Black Friday in Alex City

Sometimes I'm brave enough to face the shopping crowds for early morning deals on Black Friday. Most times, I just like to sleep in (sleep off my turkey hangover). There was one deal I didn't want to miss this time. And since I was in tiny little Alexander City, Alabama for the holiday, I figured my chances were better at scoring than they would be in a metropolitan area. So, I woke up at 4 a.m., threw on some clothes and hit Hwy 22 bound for Alex City Walmart (about a 25 minute drive). I arrived at the parking lot expecting to see a few equally thrifty (uh, make that desperate) bargain hunters. The parking lot was fairly full and I was happily surprised to see that this Walmart follows the pattern of my hometown Walmart and lets shoppers in before the magical 5:00 hour. Instead of waiting outside in the cold in a long line like I've done before at Target, many of the Walmarts will let shoppers in early.

You have to hunt for the "specials" (code for limited quantities). They are positioned on pallets in the middle of the aisles, wrapped tight in plastic with little signs taunting you with the deep discount price. But the desired pallet might be anywhere in the store. If it's a special toy, you might find it in the aisle next to the housewares. If it's an electronic, you could be looking for it in the aisle next to sporting goods. The Walmart employees try to be helpful if you ask for what you are looking for. But just as often, they don't really know and you'll get a response like, "Aye thank thar over at th' fabric center, but Aye'm not shur. Try thar firs, then if y'caint find it, try over at th' garden center nexta th' pottin' soy-el."

I was fortunate to find my electronic product (a portable DVD player for Holly's birthday) in the aisle next to menswear. The pallet was surrounded by eager shoppers. I got in line behind a woman who had herself blocked in by her shopping cart. No one could get too close to her. I stepped up, smiled shyly and asked, "Would you mind handing me one of those at 5:00 when you grab yours?" She said, "Sure." So we waited. I observed women tearing open the plastic on the pallet (despite the employees asking them to stop), grabbing two or three of the items and stacking them up in front of where they were standing and then just keeping their hand on it. Another woman actually took out a pen and wrote her initials on one of the boxes (like that would stop some of the crazies from trying to grab it anyway!). One woman started counting down at about 4:57, she shouted out "3 minutes!" The Walmart employees were just shaking their heads. Then she shouted "2 minutes" and everyone laughed nervously. At the one minute mark, another woman started counting down 59-58-57-56, but no one joined in and her counting fizzled out. Then, just before 5:00, the countdown woman said, "that's close enough" and she grabbed her stuff. Everyone else just followed suit. My shopping cart woman grabbed three DVD players and two cases and handed one of each to me. I said, "Thank you and Merry Christmas" then I turned and dashed away from the mayhem in the aisles. I walked through sportswear, grabbed a pair of sweatpants for Holly, a couple of turtlenecks, then headed for health and beauty aides (that's where they had placed the "special" vacuums, crockpots, and foot massagers). I didn't need anything there, I was just wandering, enjoying the moment.

Dad had recommended I try to check out in the garden center, so I went that direction. Sure enough, there was almost no one there and two cashiers at the registers. I walked right up, paid for my stuff, and walked out through the Christmas trees and gas grills to my car.

I was back in the car by 5:21 a.m.

Then it took me another 20 minutes to get this photo. It's nothing spectacular, but I could live with it (you should have seen the 35 other shots that I deleted!)

Oh, the things we'll do for a blog post!