Black Friday, or the day after Thanksgiving, got its name from being the first day that retail stores went from being in the red to being in the black. Being in the red is a term coined by shop owners who write in red ink while they are still owe more money than they are making. Being in the black is the opposite; it is when a store is making a profit on all items sold. Eventually, stores took this idea and decided to expand it, because stores were operating in the black, or making a profit from the purchases, they wanted to sell more so, for one day, they would sell items at a fraction of their normal cost they would usually be. Now Black Friday is a day when most stores have amazing sales. Though some sales are available online, the majority of these sales are store-based. Stores typically open their doors at midnight, allowing for the earliest possible shopping that day. This day used to be an innocent shopping spree, but because sales are so good, people go insane to get them and the day has deteriorated into a series of riots around America. The doors are surrounded by groups of sale-craving zombies who wait for hours until the doors open in eager masses. The anticipation builds until people almost start fighting outside the doors. When the doors finally open, the real riot begins. It starts with people rushing into the store as fast as possible. The rush is so frantic that people get serious injuries and sometimes die from being trampled. Inside is a sporadic hurry to find the best deals before that item runs out.

Flor Acosta, a sophomore at AHS, went to Rockwell and Greenville, Texas, on Black Friday and experienced the mayday first hand.  At Greenville, she started the 10 a.m. shopping spree. Her first visit to Walmart was cut short by a vicious fight between two men over an Xbox 360. Flor said this was only one of many fights she witnessed, but this was definitely the worst she saw. She returned to Walmart at noon after the majority of the commotion died down in order to complete her shopping. After Greenville, she headed to Rockwall, Texas, where the fights were mild and consisted mostly of bickering, cart-swiping items, and tug-of-wars between two women, fighting over a pair of shoes. She states, “The experience was awful, but I will definitely do it again. It was an adrenaline rush for shopping; it was dangerous, but fun.”

Andy Nunes, a senior at AHS, attended the “Midnight Madness” sales in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. He left Thanksgiving night to Walmart’s 10 p.m. sales kick off. He claims that it was not all that crazy, and he only got mobbed once. It occurred when he found himself standing next to a rack of sewing machines when the cover was pulled off announcing the beginning of the sale. He said crazed shoppers came from everywhere and he was swarmed by a mob of people. He did say it was fun and definitely worth the trip; he got a $300 jacket for only $80.

So the sales for Black Friday are purely amazing. Getting high dollar goods for rock-bottom prices is pretty nice, and the idea behind the sales is well intended. However, the truth is that American culture is more worried about saving money, than working together, the kill or be killed mentality that Americans live by is made evident by the occurrences of this one day.