On my way home from a tiring Thanksgiving day I didn’t think about much except sleeping. When I arrived home I could drop like a rock. My mom came up and asked if I found anything in the newspaper ads as tomorrow was the shopper’s big dream and, at the same time, their worst nightmare. I tore through the ads and came upon Best Buy’s ad.
I have been wanting a laptop for the longest time and Black Friday was about as close as I could get to getting one in my eyes. Then it hit. As if a train smacked my face. I was fully awake after finding an amazing deal. The laptop was perfect. Had every feature I was looking for. Sleek black and silver design with all the bells and whistles I could imagine. The best part was the price was slashed in half. I had to get this.
I alerted the parents and they looked at me as if I was crazy. My dad pointed at the clock and said it is midnight. That doesn’t stop me. I stormed out of the house and rushed to the car. The night was pitch black. Most of the streets were empty, until I came to the freeway. The exits were packed as super shoppers tried to get to various midnight sales. It was madness. Cars backed up for miles. Luckily for me all I had to go was across town. After going through numerous light—green of course—and an overpass I came upon Best Buy. I glanced over to see how the line was. Surprisingly it didn’t look too long, but this would be an error of judgment.
I parked my car and started walking towards what I thought was the back of the line. To my disbelief the line wrapped around the side as I kept walking. Then I found it went around the backside. By now I was worried about defeat in my journey for the laptop. The line cut off around the loading area and that is where I took my stand. In front of me were a group of guys in their twenties, maybe low thirties, talking about random things such as what they wanted from the store. To my backside were a couple who wanted to get a global positioning system for their car. Best Buy was running a pretty good deal on them for Black Friday. The thing I did know was that all of us were in for a long wait. And the weather wasn’t too kind.
The air had it’s cold, tight grip on the bodies of the shoppers. Many slept in chairs and sleeping bags, others just wrapped themselves in blankets to keep warm. As we all eventually noticed was that time was going slow and this would be a long wait. The store wasn’t opening until 5 a.m. and it was just past midnight. I pulled out the ad again and I noticed that they would be handing out tickets to reserve things so you would get what you want. That would be two hours before opening. That meant there would be around fifteen laptops for me to try and get one. Although we had heard things travel down the line that people were cutting in front because of friends holding places for them. I also heard that many were here for laptops. My hopes and dreams started to fall.
As time flew by slowly in to the morning hours the grip of cold air tightened. I had been standing for a few hours now. My feet sore and my hands numb. Cars pulled up to their families and handed warm drinks to them. Every so often a police car would drive by slowly to watch for any wrong doing. Rumors were floating up and down the line about cars filled with teens egging the poor souls in line at other stores. Some thought it was paintball guns or even airsoft. No one was sure of anything except that they were in line, in the cold, waiting for something they might not get. Then it happened.
Four hours in to our frosty wait the line burst in to movement. Crazed shoppers rushed closer to the front of the store. The staff was handing out the tickets for the products in high demand. I was bunched between a large group as people were yelling to find out where the ticket people were. Many tried to cut only to be called out by those who were waiting. One employee walked by and said that the ticket people were coming and to just wait. The crowd grew aggravated. Many trying to find out what was going on. It was absolute madness. What did I get myself into?
Suddenly I heard a man yell out “cameras.” Others screamed to be heard over the crowd as the ticket person with the camera offers handed them out to those who were in the need of a ticket. “Televisions! Who wants a television!” The next ticket person made their way past the mutating blob that was the front of the line.
I listened for any sign of the laptop guy. Pushing my way through people I find the edge. Poking my head out I see another employee and question her.
“Where’s the laptop people?” I asked her over the crowd’s noise.
“They’re working their way down her. Just hold on and they will get here as soon as they can,” she quickly told me as she headed for the rear of the line.
That wasn’t good enough for some people. They screamed “Come on!” over the rest of the shoppers as I looked back to see if those originally around me had gotten what they wanted. The couple looking for the GPS system were still in need of a ticket. The group of guys in front of me split up during the rush of the ticket handouts. Some of them were looking for laptops themselves. We could either work against each other or try and form a mutual pact to find these elusive tickets. The challenge was on.
I tagged along as one of them infiltrated the tightly pact front. For the first time that night I heard the words “laptop” echo throw the cold air. My senses tried to pinpoint the location of the sound. The guy I followed pushed further to find out. I stood my ground as one person might be able to get through unnoticed. About a minute later he popped out of the mob to report that it wasn’t the laptop I wanted. I asked him if he heard anything about my model. He told me that the ticket person for it hadn’t come out yet. The wait was still on. We pulled back to our positions for now. When I returned the couple that wanted the GPS system received the ticket. They were one of the lucky ones who got what the wanted so far. I was still in the dark and cold, without the ticket to grant me what I wanted most.
It was almost 4 a.m. and I was still clueless as to where the coveted laptop tickets were for the model I wanted. The cold continued biting at my hands, ears, and nose. My feet feeling beaten under the weight of my body being on them for the past four hours. I felt worn, defeated even. No, this couldn’t be it. I had to continue. I was on a mission and there was no giving up. I had to do this until the end. I straightened my back and infiltrated the front once again with regained vigor. My eyes searching for any and all Best Buy employees. My ears taking in the sounds all around me searching for that magical word.
The crowed exploded. A roar took over the early morning air. Screaming, pleading, begging for attention. He was out in the open. My eyes and ears locked in. In his hands were twenty folders. Twenty tickets. Twenty chances. The 5% chance. It was all or nothing.
“Over here!”
“Come on! I need one!”
“They cut the line!”
“What are you doing!? What about us!?”
The crowd was unrelenting. Outbursts sent shock waves into the ears of those in line. I continued to find my way through the crowd. I stood on my toes to see how many he had left. Seventeen. Then thirteen. Then nine. Then five. Five remained. The fate of the laptop started to cloud my mind. Was it all over? Then I happened.
“The tickets for this laptop are gone!”
I stopped. Shocked. Unable to move. My mind blanked. No, it couldn’t be. How was this possible? In ten minutes they were gone. All of them. Gone. I felt defeated. No, that’s not it. I felt cheated. I did not stand for four hours in line only to fail. This isn’t true. There has to be more. Then the sad reality hit. I slowly crept back to my spot thinking that I still might be able to find something when the store opened. At that moment I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around.
In my very eyes was a folder. The ticket. The gateway to my laptop. I looked up to see who held this valued object in front of me. To my disbelief it was the man I followed earlier. He had managed to grab two knowing that I wanted one. I was speechless. I manged to utter out a “thank you.” He responded with a “no problem.” I had in my hands the thing I had waited so long for. Being that the crowd was so hungry for what I carried made me a target. I hid the precious folder in my jacket and awaited the opening of the store.
The clocked ticked on the five. It was opening time. The doors slowly opened as the mob of relentless shoppers poured through as if an invading army of vikings, maybe barbarians. I got through with some effort involved and rushed to the line to pickup what I had so wished for. Luckily for me the store was warm and the new line I waited in wasn’t too long. I was out in fifteen minutes.
As I got home the sun rose over the horizon and I was a tired man. I entered the house with my new toy and a proud grin on my face. My parents—rested and reading the newspaper—turned to see me—my worn and cold self—and shrugged. I felt proud and crashed on my bed. It was time to rest for I had one hell of early morning. All I knew was that it doesn’t hurt to meet people when both are in need of something common, for it had helped me score big. I had won the blitz of Black Friday. What a feeling.
outside the norm 