Black Friday is the perfect American holiday. Originally called such by the retail workers bracing for the worst part of the shopping season and what it brought out in the people they had to serve, stripped of its meaning, renamed and rebranded as something to celebrate, gleefully ignoring the irony.
A “holiday” where the culture is consumerism. A false day. A day by an actual holiday, that ruins the real one.
a day that if you celebrate it as they intend, actually ruins the day of the people who created it! A day where the ones who thought it up HAVE to work. I could go on, but I’m just repeating myself. It’s just too on the nose.
We don’t even have Thanksgiving in the UK, but we somehow imported Black Friday. It lasts all fucking month and the prices are about what they are in any other sale.
There are benefits for those that can avoid getting sucked into the consumerism.
We usually look for things we need (for the house, the dogs, etc.) and compare to normal price and sales during the year. Anything on its deepest discount during Black Friday sales we buy, and in large quantities to stretch our money.
For example, I just bought a bunch of 12”bully sticks for ~$3.50/each and which is better than any other time of the year.
We also like to shop the post holiday clearance, especially the shelf stable food items.
The best way to ‘celebrate’ in my opinion is to identify the loss leaders stores have to draw people in and only buy those. Take advantage of the corporations.
Bully sticks are long-lasting chews for dogs made of beef muscle; specifically beef pizzle. They are usually single-ingredient or limited ingredient chew treats made from steer or bull penis, and they come in dried, cooked or raw forms. Bully sticks for dogs come in various shapes including braid, ring, twist and bone shapes. Dog bully sticks may also be flavored to taste like poultry, fruit, cheese or other canine-friendly snacks.
Originally called such by the retail workers bracing for the worst part of the shopping season and what it brought out in the people they had to serve
This stuck out at me, because I think a lot of us know the narrative of why we think it’s called Black Friday, eg: the day the companies go from “red” to “black,” which in accounting terms means when they become profitable.
Turns out, that’s scam and the source linked actually suggests that there is a little more to it.
Black Friday is the perfect American holiday. Originally called such by the retail workers bracing for the worst part of the shopping season and what it brought out in the people they had to serve, stripped of its meaning, renamed and rebranded as something to celebrate, gleefully ignoring the irony.
A “holiday” where the culture is consumerism. A false day. A day by an actual holiday, that ruins the real one.
a day that if you celebrate it as they intend, actually ruins the day of the people who created it! A day where the ones who thought it up HAVE to work. I could go on, but I’m just repeating myself. It’s just too on the nose.
We don’t even have Thanksgiving in the UK, but we somehow imported Black Friday. It lasts all fucking month and the prices are about what they are in any other sale.
America’s #1 export is our stupidity. It was wild seeing MAGA in Poland and other places.
We’ve only had it over here for about 10 years or so - Amazon started it and all the other companies jumped on the bandwagon.
You’re welcome! Being American in 2023 is like waking up to the fact that you’re in Negan’s colony.
Black week. Fuck i was put doing some light shopping yesterday and it was STILL black week. Over a week since black Friday lol
I hadn’t heard the retail worker origin. I just thought (fell for?) “Black” meaning profit, as opposed to being in the red.
That said I haven’t gone out shopping today in 20 years. People scare me.
You’re correct The whitewashed version is 'its the first day of the whole year we are finally ‘in the black’ or not ‘operating at a loss’
which is of course a bullshit statement by itself, but that’s just more me ranting so I’ll just leave it at that :D
There are benefits for those that can avoid getting sucked into the consumerism.
We usually look for things we need (for the house, the dogs, etc.) and compare to normal price and sales during the year. Anything on its deepest discount during Black Friday sales we buy, and in large quantities to stretch our money.
For example, I just bought a bunch of 12”bully sticks for ~$3.50/each and which is better than any other time of the year.
We also like to shop the post holiday clearance, especially the shelf stable food items.
The best way to ‘celebrate’ in my opinion is to identify the loss leaders stores have to draw people in and only buy those. Take advantage of the corporations.
A what of a what now?
Ha! Missed that. It’s fixed now buck = bunch.
And a bully stick is what?
Bully sticks are long-lasting chews for dogs made of beef muscle; specifically beef pizzle. They are usually single-ingredient or limited ingredient chew treats made from steer or bull penis, and they come in dried, cooked or raw forms. Bully sticks for dogs come in various shapes including braid, ring, twist and bone shapes. Dog bully sticks may also be flavored to taste like poultry, fruit, cheese or other canine-friendly snacks.
Thanks for the detailed description.
Well, unfortunately i can’t condone (or afford) this particular brand of subversion.
This stuck out at me, because I think a lot of us know the narrative of why we think it’s called Black Friday, eg: the day the companies go from “red” to “black,” which in accounting terms means when they become profitable.
Turns out, that’s scam and the source linked actually suggests that there is a little more to it.