltier I felt about that.

That's sad. I know it doesn't make it any better, but I think a lot of families do that today too. But it's not just a phenomenon of the working class- I've seen a lot of very middle class families who spend way beyond their means to buy their children gifts and I think it is quite sad because the children know.

I have a girlfriend who constantly is buying my daughter little gifts for whenever she visits- mainly outfits- which are quite expensive. I know she has a lot of credit card debt (probably around $15,000) from when her job was cut to part time and she was going to school full time. I've said over and over "you don't have to bring her things! I love your style but she has enough" but she keeps buying these things. Part of the reason she is always doing this is because she knows I have no close family and her own sister has cut off communication with her. (Her sister is pretty selfish/ manipulative and has a baby who is a month older than mine.) So I am sure some of this is transferring her own needs to give a gift to her niece and be close to her sister.

I'm not sure at what point to do something. I'd prefer she put that $20 towards her debt and NOT buy a gift, but I'm not sure how to bring it up without hurting her feelings. We often go out to lunch when she drops in to visit (she lives three hours away and drops in for lunch on her drive out to her family in a city an hour further) and I try to never let her pay or treat. Still, sometimes, she wants to treat me or go dutch. I feel really bad when she does.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I don't know, what do you guys think of giving Tuesday?

On one hand, it is nice to have a "day" when people think about giving, but people should be thinking about giving the entire year around and NOT just during the holidays and especially not during a single day. It is a little off putting that the day follows Black Friday and Cyber Monday- two holidays which are primarily about excessively buying junk for yourself (and perhaps loved ones.)

So think about charity *after* you get you and yours lots of crap made in china as an afterthought even in a season of giving. This "giving day" should be the day that follows Thanksgiving. Charity should be utmost on everyone's minds, not buying cheap crud.

I dunno. Seems like everyone should follow your advice since you always seem to surely have the best plan about what others should do...and when. I'm sure you follow your own advice. However..some especially during the holidays feel depressed as if others must not care. There are even those who grieve that they cannot provide or even give something special to others that they love. Then there are those that feel empty since they probably will be forgotten during the sharing season that others enjoy. And we can't leave out those who are always bitter that the Christmas season shouldn't have any special value or meaning since many corrupt that ideal. Giving should be simple and easy instead of a such complicated ordeal.
HD

 

[ButteMT61]

I dunno. Seems like everyone should follow your advice since you always seem to surely have the best plan about what others should do...and when. I'm sure you follow your own advice. However..some especially during the holidays feel depressed as if others must not care. There are even those who grieve that they cannot provide or even give something special to others that they love. Then there are those that feel empty since they probably will be forgotten during the sharing season that others enjoy. And we can't leave out those who are always bitter that the Christmas season shouldn't have any special value or meaning since many corrupt that ideal. Giving should be simple and easy instead of a such complicated ordeal.
HD

Damn. Who has taken over HD's account?

Well put. Some people drink. Some hoard. Some shop. They're all signs of depression and loneliness. As we know, suicides are highest during the "happiest time of the year" and there's reasons why - as Van stated above.
Have some mercy on those that aren't perfect. I'm at the front of that line and looking at the back as well.

And one other point, just because someone gets some items on sale on Friday/Monday, it doesn't mean it's "junk" and it's not in and of itself selfish.
Good deals are something many have to get in order to even buy things for the holidays or otherwise. Let's not all get so high and mighty here. Of all places, I know we joke and prod all year long, but we also are supposed to have some old fashioned values me thinks?

 

[sheeplady]

I dunno. Seems like everyone should follow your advice since you always seem to surely have the best plan about what others should do...and when. I'm sure you follow your own advice. However..some especially during the holidays feel depressed as if others must not care. There are even those who grieve that they cannot provide or even give something special to others that they love. Then there are those that feel empty since they probably will be forgotten during the sharing season that others enjoy. And we can't leave out those who are always bitter that the Christmas season shouldn't have any special value or meaning since many corrupt that ideal. Giving should be simple and easy instead of a such complicated ordeal.
HD

Wow... that seems rather personally aimed towards me.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Sure does[huh]

Regarding consumerism, to me it seems to tap into something innate, something at the root of being a sentient animal. Animals hoard things. Most animals that want to get through the winter hoard food & high value items like bedding etc. Many animals - not limited to primates - have developed a sense of self and hoard items that show status and bling up the self (think of magpies stealing shiny things to display their nest to potential mates). As humans, we seem to be hard wired to consume, which is probably why our current system has been so successful. Where Lizzie's "boys" make their corn is in making us feel ashamed for being unable to consume enough; making us feel ashamed at not being able to buy the latest gizmo for the kids that they don't really need but the big shiny nest of the neighbours says they want it.

