I've debated whether to post this and finally decided, why not? It's a laugh on me so it's mine to share with those who would understand.
My intro to soapmaking was HP so it's currently the method with which I am most familiar and comfortable. Standing around watching the soap cook, though, is a drag so I felt ready to have a few crockpots running at the same time and saw a big box store's Black Friday ad listing crockpots at a very good price. The online sale was to start at 12:01 am EST Thursday morning, allowing me to continue avoiding Black Friday sales crowds, so I stayed up Wednesday night and got my online account set up and my shopping cart ready in plenty of time. In case the sale started early I was checking the site constantly by 11 pm EST. At 11:42 pm I saw the sale was live but already the crockpots were sold out. Oh darn! For the next few hours I kept refreshing the page to see if they re-stocked and also checked out other store ads, looking for a comparable price. No go all around. Drats! Foiled!
So I did something I'm not proud of. :twisted: The Black Friday sale was to start at 6 PM Thursday at the store. I thought that meant the store opened at 6 PM but SIL told me it opened at 3 PM so my husband and I went to the store more than an hour before the sale was to start. Yes, I went to a retail store on Thanksgiving. The depths to which I would sink for my soapmaking addiction......
We were there early enough that we were able to stand right next to the crockpots. It helped that no one else seemed too interested in the crockpots. All the pallets were shrink-wrapped so no one could grab anything early. As the time grew closer to 6 pm, attitudes were getting pretty tense, people started telling stories of previous Black Friday shopping frenzies and how crazy the crowds got, they started getting ready to grab and defend their desired items, saying, "It's about to get ugly." I was regretting having brought a handbag instead of something that could let me shop hands-free and started trying to decide if I really wanted the crockpots that badly. Oh yes, I did want them that badly! I'd been there over an hour already, I wasn't leaving without some crockpots.
At 6 pm the shrink-wrap ripping began with a frenzy. Thankfully hubby and I still seemed to be the only ones interested in the crockpots so we had no problem getting the number I wanted, which shall remain unspecified.* I may have gotten caught up in the frenzy and overshot that number a little, although in my defense I did buy a crockpot for our food usage and one for MIL for her birthday as well as the ones for soapmaking. Fortunately that was the only item we were there to purchase so we headed for the checkout lanes and were able to be second in our checkout line.
Looking around as I raced the buggy to the checkout area, I was glad we only wanted the one item. It was pretty nutso in the shopping aisles. We were able to exit the store in good time and were hauling for the car when some guy stopped us. I tensed, thinking we were going to be mugged or something, but he only wanted our buggy. My husband reminded me we only had crockpots so it wasn't like we had a high-dollar electronics item to be resold, LOL. Hey, I had felt like we had a haul so why wouldn't someone else? :mrgreen:
We already had a full car so I may or may not have had to carry a crockpot in my lap on the way back to the in-laws' to finish Thanksgiving day. Fortunately if I did have to carry one in my lap it was the one for MIL's birthday gift so I was able to give it to SIL to hide and didn't have to ride home with it in my lap.
The lengths to which we'll go.... Oh yes, I think I'm hooked on soapmaking!
My intro to soapmaking was HP so it's currently the method with which I am most familiar and comfortable. Standing around watching the soap cook, though, is a drag so I felt ready to have a few crockpots running at the same time and saw a big box store's Black Friday ad listing crockpots at a very good price. The online sale was to start at 12:01 am EST Thursday morning, allowing me to continue avoiding Black Friday sales crowds, so I stayed up Wednesday night and got my online account set up and my shopping cart ready in plenty of time. In case the sale started early I was checking the site constantly by 11 pm EST. At 11:42 pm I saw the sale was live but already the crockpots were sold out. Oh darn! For the next few hours I kept refreshing the page to see if they re-stocked and also checked out other store ads, looking for a comparable price. No go all around. Drats! Foiled!
So I did something I'm not proud of. :twisted: The Black Friday sale was to start at 6 PM Thursday at the store. I thought that meant the store opened at 6 PM but SIL told me it opened at 3 PM so my husband and I went to the store more than an hour before the sale was to start. Yes, I went to a retail store on Thanksgiving. The depths to which I would sink for my soapmaking addiction......
We were there early enough that we were able to stand right next to the crockpots. It helped that no one else seemed too interested in the crockpots. All the pallets were shrink-wrapped so no one could grab anything early. As the time grew closer to 6 pm, attitudes were getting pretty tense, people started telling stories of previous Black Friday shopping frenzies and how crazy the crowds got, they started getting ready to grab and defend their desired items, saying, "It's about to get ugly." I was regretting having brought a handbag instead of something that could let me shop hands-free and started trying to decide if I really wanted the crockpots that badly. Oh yes, I did want them that badly! I'd been there over an hour already, I wasn't leaving without some crockpots.
At 6 pm the shrink-wrap ripping began with a frenzy. Thankfully hubby and I still seemed to be the only ones interested in the crockpots so we had no problem getting the number I wanted, which shall remain unspecified.* I may have gotten caught up in the frenzy and overshot that number a little, although in my defense I did buy a crockpot for our food usage and one for MIL for her birthday as well as the ones for soapmaking. Fortunately that was the only item we were there to purchase so we headed for the checkout lanes and were able to be second in our checkout line.
Looking around as I raced the buggy to the checkout area, I was glad we only wanted the one item. It was pretty nutso in the shopping aisles. We were able to exit the store in good time and were hauling for the car when some guy stopped us. I tensed, thinking we were going to be mugged or something, but he only wanted our buggy. My husband reminded me we only had crockpots so it wasn't like we had a high-dollar electronics item to be resold, LOL. Hey, I had felt like we had a haul so why wouldn't someone else? :mrgreen:
We already had a full car so I may or may not have had to carry a crockpot in my lap on the way back to the in-laws' to finish Thanksgiving day. Fortunately if I did have to carry one in my lap it was the one for MIL's birthday gift so I was able to give it to SIL to hide and didn't have to ride home with it in my lap.
The lengths to which we'll go.... Oh yes, I think I'm hooked on soapmaking!
I don't think there's a big enough deal in the world that could ever make me want to go out shopping on Black Friday or on Thanksgiving. It's too much of a zoo out there. I'm a chicken- I don't even like to drive anywhere on Black Friday, never mind stopping in anywhere to shop- too many crazy, desperate drivers hoping to beat everyone else to the next sale. I like to stay hunkered down in the safety of my house until it's all over. lol
