I was reading this story in the news today:
Two armed thugs tried to rob of line of people waiting to buy the new Playstation 3 gaming console early Friday and shot one who refused to give up the money, authorities said.
The two confronted a “bunch of people who were in line” outside a Wal-Mart store shortly after 3 a.m. and demanded money, said Lt. J. Paul Vance, a spokesman for the state police. The new Sony consoles are selling for around $500 to $600.
“One of the patron’s resisted. That patron was shot,” Vance said.
I just posted yesterday about the Thanksgiving day sales and all the deals, and I know that this is the type of stuff that happens on Black Friday. I think its insane. If there’s a great sale, I’ll admit, I’ll be there at 6am. But if it comes to pushing, shoving, and now shooting, forget about it, I’m not interested. I’ve heard only great things about the Playstation 3 (except for the price tag), but to get in line at 3am just to be able to say that “I had it first” seems extreme to me.
As a rabbi in Detroit once told me a few Thanksgivings ago, upon completion of a masechta (tractate), we say in the Hadran, “She’anu mashkimim v’heim mashkimim. Anu mashkimim l’divrei torah, v’heim mashkimim l’devarim biteilim…Anu ratzim v’hem ratzim. Anu ratzim l’chayei haolam habah, v’heim ratzim l’b'air shachas.” – We wake up early and they wake up early. We wake up early to learn for words of torah, and they wake up early for idle words….We run and they run. We run to the life of the Next World, and they run to the well of destruction. (I’ve got to figure out how to type in Hebrew)
Like I said above, I’d get up early if there was a great deal (which I might be doing this year…I need blank CD-R’s). I’m just complaining about the Black Friday overachievers.
