Hello! This is Michael and I have graciously been given the opportunity to post on my wife's peapod blog. This is the first time I have posted, so I am itching to start.
This morning, I had the wonderful privilege of waking up at 3:00 AM to head down to Best Buy to get a new 17" monitor for our computer. It was quite a deal, really. $79 for a 17" LCD monitor??? How could I resist?
I got to the store around 4:00 and the line was wrapped around to the back of the store. Bah Humbug! But, I found the parents of a child I had taught at school and hung out with them. Ok, I may have technically butted in line, but they were so welcoming and friendly... We talked and talked and... what's this?? My cell is ringing? At 4:15? It was Stephen, my brother in law. He had stayed up all night and was waiting in line at the Best Buy on the other end of Richmond. He got to his Best Buy at 3:30 and had much better positioning in line than I did.
He told me he was getting a hard drive and a 22" monitor. I told him that if he got in there and saw my monitor to pick one up for me (since his place in line was much closer than mine). He said he would do that.
My friends in line left about twenty minutes after that when the dude handing out vouchers said they had no more TV's left. (They had a 52" plasma TV for $599. What a bargain if you have $600 to spend!!!)
So the line started moving around 10 till 5 -- uh oh! My phone is ringing again. It's Stephen. He has my monitor, but there are no more 22" monitors at his store. He wants me to check when I get in if there are any available at my store. Ok.
A couple minutes later, I'm in. I am expecting chaos and pandelirium, but instead it is actually rather serene. I think it's because they only let in a certain amount of people at a time, rather than a mad dash. I see a lady with Stephen's monitor and I knock her down and steal the monitor off of her. No, no no... That's what I might have done if she hadn't told me they were sitting in a stack on the end of an aisle. I picked one up and headed for the register.
At this point, part of me wanted to look around and shop for people on my list. But I just knew the lines were going to be crazy -- I have seen the footage on local news before. I got into line (wait, there really was no line), called Stephen to let him know the good news (he was still in a very long line), purchased Stephen's monitor, and was out the door in about two minutes. I could do this every year!
Just for kicks, I decided to head over to Circuit City. The parking lot wasn't bad, but inside was another story. Wall to wall people! I picked up (and later put down) a camera card for a camera I don't own yet and saw some friends from church and talked to them for a while. Then I bolted!
The contrast between the two stores was clear. Best Buy was well organized and ready. Circuit City was mayhem with a capital M! I celebrated by going to Starbucks for a Caramel Macchiato.
Points to remember for next year:
Wear something for my head (really cold after a while)
Don't go to bed (that way I don't have to wake up early :)
Set up a stand and sell coffee (or at least bring coffee for myself)
Best Buy Route 1 rocks! (at least on this particular morning)
Bring a friend to share the experience!
1 comment:
So Julie and Michael asked me to give the details of my Black Friday morning as well. As you can imagine, there is probably a reason this request was made...
On Thursday afternoon, I had left my car at my parents house and had Kristin drive me over to her parents house for Thanksgiving dinner. So in turn, she had to drive me back to my parent’s house later that night. I got back to my place on Southside around 11:30 at night. On the drive home, I decided I would go to Best Buy in the morning and buy a 22" monitor for $199.
I had done the same thing last year, but bought an MP3 player. It was semi-fun last year, so I thought I would do it all over again. So I waited up at home, watching the Da Vinci Code and then cops. Yes, I love watching Court TV. So 2:45 AM rolls around and I think its late enough that I can leave for Best Buy and still get a good stop in line. I put on some warm clothes and head out the door.
I headed over to the Best Buy at Chesterfield Town Center. I arrived shortly after 3:00 AM. I was in a hurry when I was arriving so that I could get a better spot in line. In doing so, I pulled up to the intersection to make a left hand turn into Best Buy. I dawned on me, “hey, there is a cop car waiting to make a left hand turn across from me into Circuit City.” I didn’t think much beyond that. I looked over into to Best Buy parking lot and saw how many people where there. The cop didn’t move. So I figured it was letting me make my left hand turn first. I pulled my car into the parking lot but had to angle it into get past the concrete slab blocking my entrance. It was shortly after that, that I saw blue lights in my rear view mirror. It was at that point that I realize there must have been a no left turn sign.
The State Trooper walked up to my car door and told me what I did wrong. I told him I realized it right after I pulled into the parking lot and had to angle my car to get it past the concrete slab. He walked back to his car and sat there for a solid 5 minutes writing up my ticket. Meanwhile, 3 more people got pulled over for the exact same thing. Some of the people standing in line thought it was really funny and took my picture. Looking back, I guess it was a bit funny.
Once I got my ticket, I went on my way to the back of the store to find a parking stop. I ran over to the line and it was wrapped around to the back of the store. After standing there for about 20 minutes everyone moved up in the line. I think we were really spread out at first.
As Michael said, I called him in the morning. From there, the rest is history!
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