Day Three Hundred and Thirty-One: Black Friday

4:00 a.m. - Black Friday Morning
A pile of advertisements from yesterday's paper lies scattered across the floor. Deals upon deals waiting for early bird shoppers. But will any deals be left for people wanting to sleep in until, say, five o'clock?

---

4:45 a.m.
A line has gathered outside of the Best Buy in Roseville, MN. The line wraps around the outside of the store. The news later reports that the line started forming at ten o'clock the previous (i.e. Thanksgiving) morning. Tents and sleeping bags outside the front door help verify this.

---

4:55 a.m.
Best Buy employees receive last-minute iunstructions before the doors open to the anxious, shivering public. Some study fliers the refresh themselves on specials, some guzzle coffee for a jolt of caffeine, and some do stretching exercises as though preparing to run with the bulls.

---

5:00 a.m. on the button
Doors open. The crowd rushes through like air spitting out of a balloon. Employees inside the door and outside keep watch on the line, preventing "cutters" and "butters." (Many tried cutting in, none succeeded.)

---

5:10 a.m.
This photographer's hands are cold. "No worries," I think, "Kohls has been open for an hour already - maybe they have a deal on gloves!"

5:11 a.m.
This photographer realizes the folly of his thinking. The line of people in Kohls waiting to check out wraps completely around the 80,000 square-foot building. The time in line is not worth the two dollars I might save on gloves. Oooh! But what a deal on a digital picture frame!!....

---

5:30 a.m.
The roads are virtually empty, just like any other day two hours before sunrise. Unlike any other day, however, people are not home sleeping in their beds. The roads are empty now because all of the cars are in parking lots: Kohls, Best Buy, the Roseville Mall - all parking lots are stuffed tighter than yesterday's turkey.

---

5:35 a.m.

This photographer breathes a sigh of relief that he has nothing to purchase, and can remain an observer on this, the craziest of shopping days.

He heads home to enjoy a quiet breakfast of turkey-and-stuffing leftovers.