And then there was...
When nearing the end of your shift you hear one of your bosses (in this case, one of the most stone cold badass managers i've got, Brandee) say "It's not like anything i've ever seen" you know you've been part of something special.
I left the house at exactly 4:30, and got to the Wal Mart parking lot at 4:50. I MANAGED to get from the back of the parking lot to clock in at 5 just barely on time. I am not joking at all when I say I literally got spot 5 of the 7 spots that were left in the entire Wal Mart parking lot when I arrived. (Some people were just skipping that and going straight to park in the bank lot.)
I went to relieve one of the other associates on a speedy checkout lane, and he was totally clueless as how to do anything, and I kind of would have felt bad being like "Move away from the register, peon, and let someone with 1338 skillz handle this!!" But eventually another cashier came by and fixed his problem. He logged off and went back to do whatever it was he did normally, saying "I don't know how you guys do it." Made me feel really good inside, and actually built up my confidance and self esteem a lot (which was something i'd desperately needed recenlty.)
The Deals!
I got in the mix for about 2 hours, and I swear i'd never seen people buying so many DVD's and electronics, with almost no groceries whatsoever. I sold piles of DVD's, stacked in 2 rows. But the most insane deal of the day (I believe at least) were 2GB MP3 players...going for $30. 460 songs...for thirty dollars. After seeing people buy 2 and 3 of them at a time I was seriously considering buying one, until I saw the display in the back that they were completely gone. (I figure they lasted maybe 3 hours.) Aside from that some of the stuff I sold were XBox 360 games for $10, DVD's for $2-9, and every kind of clothing item you could think of for ridiculously cheap, like say, $8 for a hoodie. (I saw two seperate people that had nothing but entire carts full of clothes.)
The Cash!
Wal Mart did not lose money today...by what I think was around 8 2 of my CSM's came by to draw the cash from my drawer...because I had SO MUCH FUCKING CASH. Like...OMG. Easily $1000 in big bills, and probably another $200-300 in $20's. Nearly everyone up until 7 or so if they were paying cash was using just big bills, it was nuts.
The end
I had been worked from 5am until 8:20 when I had my first break, then I had a lunch at 8:40. Unlike a usual 8 hour day though they only gave me a half hour lunch, so I was only able to eat half of my delicious Italian Herb & Cheese Meatball Marinara sandwich from Subway (the other half i'm eating right now.) Surprisingly enough the 2nd part of my shift I spent keeping my fridge stocked with Amps, and stealing customers from other lanes to keep people from waiting too long. By 12 though I think my managers, or whoever was in charge of letting me go on time was braindead so I had to page one to let me off. I got out of there and did the only logical thing:
I went shopping! :D
9 DVD's (everything from Hitman to 40 Year Old Virgin), 1 video game, (Grand Theft Auto IV, FTW) and a C note later I walked out of Wal Mart victorious. I have my own reward for suviving my first Black Friday. In some bizarre, masochistic way it was actually FUN, just like tackling this huge obstacle and overcoming it. It wasn't nearly AS busy or hard as I thought it was, but for now it's just a small thing I have to feel proud about. Take care everyone, and if you go shopping look out: it's a jungle out there!
Love & Peace,
Will