ode to black friday
T’was the day after Thanksgiving and all through the mall
Shopkeepers and sales staff had prepared for it all
They’d hung their over-sized sale signs and filled all their racks
“Shoppers start your engines,” they suggested, “not a moment to relax.”
Windows were a sea of red posters, red tags, and red decorations too
Promoting not the color of Christmas but the more common sale hue
Advertisers had stuffed local newspapers with flyers and FSIs
Featuring deep discounts, limited quantities, and other special buys
E-tailers stuffed my in-box full of promotional emails
Every subject line was announcing a deal or a sale
The signs of sales desperation were everywhere I looked
Even TV ads eschewed entertainment and went straight for the sales hook
Instead of enjoying shopping and having some holiday fun
Finding the best price seemed to be job number one
Looking for good gifts and their trimmings lost its appeal
Since I wasn’t sure each offer I would find was the absolute best deal
I got tired just thinking about shopping before I headed out the door
All the talk about prices made it seem like a chore
And so I decided to pass on Black Friday and just stay home
In feeling overwhelmed I’m guessing I wasn’t alone.
(the image above is a partial view of all of the FSIs from my local Thanksgiving day newspaper — the stack was almost 2 inches piled high)