Friday, December 01, 2006

Grey Thursday - WOW

I am on a CompUSA mailing list where they send you occasional deals they don't advertise on the regular mailer and in store sheet. This past week, they had a super sale on the 60inch Sony HDTV's. My husband and I were drooling instantly. The sale was going to be on Thanksgiving Day from 9pm to Midnight. Almost like a precursor to the dreaded Black Friday Shopping Day.

It was Thanksgiving morning when I saw this add and since we had several hours before we needed to pack up and head to hubby's side of the family's Thanksgiving (My side celebrated the weekend before) we did all sorts of research on HDTV's and the more we found out the more we drooled about the special.

Now mind you, hubby and I never never ever shop on Black Friday, and frankly had never paid any attention to the yearly increase in specials and special holiday hours. So in utter ignorance, we decided we would take the plunge.

So blissfully unaware of what was to come we went to the in-laws, conversed, watched the turkey fry, harassed the nieces and nephews for what they wanted for Christmas, and ate way too much.

We left the shindig about 5pm and decided to drive by the CompUSA and see if we could take a look at the TV to make absolutely sure we really knew what we were getting into. The store was closed, which was no real surprise - it was a holiday after all - but what did throw us for a loop was the fact that about five cars were in the parking lot and six plus people were standing around the entrance, a few with foldout chairs! (One or two even gave us leering looks as if we were entering their territory or something.) We laughed our way on over to the movies to while away a couple of hours before coming back. I mean, we thought, how silly of those people to be there so early for a little sale.

Watched the movie, had a good time, piled back in the car and went on over to the CompUSA. The closer we got, the bigger our eyes and disbelief became. The parking lot was packed. A huge line was formed from the door all the way around the large building, past the one behind it and around the corner. It was unbelievable! Where did all these people come from?

We parked and sat in the car till 9pm hit, then watched the line surge forward. As soon as the end of the line came parallel to us, we joined in. The flow pretty much stopped and we would inch forward every few minutes. Five policemen stood by the entrance outside and directed people or traffic around. We were still in shock.

Finally made it inside. Luckily the big sign overhead and the bank of TVs on the back wall pretty much signalled us where to go. We passed one counter where a fellow was inquiring about one of the sales items - all gone. Wall to wall people everywhere. Grabbed a sales person in the back when they came up for air and asked about the TV. Glimpsed the demo, didn't want to be there more than necessary, we said we'll take it!

Two more sales people later as they got info, wrote up tickets, etc and one of them kept apologizing over and over about the crowd. I kept wondering why she was being so apologetic till it hit me - the big snaking line going all the way from the front of the store to the back was the bloody check out line! Aiiiieeee!!!!!

Through the strangeness of life, we got lucky. I was looking for the Ice Age 2 DVD which was part of the sale and bugged one of the employees going through a DVD bin. He had no idea where they were - he was looking for them too. Well, after I grabbed the CD-R's on sale and rejoined hubby in line, and we'd crawled forward through a couple of turns, I saw the same guy again. I asked him if he'd ever found them. He said no. (Turned out he was a manager.) He then asked us what we bought. When he found out it was one of the TVs he went into the warranty spiel. Hubby took him up on it, so he had to change paperwork, so in a stroke of luck, he moved us up the line! We would have still been there 45 minutes to an hour later if not for him. (THANK YOU!!!!)

We will never take another Thanksgiving Sale lightly again. Be warned! lol!

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