Look at forums now. Don't you want to get the thing that has the ability to use Tapatalk. All those mobile posts that tell you what phone was used and which App? And if you're not logged in, don't you want to acquire one of those Chinese girls being sold to you in the front page banner? "The boys" are getting at you, even here.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

don't you want to acquire one of those Chinese girls being sold to you in the front page banner?

The problem is they become Americanised so fast

 

[ButteMT61]

The problem is they become Americanised so fast

From a man who knows :rofl:

 

[Michaelson]

I'm a store manager and have to be at work at 7:30pm tonight (Thanksgiving night). "Black Friday" has now officially taken over Thanksgiving itself. If there isn't a major backlash, it will just keep getting earlier and earlier for us retail folk. We are now down to only 2 holidays off a year.

I saw it start to ramp up back 22 years ago when the store I worked at started opening up early for 4th of July sales. I left and never went back. It's just gone downhill from there. This year they stated that the biggest seller Walmart had was the $.29 towel, and folks were actually fighting each other for these sets, not games or high end toys.....cheap towels. That's an indicator how far things have fallen.

My family has never, ever participated in these sales, and have no interest what so ever in doing so.

Regards! Michaelson

 

[Tomasso]

One thing to remember about the 'junk' we buy is that millions upon millions of families are supported by jobs involving the design, manufacture, distribution , sale, etc.....of said junk. That should make us feel a little bit better about the various 'pet rocks' we accrue.

 

[LizzieMaine]

In an honest, just society, those people would be producing something worthwhile, not something created solely for the purpose of having something to consume. That's what society ought to be stopping to ask itself -- is this the only reason we exist? To consume? If that's the case, our existence is nothing but a meaningless exercise in futility and we might as well just buy a stainless steel celebrity-chef endorsed commercial-grade kitchen oven, and stick our collective head in it.

An economic system should be the servant of the people, not its master.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And yet another reason to hold our new Super Wal Mart in contempt: I had to stop in there late last night to buy eggs for breakfast this morning. All they sell are white eggs. In New England. Where, for decades, we have always preferred brown eggs. More of that Wal Mart homogenization of culture -- do it our way or no way.

I walked out without eggs, and I won't be back.

 

[ButteMT61]

And yet another reason to hold our new Super Wal Mart in contempt: I had to stop in there late last night to buy eggs for breakfast this morning. All they sell are white eggs. In New England. Where, for decades, we have always preferred brown eggs. More of that Wal Mart homogenization of culture -- do it our way or no way.

I walked out without eggs, and I won't be back.

Raise chickens. Not hard and not expensive. And they're entertaining.
Keep quiet Powers! lol

 

[LizzieMaine]

Raise chickens. Not hard and not expensive. And they're entertaining.
Keep quiet Powers! lol

I'd like to, but the rats from the junkyard would kill them off.

 

[ButteMT61]

I'd like to, but the rats from the junkyard would kill them off.

Ah, come on - make a good coop and you're set! Best eggs in the world. And when the apocalypse comes, you have nuggets. (just beating Powers to it).

 

[Michaelson]

And yet another reason to hold our new Super Wal Mart in contempt: I had to stop in there late last night to buy eggs for breakfast this morning. All they sell are white eggs. In New England. Where, for decades, we have always preferred brown eggs. More of that Wal Mart homogenization of culture -- do it our way or no way.

I walked out without eggs, and I won't be back.

Come on down to Tennessee. Our Walmarts still sell brown eggs.

Regard! Michaelson

 

[Gregg Axley]

Come on down to Tennessee. Our Walmarts still sell brown eggs.

Regard! Michaelson

I'll have to agree here, I see a lot of them in TN Lizzie.
Also we have Fresh Market stores, although the eggs might be higher since it's a specialty store.

Fending off the chickens before Powers gets to them?
I knew it, he's a chicken hawk isn't he?

 

[ButteMT61]

I'll have to agree here, I see a lot of them in TN Lizzie.
Also we have Fresh Market stores, although the eggs might be higher since it's a specialty store.

Fending off the chickens before Powers gets to them?
I knew it, he's a chicken hawk isn't he?

Much worse. :rofl:

 

[Nobert]

 

[dh66]

I'd say that's a fairly accurate assessment, Nobert.

Plenty of brown eggs at w.m. in AL too Lizzie. At least 3 different brands usually. Kind of odd to me really, I guess they're kind of a thing these days. When I was growing up the only brown eggs came from grandma's or some of her neighbors. But that's a whole different thread I guess.

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk 2

 

[HudsonHawk]

And yet another reason to hold our new Super Wal Mart in contempt: I had to stop in there late last night to buy eggs for breakfast this morning. All they sell are white eggs. In New England. Where, for decades, we have always preferred brown eggs. More of that Wal Mart homogenization of culture -- do it our way or no way.

I walked out without eggs, and I won't be back.

So what did you have for breakfast?