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Thursday, March 28, 2024
The independent student publication of The University at Buffalo, since 1950

An extremely frustrating Black Friday

I hate coupons. I hate people who use coupons. I hate sales.

I hate Black Friday. Think lining up at a door in the rain or snow at midnight is stressful? Try standing on the other side of the cash register.

For the past three years, I've worked in retail and for the past three years, I've worked Black Friday. It's the one day of the year I wish didn't exist, and I hate it so much that it almost ruins Thanksgiving.

It's a day that glorifies American consumerism, and I really don't get why it's fun to line up at a store after ingesting too much turkey and pie. Why do we have to have that TV or pair of shoes that will probably be cheaper in a week?

(And yes, it really will be cheaper in a week or two.)

Most years, I'm stuck with the closing shift and left to deal with piles upon piles of clothes to fold, 100 comforters to put away, and stragglers complaining they can't buy that Keurig for grandma because the last one sold by 2 a.m.

Really, working Black Friday is hell on earth.

Last year, though, I was lucky to start my day at 2 a.m. My store opened at midnight, so I was thrown right into the fire upon arriving at work. I barely had time to put on my reindeer ears and finish my coffee before getting bombarded by hundreds of people waving coupons and fliers in my face. No matter how much you mentally prepare yourself, you can never be ready for this type of job.

But the biggest surprise? My store was one of three in the mall participating in a special segment of TLC's Extreme Couponing.

Extreme Couponingis a reality show that follows "extreme couponers" through their shopping escapades where they try to "save" as much money as humanly possible. At its most basic level, it's a bunch of stay-at-home moms who spend their time clipping coupons and thinking of ways to make retail employees' lives hell.

This particular taping was a Black Friday "Midnight Madness" special. This woman, her husband and eight children declared themselves an "army" that planned to attack my mall.

All the coffee in the world couldn't have prepared me for that morning.

Camera crews surrounded my quad, consent forms were shoved in my face, people were yelling about how we should act on national television - plus the never-ending line of customers wanted my undivided attention.

Holiday hell.

Then comes April. Armed with sheets upon sheets of our coupons, though our company's rules only allow one per customer, she cut the line. Black Friday shoppers don't really appreciate that. She began piling her stuff on our counter, and my coworker Michelle started to become flustered as cameras were taped to the register and she was told where to look, how to scan things and what to say.

I silently bagged all the junk and tried to hide my makeup-less face and unbrushed hair from sight (I found out later the camera catches everything).

Oh, and not only did we let her use the coupons over and over again - and real customers screamed because we kept apologizing and saying only people who are on TV get that kind of deal - she didn't use her own money. Her commercials for the show bragged about how she wanted to buy presents for her whole family on $120 budget, but TLC gave her gift cards for the store, preloaded with probably around $300.

So she cheated the system, and I couldn't help the real customers. After I directed many eye-rolls at her too-peppy-for-this-early attitude, I just wanted to hand her the purchases so I wouldn't scream how much she epitomized every American stereotype.

Then her gift card malfunctioned. Our store manager - known for being a hard-ass who will rip up coupons in the face of a customer while she casually says, "This is expired" - didn't know what to do, and she clearly hated this woman as much as we did. Our store wasn't gaining anything from this visit - I don't think the show even mentioned our town name - and she definitely didn't want to give this crazy lady more free money.

But to appease TLC and get this woman out of our store as fast as possible, she relented and gave her $100 on a gift card. I still think TLC purposefully created the situation for good, drama-filled TV.

The episode aired in January - just enough time passed since the fateful day, and I did not want to watch it. But then the texts and Facebook comments started pouring in. Most of The Spectrum staff gathered around a computer to replay the episode just yesterday morning. I guess my friends are bigger TLC fans than I thought.

I learned a lot from that day. I learned just how scripted reality TV is, how the camera does not lie, and how prevalent materialism is in our society. I learned that coupons really don't save you money and Americans are just psychologically brainwashed to believe they're getting a deal when prices are just so hiked up to begin with.

I learned that people will do absolutely anything to use a coupon - shameless, horrifying things - and I learned that Christmas really isn't about the gifts.

I'll be spending my Black Friday behind a cash register for 16 hours this year, and I'm extremely grateful I won't see coupons for eight of those hours.

My fingers are crossed no cameras are there to film it.

Email: rebecca.bratek@ubspectrum.com


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